Reggatta de Trani: when he sings with the Police, Sting overshadows Shaggy and lights up Piazza Duomo. Fuori museo 2018, let's relive the concert of the year...
There must be a reason why The Police's most popular album is called Reggatta de Blanc. Sting, who wrote almost all of the band's songs, has always had a soft spot for reggae and has never hidden it.
Even during his subsequent solo career, the genre has often returned, and today, at a stage in his career where he continues to enjoy challenging himself, Shaggy has had the intuition.
Because, with him, that landscape has become even clearer, managing to engage a constantly changing audience and produce ever more unexpected successes.
The result, even in Trani, was a fantastic concert in which the Police's vocals and bass took centre stage, supported by Shaggy, who did his job exactly as expected: singing almost all the songs in duet, bringing a mix of influences and blending two distinct styles to create a winning blend. Supporting them were two other backing singers and a very respectable band.
The concert, part of the Fuori museo 2018 program, organized by the Seca Foundation with the support of the Municipality of Trani, the Megamark Foundation, and the Lum Jean Monnet University, opens at 9:30 PM.
People can barely stay seated, both because the music is so enthralling and because the choice of stage on the opposite side of the cathedral makes the audience slope uphill, rather than downhill, so those sitting in front somehow impede those sitting behind. People with disabilities are particularly affected, complaining about the obscured view of the concert, and it won't be easy for the organizers to fix things.
The concert opens with a rap version of "Englishman in New York," while the choice of stage placement soon becomes clear as beams of light are cast onto the cathedral, animating the temple.
In contrast, the large stage positioned in front of Palazzo Torres, surrounded by colourful rays that intertwine at full speed, seems like a continuous fireworks display, except that here there are no fireworks, but the sound of instruments and the voices of the protagonists.
The first Police song played is "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic," and that's where people really get excited because, no matter what, Sting "is" the Police, and despite everything he's done since, everyone will still connect him to that band and confess to being born and raised on the Police's music.
And then "Message in a Bottle," "Walking on the Moon," "So Lonely," "Roxanne," and "Every Breath You Take": six Police songs, taken from each of the five albums released by that band. The double comes from their debut album, Outlandos d'amour, with the legendary "So Lonely" and "Roxanne."
The first of the Sting-Shaggy duo's songs was the one they performed at Sanremo, "Don't Make Me Wait," followed by the current chart-topping single, "Dreaming in the USA."
Shaggy doesn't shy away from getting everyone singing and dancing to his most famous hits: first up is "Angel," followed by "Hey Sexy Lady" and "Boombastic," intertwined with "Roxanne." The finale is "Fragile," one of Sting's most sublime solo songs. After two hours and no encores, Piazza Duomo empties out, happy for an event that will make concert history in the city.
No public order incidents occurred, thanks in part to the presence of 22 Trani emergency workers and their equipment. Specifically: 4 doctors, who were available free of charge; 1 nurse; 2 ambulances; 1 fire engine; and 4 high-risk firefighters.
An added bonus to the evening was the presence of so many tourists, many of whom chose to stay overnight in Trani after the concert, reversing the trend of passing through and sleeping elsewhere: this time, Sting has changed the habits of hit-and-run tourism.
Among the VIPs, former minister and current parliamentarian Maria Elena Boschi, a guest of City Council President Fabrizio Ferrante, also visited the Seca Foundation's Typewriter Museum.
And those who were initially sceptical about the supposedly high price will likely have changed their minds: Sting is always worth the price.
(c) Il Giornale di Trani
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