OT - Sting at Quebec City Summer Festival

[Max Taffey]

Anyone else catch this? He played the Quebec City Summer Festival on Saturday night. It was available to order through Bell ExpressVu, so I PVR'd it, and ended up skipping through the entire thing. It reinforced to me what many of you had already stated - now that I have Certifiable, there is really no reason to see Sting solo. The set list was 60% Police songs, of course without the magic that Stewart and Andy provide. It actually bugs me that he relies so heavily on these songs now. They should be shelved to preserve the memory of the reunion tour IMO. Anyway, for anyone interested, here's the complete set list. By the way, I deleted the show after skipping through it.

If I Ever Lose My Faith In You
Message In A Bottle
Englishman In New York
Synchronicity II
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
If You Love Somebody Set Them Free
Fields Of Gold
Driven To Tears
Walking On The Moon/Tea In The Sahara
Shape Of My Heart
Wrapped Around Your Finger
Bring On The Night/When The World Is Running Down
Roxanne
Desert Rose
King Of Pain
Every Breath You Take
Fragile

[Johnny O]

Yeah I saw that. I read the review on Sting.com too...
Every time I read about a solo performance, I feel like I saw that exact same show back in 1991. I'm sorry but it's time for Sting to shake up the live set list. I'm willing to bet that the arrangements to the Police songs were VERY similair to the Tourzilla arrangements.
Although I am ETERNALLY grateful for the Reunion, it feels a tad like a wasted opportunity to play some obscure Police tunes that the hardcore fans would've eaten up. My God, what if the boys would have thrown in songs like Gradenko, I Burn For You, Shadows in the Rain and the song that arguably started the whole Reunion heart pumping, Does Everyone Stare???

[luddite lady]

[quote="Max Taffey"]By the way, I deleted the show after skipping through it.
[/quote]

Somewhere in Germany a police officer weeps.

[DirtyMartini]

Honestly, llady.

The set list was 60% Police songs, of course without the magic that Stewart and Andy provide. It actually bugs me that he relies so heavily on these songs now. They should be shelved to preserve the memory of the reunion tour IMO.

You know, much as I can viscerally feel that, I think it's like people wanting to keep the World Trade Center space as an empty memorial: emotionally, it makes sense, but it's just not practical: NYC real estate is finite and dear, and so are Police tunes. They both command a higher price.

Johnny said,

Although I am ETERNALLY grateful for the Reunion, it feels a tad like a wasted opportunity to play some obscure Police tunes that the hardcore fans would've eaten up. My God, what if the boys would have thrown in songs like Gradenko, I Burn For You, Shadows in the Rain and the song that arguably started the whole Reunion heart pumping, Does Everyone Stare???

I agree that it was a wasted opportunity for the Police -- lord knows the SC.net crew would've lost their minds had "Miss Gradenko" popped up somewhere -- but I'm starting to think that by holding back on Police tunes, an open opportunity for Sting alone has been created.

Months back, I was trying to figure out how this plan of attack for Police-heavy Sting shows made sense since Sting (et. al.) just gave to Police fans exactly what they had been wanting forever: the Police on stage together reliving those tunes. My thinking was, Why would someone buy a ticket to see Sting perform MIAB solo when he has just witnessed Sting, Stewart, and Andy performing MIAB together?

But I think my thinking was flawed. Many might not go to see Sting perform MIAB solo, but many might go to see him perform "Tea in the Sahara" or "Bring on the Night" (which in practical terms may as well have not been performed in 2008). I wonder if those Police tunes that the Police didn't play together might not serve as an incentive for some folks to want to grab a Sting show. Many folks will still have no interest or won't think it worth the cashola, of course, but the chance to see live even just, say, "Shadows in the Rain" once (alongside other Police favorites to keep them entertained) might be enough for some Police die-hards to pick up a ticket.

I do think Sting needs some new tunes considering the age of the material on his setlists, but in general, I wonder if having held back on some of the more obscure Police tunes, the results weren't twofold: hit-filled Police sets and sweetener for Sting solo sets.

BTW, over at TP.com Donna gave an absolutely brilliant assessment of the Sting concert that she saw at Foxwoods the other day:

It's kind of like eating Pizza Hut. It's actually pretty tasty as long as you don't think of it as pizza Grin

[luddite lady]

I think DM is on to something with her ideas about why Sting might be throwing in a couple of Police songs not covered during the reunion tour. You also have to reason that the Quebec City Sting show may have had a lot of appeal since The Police never played there during the reunion tour (or maybe ever). Believe it or not, there are some fans who aren't willing or able to travel beyond their own town to catch a show. For those folks, Pizza Hut is better than no pizza at all, and we should be glad they had a chance to enjoy a live performance.
Sting's Toronto show was not well attended, and that's likely due to the fact that The Police played there four times during the reunion tour. Given the size of the city, that's an awful lot of shows. I believe it was also Sting's fist solo show post-tour. I imagine the Quebec City and Foxwood shows had much better attendance.