Summer

Jun

2012

Werchter, BE

TW Classic Festival

Sting at TW Classic: Maturity is a given...

Sting has become a regular at Werchter, and on Saturday he was once again one of the undisputed crowd-pleasers. After his subpar performances at the Royal Circus earlier this year, the British superstar had some making up to do. Sting hadn't so much tweaked the setlist as the band accompanying him.

The additional guitarist was replaced by veteran David Sancious on piano, and singer Jo Lawry's role was thankfully also significantly reduced. Instead, both master drummer Vinnie Colahiuta and violinist David Tickell were regularly given a prominent place. The result of these shifts was nothing short of spectacular.

Sting—sixty, but still in shape—scored a hat trick with 'All This Time', 'Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic', and 'Englishman In New York'. With that, the standard was set. Sting isn't the kind of artist who needs to crank up the volume to get the crowd going, and he was actually the first artist of the day to dare to play quiet, subtle songs. "Fields of Gold" and "The Shape of My Heart" were no less brilliant for that. The joy of playing was palpable, and the set gave a good impression of Sting's versatility as a songwriter and performer. A hint of ska wafted through "Demolition Man," "Message In A Bottle" hopped to the rhythm of reggae, "Love Is Stronger Than Justice" tipped its hat towards country, "Desert Rose" lapped up Algerian rai, and as the final encore, Sting dusted off his punk past with a rousing "Next To You." Interspersed between them were some of the most iconic songs pop music has ever produced, and both "Every Breath You Take" and the mighty "King Of Pain" received chillingly beautiful versions.

In short: a top-notch concert by an artist who radiated a natural maturity. Without showmanship and without theatrics, but with extraordinary musical mastery.

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SET LIST

Comments

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July 19, 2012 posted by collin

I do not subscribe ...

I really do not subscribe to the previous points of view. It was my 15th show of Sting ... I was there with a friend and my daughter (20 years old). It was their first Sting'show, and they were really amazed ! Of course, we had a mix of Police and Sting'songs. But you know ... He wrote the both ... We liked the balance between the calm and the rythmed songs (8 from Police ...) For us, sorry, but it was really perfect. We enjoyed the show and Honestly, I have seen a lot of big stars on the stage, but for me, Sting is a real legend ... and it was the case in Werchter on 23 June 2012 ... Cheers, Pascal

June 24, 2012 posted by marco

Professional yet not captivating

Not the best show I have seen yet. 90' Festival set, so a number of songs (amongst those Seven Days and Synchronicity II, to my, and most of the people i saw, grave disappointment) was left out. Musicians were great as always, led by Peter Tickell and Vinnie, yet I expected much more presence from David Sancious, who I did not hear at all during the show. I really got the impression that Vinnie, like a coach, was doing overtime to keep everyone going and maintaining the thrust in the show, which is normally the boss's job. I suspect however there were some technical issues with the mix though, because Vinnie's second snare was not in, overheads on the cymbals an especially the ride too weak, no keyboards and the guitar was too dominating often. The remark I heard from many people at the festival was that is was very good but sterile, no soul on stage, which I also found to be the case, certainly if compared to the shows Sting did in the Cirque Royale in Brussels in March, and in contrast to Lenny Krazvitz who closed the festival. Sobriety regarding the showelement is a tradeamark, focusing on the music instead (which is a good thing as far as I am concerned), yet I think for this kind of festival (30.000 + people) this worked negatively on the atmosphere and the ambience. I would love to see this band again in Belgium, in a smaller place or at a small jazz festival where the concentration is purely on the music and the musicians. This should be too cool! So when and where will this be?:)

June 24, 2012 posted by peter

Choice of Songs

Saw Sting and the band yesterday at Werchter. As always they all played their hearts out and musically it was brilliant. I thought they were really good. But I've got a problem with the choice of some songs for such a big audience. This setlist worked really well for an small audience in a small venue. But on such a big festival the beauty of Hounds of winter, Fields and Shape of my heart just don't come across as they do in a small theatre. I know Sting sticks to his setlist and he diserves all the credit for it but that was the feeling I had yesterday. Songs like Roxanne and If I ever loose my Faith in you would have been a better choice.

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