Sting's Back to Bass Tour

[kmart]

Has anyone been to see Sting on his Back To Bass Tour?

If so, was it any good? I have tickets for Chicago Nov. 5th. He is playing at small theatres. The Rosmont Theatre in Chicago (not to be confused with the much larger Rosemont Horizon) and The Fox Theatre in Detroit. He is selling out big cities but seems to be having a harder time selling out small cities.

I saw him play Ravinia last year in Chicago and that was a sell out. Hard to believe he isn't selling out,

I know Sting can't stop touring either. He has adapted to life on the road and more than a few weeks at home make him crazy....so, in my twisted loogic, his popularity is diminshing. He no longer sells out large venues...He needs a jolt that only 2 other musicians can give him.....

THE POLICE WORLD TOUR 2012 or 2013!

[jerseyfan]

As a solo artist Sting hasn't released a new studio CD or any new Sting songs since Sacred Love in 2003. That's eight years. Since then it's been the lute, the winter and the symphony.

What was always great about Sting's tours was getting to hear how they played new songs live. It was always interesting watching an early show and then one towards the end of the tour. It was almost as if it was two different tours because the songs would evolve so much.

Some fans may find it hard to pay $200-plus per ticket to hear songs they've heard many times. If we're talking dinner and a concert, that's a $500-$600 night. That's very hard in this economy.

As much as I would love it, I've lost complete hope of anything ever happening with the Police. I'm glad about the reunion/goodbye tour. I saw seven shows. I loved them. At least they went out in a great way.

I was dissapointed they didn't go into the studio. I'm sure they would have come out with great material. It would have been nice to create a few more gems. They could have even done something interesting like Sting Policified, where they could have taken 10 Sting solo songs recorded them with unique touch of Stewart and Andy.

One can dream.

[jerseyfan]

I've seen several of the videos posted on YouTube from the first two shows in Boston. I have to say that Sting is kicking ass at 60. He really never dissapoints in a live concert.

I especially like this performance of Inside, a song that, by the way, had the potential for lots of awesomeness had it been Policified.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtWwIUQb ... re=related

[iain28]

Not to bad , what's the betting more police songs turn up in future shows on this tour !

[giovanni]

this one sounds very good...!

[jerseyfan]

OK guys, here's one more.

I love this version of Demolition Man. How cool is it that they used the violins in place of the sax? And how sexy does Jo Lawry look! That was not a question.

Am I wrong about this or is Vinnie pumping out some Copelandish sounds on this?

This is the better video but incomplete:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5lnmaDmn2c

Here's the full performance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKHnlm2x ... re=related

[kmart]

Well....Here is my report card from Saturday Nights show in Chicago:

I would have to give the show an B+

I haven't heard Sting sound that good in a LONG time. His vocal range was amazing and his solo "Message in a bottle" to close the show was hair raising".

Though there were still tickets (200 or so) on sale that morning, it sure looked full to me. Started off great, full of fire and a bunch of Police songs, probably 5 or 6 all night, including Next to you, every little thing, Every breath you take, Demolition Man (my fav song of the night) and maybe one more I forgot.

He played a BUNCH of his "cowboy songs" "I hung my head" was by far my fav of that ilk....the audience was standing through the beginning, sat through the middle while he played some obscure stuff and standing at the end as he put it back into fourth gear. He talked more than I have ever heard him talk on tour, explaining his reason for writing each song and talking about Chicago. It was him, Vinnie on drums, Dominic and his son on guitar, and Jo and Peter Tickell on Violin.

I would deinitely go again if he swung back through on this tour...but if he doesn't then when he comes through next year...


KMART

[BABA]

Well, the combination of Vinnie Colaiuta and half-price tix on StubHub proved irresistable to me, and I went to see Sting at Roseland last night.

I'm glad I did. Sting remains a powerhouse with a monumental catalog.

"Driven to Tears" had some clever tweaks. "Sacred Love" was badass. "Desert Rose" was radiant. Regardless of any writer's block, he's certainly got no performer's block whatsoever.

Most importantly for me, I finally got to see Vinnie play "Seven Days" (upgraded with turbochargers) and a whole bunch of other cool odd-meter stuff ("I Hung My Head", "Love Is Stronger Than Justice", etc.) with the added mega-bonus that Sting and Dominic Miller were performing. Wow.

Cheers.

[Kim]

OK, Message In A Bottle, Secret Policeman's Ball style is amazing. That alone might be worth the price of admission. MMMM. I wonder if there will be another leg? Ugh. How does he DO that? LOL.

[Mario]

Just coming back from the L.A. show at the Wiltern with my kids.

Best Sting solo gig I ever attended, period.

[Dietmar]

need ticket scans / photos / memorabilia for the PoliceWiki: dtmrcls at aol dot com

[LARNOULD THERESE]

i GET MY TICKET for Sting in Lille, in France!! on march

[Throb]

Wish I had gone to the Wiltern show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xLMAkAXnag

THUNK!

[Omaha_Perez]

I hadn't seen Sting solo since the mid 90s (he lost me at Mercury Falling), but my girlfriend really likes him and had never seen him... so I took her to the Wiltern last night. I wasn't really looking forward to it but then out he walks and they go into "All This Time". I thought, "Oh yeah, I love this guy."

I wish I could leave it at that, but I can't. The positive vibes eroded as he pulled out just a baffling set list. Even though I am a POLICE fan, not a Sting fan, I could pick out over a dozen excellent solo tunes off the top of my head. He played maybe 3 or 4 and trotted out some real shit. I don't need or even want a Greatest Hits show but "Stolen Car"? What is this shit? 3 Sting country tunes? Try 0 next time! The audience was visibly bored, only getting excited by Police tunes and the all too rare GOOD solo tune. On the plus side there were plenty of piss breaks. His acoustic "Message" closer was beautiful and the show certainly had its moments, but on a whole very disappointing.

I saw mention on here that Sting has closed the door to future Police tours. Don't believe it for a second. He's selling solo tickets right now - he doesn't want you waiting for The Police to get together again. He's playing Police arrangements in his set with excellent musicians, yet there's no fire. It's obvious to the most casual observer. Give him a year or two and The Police will be back again.

[Rusty James]

Sting's Back to Bass tour is in Vancouver for three shows at The Queen Elizabeth Theatre.
Here's the skinny on the first show from last night.

Review: Sting

Where: Queen Elizabeth Theatre

When: Thursday Night

Sting has done a lot of experimentation in his 25 years as a solo artist. He began as something like a punk but when he broke up with his band The Police, he ran into the arms of jazz legends rather than rock gods.

His literary lyrics and heavy use of world beats made him the intellectual's choice of early 80s pop music--a sort of thinking man's Phil Collins. And like Collins, Sting has done his fair share of soundtracks, including a little Disney.

In the past few years he has dabbled in lute music for his album Songs From the Labyrinth and most recently toured with a full orchestra. All this variation has made for a strange discography.

The Back to Bass tour that brings him to Vancouver this time around, however, has been billed as a straight up rock show, an unadorned retrospective of his long career.

So understandably nostalgia is heavy at Queen Elizabeth Theatre as the crowd filters in for the sold-out first night of his three show run.

The age range spans his career as completely as the expected setlist--parents with teenaged kids who couldn't have been born when Sting first reached his ascendancy. (It's worth noting that my own first stadium show was Sting at the now demolished Winnipeg Arena)

"I get the feeling there won't be any reefer smells," remarks one disappointed-sounding older fan.

By 8:15, the room is chanting for the band to get going.

Sting is lithe-looking with a clean-shaven head, a white t-shirt and jeans when he takes the stage with that beloved bass. He and his five-piece backing band hop straight into "All this Time" and the crowd is all smiles and bobbing heads (with more than a few receding hairlines) despite a few sound hiccups early on.

He takes a moment to salute the venue's patron monarch (he is still English, after all) and then introduces his band with some very witty stage banter.

"Musicians get too old and decrepit to go on the road so I've very shrewdly hired Mr Miller's son," he quips, referring to his longtime guitarist Dominic Miller whose son Rufus has joined the band for the tour.

He follows with a rendition of the Police hit "Every little thing she does is magic" that features a crowd sing-along encouraged by house lights that brighten during that famous "way-ohoh" chorus.

Two fiddles back him up for a heavy (though still lighter than the recording) "Demolition Man" played by Peter Tickell and backup vocalist Jo Lawry

The band takes a small departure From the tour's setlist with a mellow rendition of "I Hung My Head."

"One of my hobbies is to attempt write country music," Sting explains afterward. He figures he was vindicated because Johnny Cash covered that one.

This won't be the last time Sting charms the audience with his banter. He goes on to explain that his song writing process often starts with the music. He arranges it, puts it on his iPod and then lives with it for a while. For "Stolen Car" he imagined a car thief that was psychic and can see the whole lives of his victims just by sitting in their seats. The song has a sultry feel. It's performance ends with his backup vocalist coming forward for a musical theatre style duet.

Sting gives each member of his band a chance to shine. "Driven to Tears" brings out a squealing guitar solo from the elder Miller and "Fields of Gold" features a gentle acoustic solo from the younger Miller.

The tone stays up and poppy until "Ghost Story" from 1999's Brand New Day which Sting introduces as a story inspired by his long passed away father. The song is a slightly uncomfortable mix of English folk ballad and pop song but it seems to strike a chord with the audience.

He picks it up immediately with a bluesy rendition of "Heavy Cloud (No Rain)" from 1993's Ten Summoner's Tales.

He draws the night together with biographical detail, proclaiming the secret to a long marriage (vulnerability) and reminiscing about his favorite musical (Seven Brides for Seven Brothers).

For the last song of the regular set, white lights that have played behind the band for most of the night bend forward and throw kaleidoscope circles across the far balconies for "Never Coming Home." The fiddler returns for a final ear-splitting solo, his long bangs in his eyes as Sting eggs him on with a bend at the waist bass player groove dance.

It only takes moments for the whole band to return for an encore with the Middle Eastern inspired "Dessert Rose." Sting wiggles his hips to the fiddles, sending the women up front into a frenzy and drawing the theatre back to its feet.

It's an odd transition back into the Police catalogue for "Every Move You Make" but that doesn't seem to phase any of the dancers. He's ticking all the right boxes and doing it with vigor.

Not to be cut off early, he races back onstage after moments of applause for a rocking version of "Next to You" from all the way back in 1980.

Finally he appears with a small acoustic guitar and finishes up with a stripped down version of "Message in a Bottle." The crowd fills in the chorus and claps as he fills in over top with the alternate whisper-wail that has become his trademark, everyone travelling back in time together over more than 25 years of pop music.



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