Bilbao makes Sting’s songs its own
Euskaraz irakurri: Bilbok bere egin ditu Stingen kantuak
Sting (born Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner in Wallsend, United Kingdom, in 1951) began last night in Bilbao (all tickets sold, at the Bilbao Arena in Miribilla) a new leg of his extensive tour “My songs”, which started in 2019 and will supports him on the album that gives him his name, where the British bassist, singer and songwriter re-recorded several hits released both under The Police label and during his solo career in good company.
The audience, mostly middle-aged and after paying a ticket already established as the norm around 80 euros in concerts by internationally renowned artists, responded with pleasure to the first onslaught of the septet: The Police’s classic “Message in a bottle “How not to do it in the face of such an invitation! It is what you have to play with winning cards -songs- in advance.
And it is that -I advance it- you can talk about a concert, you can discuss the attitude of a musician (unbeatable last night, and remarkable in someone who already has everything, popularity, prestige and sales), describe the sound and lighting ( crystal-clear sound and backstage projections), gauge the skill of the musicians on their instrument (ever-lasting squire Dominic Miller on guitar, as effective as ever, Zach Jones on drums, who never fails to emulate the work on the recordings of Stewart Copeland, Omar Hakim, Vinnie Colaiuta or Manu Katché, some of the best drummers in the history of popular music, two backing vocalists, a keyboard and Shane Sager on harmonica), recounting the repertoire (there was no shortage of classics) and even transcribe their melodies, but it is really complicated and I don’t know if it is appropriate to rationalize, beyond that, the impulses, the magic, the outburst that a perfect chord, an excellent melody or a precise drumbeat generates in us. Frank Zappa already said that talking about music is like dancing about architecture, impossible; but come on: we will try to continue sinking while we search for the impossible, what are we going to do.
Sting, Dominic Miller and Zach Jones, last night. Photo: Efe.
An hour before the explosion generated by the arpeggios of “Message in a bottle”, Joe Sumner, Sting’s son, had the responsibility of warming up the atmosphere for half an hour, accompanied only by his voice and an electroacoustic guitar that he sometimes played over bases. pre-recorded
Sumner presented a repertoire of pop songs, colored at times by touches folkies, but it didn’t offer much interest, beyond a few increases in intensity here and there. It can be a nice spectacle to watch on a bar terrace, for example, but it turned out to be quite fitting for the occasion.
Sting, for his part, started the evening at 10:00 p.m. with absolute punctuality, hanging his iconic ’53 Fender Precision bass over his shoulder and with a headset microphone that allowed him absolute mobility, and driven by a first part of the repertoire. immaculate: “Message in a bottle” was followed by the lilting “Englishman in New York”, which introduced the first conversation of the night (“Be yourself”, sang Sting; “No matter what they say”, answered the public), ” Every little thing she does is magic” (The Police, again) and “If you love somebody set them free”, an eighties song, tacky but coolbelonging to his first solo album, and which imposed the lyrical counterpoint to the unpleasant and suffocating lyrics of “Every breath you take”, which would turn the pavilion upside down minutes later (“Set them free” vs “I’ll be watching you”).
Then it was time for Sting to step on the brakes a bit, but the respite in the form of several half-time songs came to an end with a great performance of “If I ever lost my faith in you”, which he included, to end the piece, Sting’s soulful vocal phrasing over the rockerized foundation of the song.
Then, in the middle part of the concert, Sting brought back several songs from his solo career, solid although declining in interest, and we could hear, for example, the exciting and lilting “Fields of gold”, “Brand new day”, ” Shape of my heart” (what a class, those midtone harmonies with the backup singer) and “Mad about you”.
Sting, last night in Bilbao. Photo: Efe.
Sting is a master at turning simple pop textures into interesting, arranging memorable melodies into interesting structures, with surprising rhythms and unexpected arrangements; and last night there was an opportunity to enjoy it in that section.
In any case, if someone was not enjoying themselves, surely the next batch of songs dispelled all doubts. You can hardly fault the syncopated bass and reggae echoes of “Walking on the moon”, the classic “So lonely”, the Arabic atmosphere of “Desert rose” and the interpretation of the mythical “Every breath you take”, to the which followed the first break in the concert after an hour and a half of music.
Two minutes after leaving the stage, the group was back, draped in red lights (they couldn’t be any other color), to perform an extended version of “Roxanne,” which maintains the verve of the refrains of The Police 45 years later. of its publication, in which Sting showed off the bass with a walking bass hypnotic and thunderous (the sound of the bass improved throughout the night, from a little grassy at first to a hoarse and deafening tone at the end).
The concert ended with a beautiful version of “Fragile”, which Sting dedicated to a recently deceased friend and played more fair voice than at the beginning of the night, when he wore nothing. The last two songs, for his part, rang in his throat without rushing but without boasting.
“Thank you, Bilbao”, he said goodbye until the next Sting, having already made his songs our own, turning the individual into the collective, as dictated by the most valuable aspect of art. Singing is putting a message in a bottle so that it conveys to others a unique way of seeing the world; Last night, Bilbao received Sting’s message.
If anyone regrets not going to see Sting last night, they will have a chance to redeem themselves on December 16 in Pamplona.
Source: Eitb
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
