Sting 3.0

The rain never gave up... not Sting either

It rained before the concert. It rained during the concert. And it rained long after Sting had left the stage at Sverresborg Arena. Nevertheless, almost 10,000 people from Trøndelag stood out with the British legend.

That perhaps says the most about both the audience and the artist this evening. Because even though the concert never quite reached its greatest heights, there was more than enough quality to make the drenched Monday evening an experience worth getting soaked for.

Seven years after the previous visit, Sting was back in Trondheim with "Sting 3.0". A stripped-down trio format with guitarist Dominic Miller and drummer Chris Maas. Around 10,000 spectators braved a rainy weather that never seemed to let up, and I actually think Sting was impressed.

The concert opens exactly as one would hope it would. First "Message in a Bottle", then "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" came shortly after. They gave the audience a bang. Admittedly, the sound initially struggles to find its form, and the vocals are at times surprisingly uneven. Sting takes a few shortcuts, while Dominic Miller steals much of the attention with a guitar playing that maintains a sky-high class from the first note.

Incidentally, it is provocative how good Sting looks. At 74 years old, he enters the stage with a self-confidence and presence that many artists half his age can only envy.

The trio works well together throughout. Chris Maas delivers steadily behind the drums, Miller excels almost the entire concert, and Sting shows both a twinkle in his eye and self-irony. When he announces a small "hydration break" with a sideways glance at the soccer World Cup, the humour is still loose. Another time he points up to a small red cabin up in the valley, and says that he has a house like that in his homeland... "No wait a minute, I have a castle back home..." Funny guy.

Gradually the sound also improves considerably, and the concert finds a better flow. Nevertheless, the middle section becomes far too long and a bit too stagnant. The tempo drops, the intensity drops, and several of the more obscure songs lack the nerve that Sting is known to be capable of creating.

Fortunately, towards the end he wakes up for real. The bass lines are tighter, and the vocals become more assured. "Roxanne" ignites the audience, and the singing during "Every Breath You Take" shows how strong this song material still stands.

The beautiful ending with "Fragile" is the evening's great highlight. There, Sting finally finds the magic that the concert has been looking for almost all along.

Nevertheless, there is no doubt that some went home a little disappointed. A steady stream of audience members towards the end of the last hour said its part. The rain probably played a role, but if the concert had maintained the same level throughout, more people would have probably stayed until the final applause.

But those who stayed experienced an ending that lifted the overall impression considerably.

This may not have been one of Sting's very best concerts. At the same time, the song catalogue is so strong, the interaction in the trio so solid and the ending so nice that you go home with a smile, even if you are soaking wet.

(c) Musikkavisen Puls by Petter Aagaard