Poland is one of the most Sting-friendly countries in the world and I feel I’m somehow contributing to this situation. I got his newest album, Symphonicities, right after the official release. It’s not revolutionary, there are no new songs. Many artists before him already recorded with an orchestra. Yet I can’t help listening to it every few days, can’t avoid dreaming with Every little thing she does is magic and symphatizing with Englishman in New York…
Sting was supposed to give a concert in Poznań for the opening of a new stadium. The tickets were sold out a couple of months before the event. Fortunately I monitored the organizer’s page and 6 hours before the concert I booked four seats even though there was a note “limited visibility of the stage”. I was late (I wish I wasn’t) for Indios Bravos supporting concert, I entered the stadium when Anna Maria Jopek was singing, but I can’t say she impressed me. Then there were some opening-related shows, fireworks, but what do they mean when a shining star is ready to enter the stage? I suppose football fans should be satisfied with their team’s new playground as it’s really huge (42k people can sit there if I remember well), the design is an eye-candy and I guess it’s not worse than other modern stadiums around the world.
It’s true that the visibility was a bit limited: between us and the middle of the stage there was a 20-30m tall set of loudspeakers and our seats were some 80m away from the stage itself. I just hoped the sound engineers did the best they could. The vision was supposed to be supported by my binoculars and two big screens on either side of the stage.
Finally, HE appeared after the orchestra and his band. Paraphrasing my beloved song’s title (which by the way was played as the second), every little thing he did was magic from the very beginning. I hadn’t even dreamed of hearing Russians live with London Philharmonic, announced by Sting in following words: “jest to piosenka o zimnej wojnie”. I admired Jo Lawry’s vocals throughout the whole performance but the duet they sang together, Whenever I say your name, was absolutely tremendous, especially with a beautiful violin intro by an Orchestra member. Sting even put on a vampire cloak before singing… Moon over Bourbon Street, of course.
The Orchestra played brilliantly – some of the members had a chance to play a solo: a lady on clarinet – Mad about you, another man on trumpet – All would envy. But the brightest person of the whole party was maestro Steven Mercurio – I admired his energy, his mastery, the funny way he jumped from one side to another, particularly at the end, when the tempo and temperature were really high. I was happy to see that the musicians had fun while they played She’s too good for me – they stood up in groups and just clapped hands or fooled around. Again I’d like to mention Jo Lawry: her voice, her handsome appearance and dance full of energy were a nice add-on to the whole performance – Sting knew whom to choose.
Sting himself is time-resistant. A calendar or passing years are terms happening to others, not to him. His voice is almost the same as twenty years ago and it’s just hard to believe in his age. There are not that many artists which sound the same on studio albums and live – he belongs to them for sure. A gentleman will walk but never run…