Sting and stylish band make night in rain worth discomfort...
First Paul Simon, now Sting. Two adult-oriented concerts within the same week.
Two concerts in which the music was the focus, the key, the raison d'etre.
Two concerts that were all that concerts should be vivid, emotional experiences from which you leave feeling satisfied with wonderment and joy.
Backed by a 17-piece band, Simon did his job Saturday night at Oak Mountain Amphitheatre. Backed only by three other musicians, Sting did his duty Tuesday night at the same venue.
Sting's set was alternately blistering and thoughtful, rocking and jazzy, fun and serious. And, while his band was small, it was remarkable, each player including Sting - stunning in his skill.
The crowd of 5,385 was on its feet throughout the hour-and-45-minute concert, braving a steady rain that lasted the length of the show. Of course, one of the loudest cheers came during 'King of Pain' and the line: "I have stood here before inside the pouring rain."
Sting played material from each of his three solo albums, as well as several numbers from his days with The Police. He also offered a New York jazz treatment of Bill Withers' 'Ain't No Sunshine' (extremely appropriate considering the weather) and a raucous, face-in-the-fire version of Jimi Hendrix's 'Purple Haze'.
Always an ultra-earnest kind of guy. Sting appeared remarkably loose during the show, talking and joking with the audience, getting them to sing along, smiling and laughing with his band. But he kept enough of his seriousness to give each song the attention and drive it needed.
Nowhere was that more evident than on the old warhorse 'Roxanne', a song custom-made for sleepwalking through, since Sting has sung it about a million times. But he varied the arrangement, starting with the original, then cruising into a slower, more reggae-fied segment, then coming back to the original for a crashing, hard-rock coda. While the song may have been a bit overlong, Sting gave it his all, never slacking out of ennui.
At the beginning of this tour several months ago, Billboard magazine noted that about an hour into the show, Sting plopped 30 minutes of material from his latest album, the dour and introspective 'The Soul Cages'. The magazine's critic, while giving the show high marks overall, said the songs' dreariness almost ruined the pacing of the concert.
Apparently Sting either read the review or came to the same conclusion himself because his concert Tuesday was excellently paced. While most of the material from 'Soul Cages' was played, it was varied, moving from the brash and percolating rhythms of 'Jeremiah Blues (Part I)' into the obsessive and possessive 'Mad About You', from the introspective and riveting 'The Wild Wild Sea' and 'The Soul Cages' into the riotous 'Purple Haze'. The last 20 minutes was a non-stop barrage of 'If You Love Somebody Set Them Free', 'We'll Be Together', 'Walking on the Moon', 'Every Breath You Take' and 'Message in a Bottle'. "Interestingly, the encore featured Sting on the peaceful and acoustic 'Fragile'.
All three members of the band deserve special mention. Guitarist Dominic Miller is a distinct find, capable of weaving through Sting's multi-rhythmic, jazz-oriented material as well as launching into a thunderous solo on 'Purple Haze'. Pianist David Sancious obviously is well-coached in jazz, but he added some frenetic piano pounding on 'Driven to Tears' and the crunching guitar chords to 'Purple Haze'. And drummer Vinnie Colaiuta was a powerhouse of jazz-flavoured rhythms.
But boos and hisses to the use of taped background vocals on "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free." They weren't needed and were glaringly obvious.
Openers Squeeze put on a crisp and clean 45-minute set of their bright English pop. Underappreciated and unsung, Squeeze always has been one of the best purveyors of melding striking pop melodies with clever lyrics. Their set featured such highlights as the irresistible 'Tempted', the sly verbal razors of 'Wicked & Cruel' and the chipper 'Sunday Street'.
Good pop music is not easy to make. The Beatles made the most of simple ideas and made it look easy. Squeeze, meanwhile, takes complex rhythmic structures and makes them sound simple. And that's certainly no day at the beach.
(c) The Birmingham News by Shawn Ryan
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CREATE A DISPLAY NAMEWhat a great show this was! I had been a fan of Sting and The Police for about ten years by the time I got to see Sting for the first time. However, it was only during the last 4 or 5 years that I really began to sink my teeth into anything having to do with Sting or The Police. I started listening to all five albums by The Police and all three albums by Sting (Dream of the Blue Turtles, …Nothing Like The Sun, The Soul Cages). I even had the soundtrack to Bring On The Night which was two cassettes (late 80’s) of songs recorded live during Sting’s first solo tour. I now have those on cd. So I was primed for this concert.
I had just started my freshman year at college at the U of A in Tuscaloosa, AL, so it was a relatively short drive up to Birmingham. I met some of my hometown friends there who had also recently enrolled in different universities. So it was also a small reunion of sorts.
There was a light rain throughout the entire concert. It was just enough to make the show a little more special, especially when Sting played King Of Pain, which has the line, “I have stood here before inside the pouring rain.” You can bet the crowd reacted to that. I remember Sting saying something like, “Thanks for coming out to see us play, when you could be at home out of the rain sipping on a pint instead.” Another great lyric that was heard that night was from the song Fragile. I think it was played last. The line is, “On and on the rain will fall like tears from the stars, like tears from the stars.” Again the crowd responded with cheers. His band consisted of (and I hear he’s reverted back to some if not all of these musicians) Dominic Miller-Guitar, David Sancious-Keyboards & Guitar, and last but most certainly not least in my book, Vinnie Colaiuta-Drums.
There was a concert released on VHS from this tour and the setlist for the VHS was almost identical to the setlist in Birmingham. I bought the concert on VHS simply titled, “The Soul Cages Tour,” but I wore it out long ago. I was hoping to see it released on dvd but my opinion is, if it hasn’t been released yet it’s not going to be released ever. That’s what youtube is for I suppose.
Here’s what I remember of the setlist:
1) All This Time
2) Mad About You
3) Jeremiah’s Blues, Pt. 1
4) Why Should I Cry For You?
5) Be Still My Beating Heart
6) Roxanne
7) Bring On The Night/When The World Is Running Down You Make The Best Of What’s Still Around
8) King Of Pain
9) Fortress Around Your Heart
10)The Wild, Wild Sea
11)The Soul Cages
12)If You Love Someone Set Them Free
13)Purple Haze
14)Walking On The Moon
15)Every Breath You Take
16)Message In A Bottle
17)Fragile
That may not be exactly the same setlist that he played in Birmingham that night but give or take one or two songs and rearrange one or two songs and you’ve got it.