Broken Music
Sting may be able to “go all night” with Trudy, thanks to the “The Force” (or as us laypeople call it, tantric sex), but last night at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, he had what was tantamount to “stage fright”. (Is that enough quote use for you?)
I want to like Sting, I really do. He seemed like such a nice guy last night. Even said God bless you at the end of the show. A quaint Englishman. Took a collective bow with his mates (the sparse band). But there was just something missing. Like he phoned in the concert or something. Like the vocals were done by Sting’s stunt man while Sting reclined in an easy chair in the wings.
Don’t get me wrong. I love the Police. Love them! And Sting’s stuff from the 90’s is great as well. (Some of it) But maybe that was his peak. In the 21st century, does anybody really care? I mean, he didn’t sell enough tickets to pack an arena that only holds 7,500. There must not be that much of a demand. All I saw, besides my old hippie roommate that invited me to partake of the free ticket, was middle aged suburbanites and large groups of single women from the office pool. Where was the punk rock white reggae from 1979?
In an effort to “get back to his roots”, (there I go again), Sting started the Broken Music tour on April 1st. Stripped down. Eliminating the soulful background singers. And playing music he hasn’t played in 20 some years. Namely songs from his years with the Police. Yeah! I have never seen Sting live before. What an opportune time to check him off my list. Yeah, well…
After Phantom Planet, the opening act, said they were going to play one more song before they left to make way for Sting, the crowd cheered. Not because they looked forward to the final song, but because they wanted PP off the stage to make way for their hero. (Personally, I thought that was kind of rude. In my opinion, PP worked a lot harder than Sting’s band) Then PP played that last song - “California”, which everyone immediately recognized as the ring tone on their cell-phone and the theme from the OC on the WB.
“Oh, we know this song. This song is cool. It’s from that show and…I kind of like this band. Ohhhhhh California here we come….right back where we started from. Let’s sing along. La la la la la. La la la la la.” - What idiots!
So Sting finally arrived and opened with “Message in a Bottle”, followed by “Spirits in a Material World” (Which he said was stolen by Madonna- I guess he means “Material Girl”) and then “Demolition Man”. Three really excellent Police songs. If he had put a little backbone into them, they would have really rocked. But, as it stands, he didn’t. And therefore, the songs didn’t. “Roxanne” was great for the first verse, and then, disappointingly, fell apart when he tried to get us to sing along with some inane added part while he scated through the rest. I guess the highlights, if I have to choose them, were probably his cover of the Beatle’s “Day in the Life” and “Synchronicity II”. Those were pretty good. And “Next to You”, which he did as one of the four encores. Did I say that “Every Breath You Take” sucked? Well, I meant to.
Sting, here is my advice to you. Get the band back together. Work through your differences with Andy and Stewart and go out on tour. Be the Police again. That’s really getting back to your roots. That’s rock and roll. What you did last night was take the bite of songs like “King of Pain” and filter them through your “Fields of Gold”. That’s like having Debby Boone sing the Sex Pistol’s “Anarchy in the UK”. You dig? How about taking back the rock. Then I’ll go see you again. When 1 is 3. The holy trinity of reggae punk. And I’ll pay for my ticket this time
I want to like Sting, I really do. He seemed like such a nice guy last night. Even said God bless you at the end of the show. A quaint Englishman. Took a collective bow with his mates (the sparse band). But there was just something missing. Like he phoned in the concert or something. Like the vocals were done by Sting’s stunt man while Sting reclined in an easy chair in the wings.
Don’t get me wrong. I love the Police. Love them! And Sting’s stuff from the 90’s is great as well. (Some of it) But maybe that was his peak. In the 21st century, does anybody really care? I mean, he didn’t sell enough tickets to pack an arena that only holds 7,500. There must not be that much of a demand. All I saw, besides my old hippie roommate that invited me to partake of the free ticket, was middle aged suburbanites and large groups of single women from the office pool. Where was the punk rock white reggae from 1979?
In an effort to “get back to his roots”, (there I go again), Sting started the Broken Music tour on April 1st. Stripped down. Eliminating the soulful background singers. And playing music he hasn’t played in 20 some years. Namely songs from his years with the Police. Yeah! I have never seen Sting live before. What an opportune time to check him off my list. Yeah, well…
After Phantom Planet, the opening act, said they were going to play one more song before they left to make way for Sting, the crowd cheered. Not because they looked forward to the final song, but because they wanted PP off the stage to make way for their hero. (Personally, I thought that was kind of rude. In my opinion, PP worked a lot harder than Sting’s band) Then PP played that last song - “California”, which everyone immediately recognized as the ring tone on their cell-phone and the theme from the OC on the WB.
“Oh, we know this song. This song is cool. It’s from that show and…I kind of like this band. Ohhhhhh California here we come….right back where we started from. Let’s sing along. La la la la la. La la la la la.” - What idiots!
So Sting finally arrived and opened with “Message in a Bottle”, followed by “Spirits in a Material World” (Which he said was stolen by Madonna- I guess he means “Material Girl”) and then “Demolition Man”. Three really excellent Police songs. If he had put a little backbone into them, they would have really rocked. But, as it stands, he didn’t. And therefore, the songs didn’t. “Roxanne” was great for the first verse, and then, disappointingly, fell apart when he tried to get us to sing along with some inane added part while he scated through the rest. I guess the highlights, if I have to choose them, were probably his cover of the Beatle’s “Day in the Life” and “Synchronicity II”. Those were pretty good. And “Next to You”, which he did as one of the four encores. Did I say that “Every Breath You Take” sucked? Well, I meant to.
Sting, here is my advice to you. Get the band back together. Work through your differences with Andy and Stewart and go out on tour. Be the Police again. That’s really getting back to your roots. That’s rock and roll. What you did last night was take the bite of songs like “King of Pain” and filter them through your “Fields of Gold”. That’s like having Debby Boone sing the Sex Pistol’s “Anarchy in the UK”. You dig? How about taking back the rock. Then I’ll go see you again. When 1 is 3. The holy trinity of reggae punk. And I’ll pay for my ticket this time
posted by The Passenger at 3:09 PM
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