M and I went to see Sting perform at the Xcel Energy Center on Monday, June 21st. Not only did he come on tour with your usual suspects of a band, he also brought the England's Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra as his backing band, who he claimed he "borrowed from the Queen". Sting played 26 songs that were broken up into 2 sets with a 20 minute intermission in between. I did get to hear some of my favorite Sting songs, including "Fields of Gold", however I didn't like the arrangement on that one. Sting played many songs from his catalog including a few renditions of his songs with The Police as well as some more rare songs that I've never heard before. This was my first time seeing Sting in concert as a solo performer. While I did see him in concert for The Police Reunion Tour on July 3rd, 2007, I've always wanted to see him solo and had missed the few times he's been to the Twin Cities since 1993, when I can recall starting to enjoy his music. Sting was very personable and gracious on stage and looked very handsome for a 58 year old Englishman. He even had a great sense of humor when an idiot from the crowd yelled, "Free Bird!" He responded that wasn't one of his songs and then when the idiot again called out "Free Bird!" after awhile, Sting responded by simulating smoking a joint and said, "I remember my first joint too" as the crowd laughed. For his encore, he came out with his ipod with the ear bud in one ear while he listened to "Free Bird" and sang the lyrics after he had just listened to the verse. I guess the idiot in the crowd did get his request after all.
1 comment:
Enjoyed your review of the show and your nice photos. I heard about Freebird, but not as much of the story as you shared. Thanks for your account!
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