Review by: Micah Gummel
Photos by: Micah Gummel
Show photos HERE
With a career spanning over 30 years inclusive of so many memorable and deeply catchy hits you eagerly attend a Sting concert because this is a big part of the soundtrack of your life. These are the songs you grew up with, sang with your friends in the car, the songs you played when your girlfriend broke up with you, the lyrics you poured over that played your heartstrings. But this is Sting’s show and as he takes his sounds back to bass and back to his roots he also layers in the funk, the reggae, the country vibe, the yogic moves that have seen him through his musical career. You are taken in by his ease with the bass that started it all (he quipped that it was nearly as old as he) and you realize this is also the soundtrack of his life.
The Back to Bass tour is as stripped down as any four strings can be, losing none of the deep driving chords that anchor the harmonies. No lasers, no opening act, no dancers, no big sets, just two hours of the music and the musicians. We were privileged with lead guitarist Dominic Miller – Sting’s longstanding right hand man (co-wrote Shape of My Heart), drummer Vinnie Colaiuta – another band member with serious history (began his career by attending Boston’s Berklee College of Music), pianist David Sancious (toured and recorded with Bruce Springsteen, Santana, Eric Clapton) whose musical relationship with Sting dates back to The Soul Cages album. Add in the flavor of fresh new faces, violinist Peter Tickell and vocalist Jo Lawry, and you are ready for a night of all your favorite songs played with an energy and skill that doesn’t disappoint. Sting himself is of course the master, the creator and the force that proves his vocals. And at 61 after capturing your total awe on stage, you really do leave thinking maybe you to should invest a little more time on the yoga mat.
The setting for such a Friday night couldn’t have been more perfect at the Bank of America Pavilion, the warm air of the Summer Solstice on the Boston harbor welcoming you in to the outdoor venue. This is clearly a sold out show with an audience that ranged in age from 8 to 80 give or take. The majority of whom remained on their feet for the two hour session, swaying and singing for as long as they could keep up with the master on main stage.
The Back to Bass tour does not disappoint as Sting and the band flow with a comfortable ease through the pop of the Police and the hits of Sting’s mid and early solo career. The set list tells the story – 30 plus years coming to fruition (though only up to this moment) an evolution of a music legend not stuck in his early successes. And yes, count them, three encores.
With much grace Sting told the audience of how Roxanne was first played on WBCN and that much of the early recognition of The Police is due to that breakout in Boston. He gave much reverence to the people of Boston for their strength in the wake of the violent marathon bombing and urged us to stay strong. He closed the show with a Fragile, a hauntingly beautiful tune that sings of the delicate nature of human life. “Perhaps this final act was meant to clinch a lifetime’s argument, that nothing comes from violence and nothing ever could…” If you have the opportunity download the Portuguese version as well – just as compelling a song regardless of whether you understand the language.
A great and fitting end to the night – and a night well spent in retrospect on the songs of your youth that have played you into your now. Not the canned and recorded version of your yearbook, but the live music that has matured with you like an old friend. Sting is an evolution in himself, an artist capable of interpreting the genres that he studies and finding the common chord for his audience.
Set list:
If I Ever Lose My Faith in You
Every Little Thing She Does is Magic (The Police)
Englishman in New York
All This Time
Seven Days
Demolition Man (The Police)
Fields of Gold
I Hung My Head
Driven to Tears (The Police)
Heavy Cloud No Rain
Message in a Bottle (The Police)
Shape of My Heart
The Hounds of Winter
Wrapped Around Your Finger (The Police)
De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da (The Police)
Roxanne (The Police)
Encore:
Desert Rose
King of Pain (The Police)
Every Breath You Take (The Police)
Encore 2:
Next to You (The Police)
Encore 3:
Fragile