Sting starts fall tour in Vancouver with 2 nights of pop hits as a no-frills trio…
Sting turned 75 last Friday but you’d never guess it given his fitness and jet-setting ways.
On Saturday he was in London, England starring in The Last Ship, capping a two-week run of his own musical, rooted in childhood memories in the British shipbuilding town of Wallsend, at Theatre Royal Drury Lane.
Just two nights later in Vancouver, on Monday (Oct. 5), the Police singer-bassist kicked off a fall tour of North America with the first of two nights at Queen Elizabeth Theatre, where another show follows Tuesday.
No rest for a globetrotting pop-rock star, apparently.
In front of 2,800 fans Sting was relaxed, engaging and shared stories about the songs that have made him famous since the late-1970s.
The 3.0 Tour features Gordon Sumner in a familiar trio setting, fronting longtime guitarist/collaborator Dominic Miller and drummer Chris Maas, who together hit the right notes, mostly, on a 20-song journey through Sting’s deep catalogue.
They hadn’t performed together in a couple months, Sting noted, and some songs were played for the first time in years, so some minor slip-ups marred an otherwise flawless tour-opening concert. Relatably, they laughed off any mistakes.
The headset mic-wearing Sting can still sing with some power, unlike other rock stars of his vintage, so that was nice to hear. Likewise, his bass playing was near-perfect on that iconic old Fender, which he thumbed and caressed with, um, precision.
Fans stood and danced for the first five songs, ending with Fields of Gold, then Sting announced that he would sit (on a tall stool). Sting sits, everyone sits, thus ushering in a more mellow middle set of songs.
Seven by The Police made the cut, starting with Message in a Bottle at two minutes before 9 p.m.
“I have to say this, I’m very happy to be above the 49th parallel,” Sting then said to a roar of approval. “I don’t want to get political, but you know what I mean.”
Ninety-five minutes later Sting waved goodbye to the adoring crowd (of mostly mortgage-free fans, by the looks of it) after playing Fragile on acoustic guitar, the only instrument swap of the night for any of the players, all dressed in simple black on a simple stage, few bells and whistles, just solid musicianship.
Chance Emerson, a guitar-strumming folk singer with Taiwanese-American roots, opened at the QE and does so on Sting’s tour, other than Fiction Plane supporting on an extended run of Brooklyn dates starting Nov. 11.
(c) The Surrey New Leader by Tom Zillich
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