Summer: 2012

Sting, an English rocker in Molfetta: the 2012 Molfetta Summer event...

The thunderous echo of his clapping to the rhythm of rock remains. The over 5,000 flashes that illuminated the San Domenico pier. And his bottle of water between song sequences. Nearly an hour and a half of uninterrupted music, with fans calling him back on stage five times. The unbridled screams still echo through what remains of the stage where Sting treated Molfetta and the audience, who had flocked from all over the Bari area and the Puglia region, to a feast of great hits and even lesser-known songs (the photos are by our photographer Davide Pischettola, exclusively for Quindici).

It was the 2012 Molfetta Summer event, organized by the "Vincenzo Maria Valente" Music Foundation, chaired by Pietro Centrone, in collaboration with the Municipality of Molfetta. It was the English singer's only scheduled concert in Southern Italy, at least for now, besides Taormina. A fiery cocktail on the bass strings of the magician Sting, who could even evoke rain with the song "Fragile" when he sings, "On and on the rain will fall like tears from a star."

After the orchestral inspirations of the 'Symphonicity Tour,' the sixty-year-old "Englishman," who still inspires dreams with every song (and not only that, considering the enthusiasm of so many female audience members for his tight T-shirt and pants), demonstrated, with his old bass on his shoulder, that rock and roll "will never die," as his colleague Neil Young sings.

A retrace of all Sting's musical loves and moods, evident in the even bare arrangements of the songs: from the white reggae of 'Message in a Bottle' to the jazz of 'Englishman in New York', from the ballad 'Every Breath You Take' to the blues of 'Heavy Cloud No Rain', from the oriental strings of 'Desert Rose' to the punk rock of 'Next To You'. From 'De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da' to the pop-rock of 'Fields of Gold,' Sting rediscovers the pleasure of playing and re-enacting The Police in a mix of ingredients blended in his creative shaker. All the way to the soft rock of 'Shape of My Heart' and the more contemporary 'Never Coming Home.'

More than 20 songs relive a 35-year career in an engaging live performance, with almost superhuman peaks of sound depicted by the voice and high notes of Jo Lawry, faithful guitarist Dominic Miller, drummer Vinnia Colauita, described by Sting as "Vincenzo Pietro, the best drummer in the world" (he has played with Frank Zappa, Jeff Beck, Herbie Hancock, Duran Duran, and Christina Aguilera), the meticulously precise David Sancious on keyboards (a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band until 1974), and Peter Tickell on electric bass (not to mention the spine-chilling solo on his "crazy" violin, played with such extreme precision and speed that it exploded like fireworks, not music).

After he disappeared from the stage, the spotlight has dimmed in Molfetta, awaiting Patty Smith on July 18th.

 (c) Quindici OnLine by Marcello la Forgia