Sting: My Songs Tour: International

Sting: The Boss's Tour...

Back at the Colmar Wine Fair, Sting performed songs from his repertoire that, regardless of their interpretation, will always be his own. He proved it with a sold-out set this Thursday.

This is the second time, after Symphonicities in 2010, that Sting has released an album of his own rearranged songs. His title, "My Songs," which is also the title of the tour, has the merit of being clear. It's true that you're never better served than by yourself, and Sting has always liked to have control over what he produces.

Two years ago, during his previous visit to Colmar, the British artist delivered a set of songs, especially those from the Police period, which had been given a coherent reworking, giving them a new lease on life. Gone are Stewart Copeland's strong, off-beat drumming, and gone is Andy Summers' investigative guitar playing. Beyond the show from two years ago, Sting remembers this evening at the very beginning of the concert, a previous visit to Colmar, at the time when The Police were still going through a tough time.

It's with Roxane, playing acoustically, that he opens the show, paying homage to this era and to the song that opened the doors to their fame. Message in a Bottle follows, and Sting is visibly still dashing, at 67 years old, with a slight roughness in his voice and a few white hairs on his chin. For him, rewriting his songs is perhaps a way of mastering the passage of time, or at least of aligning his repertoire with it. A few tracks later, including Englishman in New York, we'll be delighted to hear the singer's first solo album, The Dream Of The Blue Turtles, and its single, If You Love Somebody Set Them Free, and Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, as luminous as his original CD, Ghost In The Machine by Police, is dark.

After If You Can’t Find Love co-signed by Jamaican Shaggy last year, Shape of My Heart and a rather disappointing version of Wrapped Around Your Finger, a calmer moment settles in a register full of sweetness and good intentions that Sting masters mainly thanks to his incredible talent as a melodist. Then comes the moment where Josh Freeze was not chosen for nothing, and where we do not regret the absence of any of his drummer colleagues, letting loose solidly on Walking on the Moon curiously intertwined with a few bars of Bob Marley’s Get Up Stand Up.

Somewhat oddly, Desert Rose is also placed between So Lonely and Every Breath You Take, two Police highlights that obviously dazzle the audience on their way to the catharsis of the encore. A King then everything almost ends, in mastery with Next to You. Close, Sting will be close again for the time to complete the circle by taking up the acoustic guitar one last time for a touching Russians and Fragile.

(c) Alsace.fr by Christophe Schneider