Sting brings strings to Met... If there was ever a concert where Sting seemed small on stage, it was last night at the Metropolitan Opera, where he played for a sold-out house fronting the 45-member Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. The show, called 'Symphonicity' - a word play on The Police's 1983 album 'Synchronicity' - was a clever musical treatment that humbly placed the importance on the music rather than Sting's celebrity. At the same time, it was also a major boast by Sting when he claimed his music can stand up to the power and grandeur of a full classical orchestra. Sting is a complex guy, but in the end, this reinvention of his songbook was simple. At this classy affair, Sting and company were playing the good stuff. Not that 'Roxanne' really needed to ditch the reggae beat in favor of the brass and string whirl it got. Yet by playing it with a moody instrumentation and a Latin undercurrent, Sting's old story about devotion to a street walker seemed new again. Sting, who created many of the best songs he played at this concert while he was in a little trio called The Police, should know size doesn't matter. Yet, during numbers like the sad-yet-powerful 'I Hung My Head', 'King of Pain' and 'Every Breath You Take', there was balance between the rock and the symphonic. Any nagging thoughts that this was a schlock 'n' roll orchestral maneuver by a rocker star seeking high-brow relevance were completely rubbed out by the force of the ensemble as it floated Sting's reedy vocals. This is one of the must-see concerts of the year. © New York Post by Dan Aquilante