My Second Date with Sting

Our first date was on March 29, 1991. I was two months shy of 16 and it was the Soul Cages tour. I just looked it up in my journal and here's all I had to say about it: "I went to the Sting concert. It was soooooo cool. Sting is way rad. I found out his real name is Gordon Sumner or something close to that. Yuck, huh? I would change my name too." After which I resumed my normal diatribe of how many conversations I may or may not have had with the 3 or 4 boys I liked that day. "Way rad?" What kind of a concert review is that?

Now that Sting & I have had our second date (last night), I will review the experience properly.

Let me tell you, despite his solo work being largely categorized as "adult contemporary," this man is every ounce a rock star. From the combat boots, tight-ish black pants & sleeveless white t-shirt on his very decent physique (choosing my words carefully) and a voice that sounds every bit as good as when he was 30 (he is now 55)... he is really quite remarkable. Okay who am I kidding? He's totally hot. I've never been one to have crushes on rock stars, but come on. Looks a little like Billy Idol, doesn't he? Sting's yoga regimen and whatever else he's doing is definitely working for him. (Side note: he told us he had hiked Camelback Mountain at 6:00am that day; how would that be to run into Sting on a hike!) He wasn't a rock star with attitude though. His demeanor on stage was friendly & playful, smiling a lot and really seeming to enjoy himself without coming across as egotistical, like other frontmen I've seen.

In contrast, the other members of the Police look like old men who shouldn't be on the stage. Luckily for them, they are the other 2/3 of the band so they actually did belong there. On stage I mean. But Stewart Copeland (on drums) had a very moppy head of gray hair which, partnered with a sweatband and a strange spandex shirt, made him look like a granny who was sweatin' to the oldies. Andy Summers, on guitar, did rock, I'll give him that... but his wobbly old man jowls were a little much to watch when they showed him on the big screen.

As for the music, it was great. I mean way rad. I had heard, and assumed, that the setlist would be exclusively Police radio hits & singles, but when the second song they did was a lesser-known album cut, my heart was all a-flutter. They did around 20 songs, which was a nice long set (including encores) and lasted even longer considering the "jam sessions" on several. Sting seems to like to mix it up and not perform a song the same exact way twice, which makes it hard to sing along to, but I'll forgive him. I'm sure it would get quite boring to do it the same way every time, and they are in the middle of a 100+ show tour. But he did let us (the audience) sing a few lines on favorites like Roxanne. I was feeling mighty reminiscent during tunes like I Can't Stand Losing You and So Lonely, wishing I had my 1990-1991 posse there with me to enjoy the moment. But I did thoroughly enjoy it anyway, and have no regrets about the $100 spent per ticket and having Hubs beside me (I love going to shows with that guy!). Speaking of jam sessions, I've never thought of Sting as a stellar bassist but he really did tear it up on a few tunes last night. I mean, he was no Flea, but I was impressed.

My only negative comments (aside from ripping the appearance of the non-Sting band members):There were a couple songs where the band seemed a little out of synch with each other, not rhythmically but tonally. I attribute this to Sting's talent & creativity which the other two cannot match. But they sounded a little "off" from each other a couple times. And, there were two cheesey moments, both involving the video screens: during Wrapped Around Your Finger they kept showing a closeup of Sting's wedding ring on his finger as he played (way too corny), and during Invisible Sun they showed a confusing collection of images of poverty (sad-faced foreign children, huts, etc) with a few shots of apparently U.S. military helicopters & troops. I did not get the point of that; it didn't seem to be entirely anti-war so I'm not sure what their point was. Of course there were a couple songs I would love to have heard that they didn't play, but they did play a nice long time & didn't stop until 10:45pm so I can't complain about that.

The opening act was a band called FictionPlane, fronted by Sting's 30-yr-old son. They were okay; it's hard to really judge a band when you hear them for the first time in a venue like that (US Airways center; maximim capacity of around 19,000), but the drummer was amazing. Our seats were up behind & to the right of the stage, and it was fun to watch that drummer at work from our vantage point. (In 1991 on our first date, Concrete Blonde was the opening act!)

All in all a terrific bit of entertainment, really. I kind of feel like I was a part of history or something, this being the Police's big reunion tour & first tour in 25 years. So it was a big deal... I can't even imagine the amount of money they are making on this gig but I'm glad to have contributed! In 1991 I had hoped Sting would do more Police songs, but he was there to promote his fourth solo album. Our second date was more enjoyable than our first because this was ALL Police tunes. Which I totally dig.

(ps... i have added to this since originally posting it... there's just so much to say! as i sat (stood) through the show i kept thinking of ideas of things to report about it on the blog... and as the morning has gone on, i'm recalling more of what i wanted to tell you about it.)