Summer: 2015

Super Bock Super Rock: The old fox Sting put on a show at the Meo Arena...

A strong line-up of hits and impressive musical form made Sting one of the big winners of this first night of Super Bock Super Rock.

It's remarkable that, after decades of singing the same hits with his well-worn Precision bass, Sting still smiles. As we run into the Meo Arena, our shirts soaked from a head-on collision with two beer-carriers, we can already hear the imperious voice of the sixty-year-old, who, inside the large hall, we discover bearded and tanned.

Sting's latest album, The Last Ship, may be about the ruin of the shipping industry in a small English town like the one he grew up in, but live, what the former Policeman does is present, flawlessly, a collection of hits—those hits that, as he said in an interview with Expresso, he has no shortage of.

Sting's delivery, which practically filled the Meo Arena, goes beyond mere professional competence. There is a pop/rock vitality in many of the songs - whether in the vocal performance or the instrument arrangements - that, combined with the energy of a frontman who seems to have just woken up, becomes contagious.

One might think that having Sting headline a rock festival would attract an older crowd, or represent a more comfortable bet, but good old Gordon Sumner proved he had all the tricks to keep the crowd awake this Thursday night.

Accompanied by a band of virtuosos—and everyone, from the drummer to the young violinist, to the pianist and guitarist, had the opportunity to shine with their solos—Sting led the show with an iron fist but a dancer's foot. With almost no pauses between songs, we heard "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You," "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic," "Englishman in New York," "So Lonely," "When The World Is Running Down, You Make The Best of What's Around," "Heavy Cloud No Rain," "Walking on the Moon," and "Message in a Bottle."

Tired? Sting clearly wasn't, keeping the audience by his side, sometimes in frank delirium, until the end of the show, which he explains was called for two encores: in the first, he impressed with the vocal agility in "Desert Rose", his 1999 crossover hit, which was similar to the show at Cool Jazz a few years ago, it ended in a veritable gypsy party, and "Every Breath You Take," during which a passionately in love couple was "caught" by the play of lights, high up in the stands, entertaining the audience. In the second, Sting swapped bass for guitar and, alone with the drums, bid farewell with the beautiful melancholy of "Fragile."

In the interview with Expresso, the man behind "Roxanne" (which also aired on this program, mixed with Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine") gave us a synonym for success: being recognizable. "Whether you like my voice or not is one thing. But hearing it on the radio and recognizing it is important. Having your own brand, like a unique fingerprint." And, from the moment we entered the Meo Arena, to the sound of "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You", until the farewell from the room, with parents and children (adults) and the hugs of satisfaction, we never forgot the most important thing: it was Sting who was on stage.

(c) Blitz by Lia Pereira