Soul Cages: 1991/92

Sting pounds varied beat...

Just before launching into the second number in his set at Brighton Centre on Monday night, Sting told the audience he used to work in the seaside town.

The song in question contained strong elements of the jazz doodlings which have characterised much of his latterday output and had left some fans a mite perplexed.

Still, it did not matter and the well-filled Centre welcomed Sting, one of the undisputed "good guys" of the rock world, back like a long lost son.

Fronting a solid, well- drilled trio of ace musicians our man was in his element, playing no-holds-barred bass of the string-stretching kind; so much so, that after everyone of the more funky numbers a roadie had to bring on a replacement guitar.

We had to wait about 40 minutes before Sting relented and the opening chords of Roxanne filled the auditorium. It was instantly clear why many of the people were there; fists punched the air, the crowd surged forward and one guy literally reached new heights in pogoing!

Wisely, the stall seats had been taken out.

Sting's guitarist, Dominic Miller, is a true find. He is one of those people who can set his axe a jingling like Roger McGuinn, or play brutal riffs that would not seem out of place in Bowie's Tin Machine, or make the notes hang like big drops a la Dave Gilmour.

He crashed into 'Soul Cages' like it was nobody's business and it turned out to be one of the highlights of the show which lasted close on two hours.

The next song, Hendrix's 'Purple Haze', was a personal favourite. For this David Sancious, a key- board player who knows the ropes better than most, strapped on a guitar before letting rip; okay, so it wasn't exactly Jimi, but it was brilliant all the same.

Then the stage was bathed in coloured lights, dry ice filtered through and Sancious gently tickled the ivories; it seemed as if they were getting ready for 'Russians'. But, no, it was 'King of Pain', Sting's apparent signature tune.

There then followed a series of old Police songs- and it is amazing just how well they have stood the test of time! the show finished with 'Every Breath You Take' and the encore was, what else, 'Message In A Bottle'.

Then they came back and played 'Fragile', in memory of Freddie Mercury. Few dry eyes in the house.

(c) The West Sussex County Times by Joubert Malherbe

Sting selects jazzy policy...

It started so well and ended in perfection but there were an awful lot of dodgy moments in between.

Sting returned to a full Brighton Centre on Monday after his political sabbatical and writer's block, and attempted to get back to his roots both musical and personal.

'All This Time' was a fine launch pad, but all too soon it became apparent the four piece were not content to play it straight. Every song had to have a jazzy interlude so that even pop classics like Roxanne were laden down with keyboard solos.

Was Sting trying to justify the longevity of his earlier hits? If so he could have done that by playing them as first recorded, because most of the Police's singles are still perfect.

Much of the first half was pretty turgid so that even the gloomy 'Invisible Sun' shone out, eclipsing a pretty horrible version of 'Ain't No Sunshine'.

Incredibly it took another cover version, of Hendrix's 'Purple Haze', well not even a cover, more of a straight-forward rendition, to kick start the gig back into life.

Then the simplicity of 'Walking On The Moon' and the beauty of 'Every Breath You Take' ended the main body of the night, and played without any jazz fusion nonsense they were a refreshing finale.

The first encore of 'Message In A Bottle' continued the trend of rocking out before 'How Fragile We Are', dedicated to Freddie Mercury, ended an evening that had perplexed and thrilled.

(c) The Argus by Gary Edwards