Less is more for Sting in concert...
On his two previous trips to the Spectrum, Sting surrounded himself with a corps of instrumentalists and back-up singers. This produced lush, textured walls of sound that, by and large, served the material well.
However, Sting's use of this musical arsenal tended to soften and even deaden - the singer-composer's greatest vocal asset: The sublime tension that his haunting, distanced style created against the sparse bass-guitar-drums background of his ground-breaking band, the Police.
Sting's fourth solo tour (the first, in the mid-'80s, skipped Philadelphia) brought him back to the South Philadelphia arena Sunday night. This time, he was accompanied only by a three-piece band consisting of drums, guitar and keyboards. Not surprisingly, this performance was the most satisfying of the three local shows.
Sting's unique vocal style has changed not at all since his days as Chief of Police. It's still one of pop's most distinguished and distinguishable instruments, a slightly sandy, keening tenor perfectly suited for his meditative lyrics about love, life and the human condition.
Placed against his three supporting instruments and his own sinewy, understated bass lines, Sting's vocals again had a compelling, icy edge that defined a range of songs from the hook-laden 'If I Ever Lose My Faith in You' and 'It's Probably Me' (the two songs up for Grammy Awards Tuesday night) to the story-song Justice (from his most recent LP, 'Ten Summoner's Tales'), with its surprise country-tinged chorus, to the brooding, Springsteen-ish 'Fields of Gold' (also from the Tales album) to the Police's 1979 breakthrough hit, Roxanne, which in concert amplified the tune's reggae underpinnings.
Curiously, the one time his voice failed him was on the well-intentioned, but less than satisfying cover of the Beatles, 'A Day in the Life'. On this, Sting seemed to push a bit too much for effect.
The band, which operated from a no-frills stage (horror of horrors, the amplifiers and monitors were actually visible to the audience!) easily handled Sting's often complex arrangements.
Of particular note were the jazzy stylings of keyboardist David Sancious (a charter member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band), who added plenty of life with his subtle shadings and counter-melodies.
It all added up to a solid evening of adult pop-rock from one of the genre's true masters.
(c) Philadelphia Courier Post by Chuck Darrow
Sting discards glitz for solid, raw concert...
Rock star Sting gave a stripped-down and straightforward performance before a near-sellout crowd at the Spectrum Wednesday night, choosing substance over flash in his more than 90-minute performance.
Gone were the elaborate stage sets, legions of backing musicians and bevy of female backup singers that plagued Sting's last national tour in 1988. Instead, the British singer-songwriter-bassist, who will perform at the Trump Taj Mahal on Tuesday, went for a sparse stage set and an even sparser sound.
Gone were the brass instruments; Sting was backed by only a guitarist (Dominic Miller), drummer (Vinnie Colaiuta) and keyboardist (David Sancious, a former member of Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band).
Opening with his current single, 'All This Time' from his third solo LP, 'The Soul Cages', former leader of The Police seemed determined to carry his atmospheric, often brooding music with a minimum of glitz. And it worked perfectly.
Dressed in black jeans and a black T-shirt, Sting dished out a sampling of his strongest solo material and a jarring retrospective of his work with The Police, who disbanded in 1984 at the height of their fame.
Interestingly, it was the Police songs that brought the audience to life. No wonder: while Sting's solo work is melodic and challenging, it's hardly fun, dealing mainly with topics such as broken dreams and lost love. Many of the Police's songs, however, such as 'Walking On The Moon' and 'When The World Is Running Down (You Make the Best of What's Still Around)' are full of wit and, dare we say, humour.
Throughout the concert, there was a striking change in the way the audience reacted to Sting's solo works and his covers of old Police tunes (which had the crowd in a near frenzy).
Sting stretched himself musically Wednesday night. Covering everyone from Jimi Hendrix ('Purple Haze') to a blues version of Bill Withers' 'Ain't No Sunshine', he creatively interspersed snippets of other singers works into his own songs - which worked exceptionally well when he merged 'If I Were A Carpenter' into his own 'Why Should I Cry For You?'
Songs from Sting's solo career were filled with tension by his impassioned voice and the subtle playing of his bandmembers. Most importantly, Sting - long known for his brooding demeanour - seemed downright friendly Wednesday night, chatting and joking with the audience as well as dancing along the edge of the stage.
(c) The Press of Atlantic City by Nicole Pensiero
Sting: some Police hits at Spectrum...
He's continued to write music - often on a more experimental plane (see his current 'The Soul Cages') - but when it's time for that sure-fire song to rouse a listless crowd, he turns to 'Roxanne' or 'When the World Is Running Down (You Make the Best of What's Still Around').
It seems the farther he gets from these songs, the more he needs them.
It's no wonder. They were some of the most bracing, urgent blasts of pop songcraft since the Beatles. To his credit, Sting hasn't revived them note-for-note or crammed them into a whiz-bang medley. On his two previous solo tours, he craftily rearranged them, shifting rhythmic emphasis and adding extended improvisation, transforming the familiar into something vibrantly alive.
Wednesday night's show at the Spectrum was no different. Sting and an empathetic backing trio opened with 'All This Time', the first single from 'The Soul Cages', then delved into a set of moderately exploratory elegies from that album. Those songs, and a cover of Bill Withers' 'Ain't No Sunshine', were cast in various glum tempos. But just as things began to get dreary, Sting served a tour-de-force 'Roxanne'.
The Spectrum, which was not full but in excellent voice, came alive. It was sing-along time, and from that point on, the blond bassist-singer, dressed in black jeans and T-shirt, kept the crowd on its feet: through the Gregorian-chant melody of 'King of Pain', the spry 'Walking on the Moon' and 'Bring on the Night', which melted into 'When the World is Running Down'.
Even when he returned to 'The Soul Cages' and other solo material, the crowd remained captivated. That's probably because everything he played had an element of suspense.
Following a few conventional verses of 'Roxanne', Sting adopted a blues wail to deliver surprisingly powerful, scatlike phrases. Keyboardist David Sancious transformed 'When the World Is Running Down' into a jittery hyper-boogie, in which the ghost of Thelonious Monk conversed with that of Jelly Roll Morton. And, in a surprise, Sancious picked up a guitar for a fierce exchange of ideas with Dominic Miller on Jimi Hendrix's 'Purple Haze'.
Most of the time, the arrangements expanded dramatically on the originals. But Sting is still missing one key ingredient when he performs Police tunes: Stewart Copeland's anarchistic drumming. On this tour, L.A. session man Vinnie Colaiuta is behind the kit, and while his timekeeping is competent, it's too sedentary, too predictable, for the material.
This was evident on the sambalike coda to 'Every Breath You Take', which was sluggish, as well as the skittish ska version of 'Message in a Bottle'.
(c) The Philadelphia Inquirer by Tom Moon
Sting keeps crowd buzzing...
Sting is known for his stormy, brooding moods.
But those traits never surfaced Wednesday night as he invoked passion, tears and dreams at the Spectrum.
He delivered a host of well- worn hits and fresh tunes from his new album, 'The Soul Cages'.
That album all the songs were written by Sting brusquely received by critics when it was released this year.
The critics may have retracted their negative remarks had they heard Sting explode into his upbeat 'All This Time'.
The packed audience cheered and screamed as he kicked off the set with the tune, which calls to mind a breezy day the kind that makes a curtain flap wildly in the wind.
The tune is similar to Sting's big hit with the Police, 'Don't Stand So Close to Me'.
Special Beat, a hybrid of the Specials, English Beat and General Public, ushered in the night's first music with heavy reggae.
'Mad About You' was possibly one of the best cuts Sting performed from his latest creation.
It was a tapping, restless song that shook out a modern harpsichord sound.
"How do you feel now?" Sting called to a raging crowd. He broke into the jazzing Bill Withers tune, 'Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone', because, he said, "I feel like it.'
Sting also performed 'Why Should I Cry for You?', a slow and mysterious song. He also roused fond memories with "Roxanne.
The audience members rose to their feet out of respect for one of the greatest hits from the Police.
They answered back as Sting echoed the name 'Roxanne' again and again.
He broke into 'When the World Is Turning', with choppy piano bites that frenzied onlookers even more.
He also performed 'The Wild, Wild Sea', a rolling, gushing sound that hesitated and then overcame the listener with force.
The title track, 'The Soul Cages', was as hard-hitting as Sting gets.
Other cuts were 'Island of Souls', slow, sad song about the misery of a shipbuilder's son who had dreams of a better life.
Sting plucked an acoustic guitar with a Spanish flavour in his instrumental 'St. Agnes and the Burning Train'.
(c) The News Journal by Lorraine Kidd
Stripped-down Sting shows why he's on tour...
If Sting would rather reach for music higher up on the cultural shelf than lowly rock'n'roll, and if the only band guaranteed sold-out arenas lately is the Grateful Dead, why is he bothering to tour?"
Is it so he can perform before a live audience? Possibly Wednesday night's concert at the Spectrum was one of the best, according to Sting anyway, who said so after the near-sellout crowd performed so well during the call-and-response part of 'Bring on the Night'. The audience believed him, too.
Maybe it's the British pop star's penchant for improvisation, how he's able to put different spins on his tunes and see what he ends up with. He did have some wonderful segues and songs within songs: 'Why Should I Cry For You', from 'The Soul Cages', sliding into 'Be Still My Beating Heart', from 'Nothing Like the Sun', and pieces of 'If I Were A Carpenter' and 'Wait Till the Midnight Hour' woven through 'All This Time', his 'Soul Cages' hit.
Is it the chance to try something completely different, or to at least have fun with the "primitive" musical side of himself?
Yes, definitely. Sting dragged his fans through his mariner fisherman concept with an inspired but somewhat tedious rendition of 'Island of Souls'. They indulged him, particularly since it was a good time to go out and get a soda, but the last thing the crowd expected after 'Souls' was Jimi Hendrix's 'Purple Haze'. This actually happened. He did it well, too.
Sting also did a dreamy version of Bill Withers' 'Ain't No Sunshine', proving he can make anything sound like a lullaby anthem. All fine reasons to tour.
But Wednesday night, Sting at times didn't seem quite the touring performer. His band is pared down to the basics - drums, lead guitar, bass (which Sting played most of the time) and keyboard, which generates most of what Branford Marsalis and others used to provide live. That four-piece group put out a powerful, tight sound - 'Roxanne' brought the house down.
But things got eerie during 'If You Love Somebody, Set Them Free', when, with no female back-up singers in sight, someone was singing the "free, free, set them free" part that Dolette McDonald and Janis Pendarvis used to sing. Milli Vanilli, perhaps?
Sting doesn't really have to tour to sell a record any more, but fortunately, stripped down or not, he still does.
(c) The Morning Call by Melanie Novak
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