Sting sings standards, 'Soul Cages' selections...
Slender beams of fog-filled lights shone to the stage like pillars illuminated in the night.
A boyish-looking 39-year-old man, slick black bass slung across taught black T-shirt, took centre stage with the joy and ease found only in a born performer.
This, unmistakably, was Sting.
For some two hours Saturday night at Atlanta's Lakewood Amphitheater, Sting led fans through a variety of music: sombre, introspective songs searching for the meaning of life interspersed with the classic, finger-snapping pop songs that made Sting the superstar he is today.
He will be at Birmingham's Oak Mountain Amphitheater Tuesday night.
Sting never has been one for form over substance, and this year's tour promoting 'The Soul Cages' album, released last January, is no exception. No MTV-like flair. No computers. One keyboard.
Sting's touring band is the basic rock'n'roll line up - keyboard, guitar, bass, drums - and is reminiscent of The Police. The sound, however, is less energetic, less innovative and, put simply, less fun. Saturday night's concert carried loyal fans through plenty of reflective songs from 'The Soul Cages', a theme album where Sting deals with the death of his parents in 1987, and his earliest memories of the sea.
To be fair, though, the band did punch out a few numbers with enough raw energy to challenge nearly any rock band.
The most exciting moments of the concert came when the Sting showcased keyboardist David Sanchez, who, kicking back his leather stool, pounded the keys with such melodic flair and rhythmic confidence that the audience's enthusiasm nearly drowned him out. (Sanchez, incidentally, used to play with Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.)
Guitarist Dominic Miller, who plays on 'The Soul Cages', was also given a few chances to show off, but his sound was washed out in reverb and disappointingly non-distinct. Drummer Vinnie Colaiuta did an adequate job.
The band was perhaps at its best when it played a cover of Jimi Hendrix's 'Purple Haze', in which keyboardist Sanchez demonstrated equal virtuosity on guitar.
Noticeably missing from the concert are a host of back-up singers and studio musicians who have arguably made Sting's solo career so successful. One in particular, saxophonist Branford Marsalis, has added a jazz edge to Sting's stage and studio sound since 1985.
Still, the audience was generally pleased. Sting, with his ever-popular reedy voice and commanding to sing along with him. Not surprisingly, the songs that sparked the most enthusiasm were now-classics that Sting wrote when he led The Police: 'Roxanne', 'Message In A Bottle', 'Every Breath You Take'. The band played them in Police style.
Fans planning to attend the Birmingham show can expect to hear a number of those Sting standards. They should also count on a substantial selection from 'The Soul Cages', music perhaps better suited for candlelight and red wine than an amphitheater.
The British pop group Squeeze, which is scheduled to open the concert in Birmingham, clearly delighted the audience with their memorable numbers.
(c) The Anniston Star by Paul Sloan
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