Sting Provides Some Arresting Moments In Concert
Written: Oct 29 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: several songs from The Police catalog, played in their original arrangements
Cons: somebody get Vinx off the stage please...
The Bottom Line: Sting's concert videos provide a glimpse into his creativity and musical gifts - the Soul Cages tour had terrific performances of classic Police songs
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| bob_tomato's Full Review: The Soul Cages Concert by Sting |
Sting: The Soul Cages Concert
The concert video for Sting’s 1991 Soul Cages tour is the closest thing to a reunion of The Police that you will ever see (not counting the band playing at Sting’s wedding or at their induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The only way this band will do another tour together is if somebody holds an entire rainforest hostage and forces Sting to be nice to Stewart and Andy). Sting’s band for this tour consisted of just four musicians (and a protégé that should have stayed backstage):
Sting – bass, vocals
Vinnie Colaiuta – drums
David Sancious – keyboards, guitar
Dominic Miller – guitar
(Vinx – protégé and party crasher for last three songs)
At this point in Sting’s solo career, he had three solo albums to his credit to provide him with plenty of concert material, but it seems to me that Sting wanted to do a simple tour, one that involved as few complications as possible, but also allowed him the freedom to explore his jazz rock efforts. The result was a concert program that included seven songs from The Soul Cages, one song each from The Dream Of The Blue Turtles and Nothing Like The Sun, a couple Police re-arrangements from Sting’s Bring On The Night tour, and four other Police classics performed in Police fashion – PLUS he threw in a decent version of Purple Haze too. Sting has brought out the Police catalog in each of his tours, but he has been doing new arrangements of these songs for the past ten years now. The Soul Cages tour was the last time he played these songs in the original Police style.
The band for the tour was the same lineup featured on The Soul Cages. This was the first tour that did not include any woodwinds, backup singers or other Sting tour fixtures – Sting recruited 21 year old guitar prodigy Dominic Miller from his longtime producer Hugh Padgham, who had used Miller for Phil Collin’s album, But Seriously. ) Miller’s versatility and style were the perfect match for Sting’s sound, and he has been the lead guitar player for Sting ever since.
Musician extraordinaire David Sancious joined the band for this tour, and he made his presence felt in every song. David took care of the keyboard duties, which included not only the intricate jazz piano solos, but also required some synth horns utilizing a Yamaha winds midi pickup - an extremely cool gadget that requires the keyboard player to not only play the notes on the keyboard, but to also provide the correct breathing nuances through the midi pickup. On top of all that, David played guitar on a couple numbers, and showed that he’s no slouch at that either by providing an absolutely scorching solo during a cover of Jimi Hendrix’ Purple Haze.
Rounding out the band was Vinnie Colaiuta, longtime drummer for Sting’s band , even when Manu Katche IS around. Vinnie could take any of the strange time signatures Sting threw at him with ease, and he played them all rock solid, providing the heartbeat of this very tight unit.
The thing that amazed me when I saw this concert tour, and something that jumps out on the video, was just how solid this band was; sure, these guys are all incredibly gifted professionals, but it’s not as if they had been playing together for years. One of the hallmarks of The Police was that even though they rarely rehearsed, they always created a unified, tight sound which, due to the lack of rehearsal, still managed to sound fresh and creative. This is a very tough thing to do, and it’s to Sting’s credit that he was able to duplicate this with the Soul Cages touring band.
OK enough with these details; let’s get to the video itself.
Overall, the quality of the video recording is not anything special. The camera work is typical for many pop/rock concerts even today, and consists mostly of shots of Sting singing, with frequent cutaways to the other band members, depending on what the music is doing. And that’s about it – you get to see ninety minutes of concert video from one of the tour’s live shows. I haven’t gone looking for a DVD of this recording, and if it does exist, I have no idea if there are any other extras (though I would hope for at least a few bonuses on a DVD). The camera work isn’t anything special, but you can hear that they did pay attention to the sound quality. The mix is very good, and sounds pretty good even when played just through my TV’s stereo speakers (I route the sound through my stereo most of the time – that’s the only way to get any appreciable bass out of the videotape). In this day and age of the DVD, this videotape looks grainy, but the sound is not unacceptable at all – it’s good despite the format.
Quick rundown of the song list:
The video kicks off with four consecutive songs from The Soul Cages: All This Time, Jeremiah Blues (Part 1), Mad About You, and Why Should I Cry For You?. The arrangements are fairly straightforward renditions of the songs, with some extended solo work added in.
After The Soul Cages introduction, Sting returned to old favorites by The Police, and as I stated earlier, this was the final appearance of these original arrangements in Sting’s concerts to date. The sound was very close to the original, though Police fans will note the main difference is found in the guitar playing of Dominic Miller from Andy Summers odd and ethereal chord structures. Dominic stuck to the chords pretty faithfully, but you can see that he played them the way he wanted to – this is a good thing, because it would be tough to try to copy Andy Summers and come off sounding authentic. Anyway, The Police hits played at this point in the concert were Roxanne, Bring On The Night/When The World Is Running Down, You Make The Best Of What’s Still Around, and King Of Pain.
Sting gave a quick nod to The Dream Of The Blue Turtles with an absolutely incredible rendition of Fortress Around Your Heart next, before diving back into The Soul Cage’s The Wild Wild Sea, The Soul Cages, and When The Angels Fall. This was the part of the show where many people decided to trek to the facilities, grab another beer, or have a last go at the T-shirt stands. The last third of The Soul Cages was Sting’s extremely personal exploration of his feelings about his father’s death, and these songs are not going to win any popularity contests. I happen to love them for the dark and brooding artistic masterpieces that I think they are – I wasn’t leaving my lawn seats for the bathroom during this section I can tell you. My guess is that a lot of people will just fast forward through this section to get to the last portion of the concert.
Which kicked off with a very good cover of Purple Haze… it was a little faster than the original, but Sting didn’t give it the same jazz treatment that Little Wing received in the album Nothing Like The Sun. The band gives the classic tune a true rock and roll tribute, and they do a very good job indeed. The highlight of the song was when Miller and Sancious traded Hendrix-esque guitar solos – make sure you stop the fast forwarding to catch this song.
Now, when the strange man with the Whoopi hair and purple pajamas hits the stage, don’t fast forward again – just ignore Vinx and maybe he’ll go away. Vinx was a protégé of Sting’s at the time, and I don’t think he’s been heard from since (if he was ever heard from at all). But you really need to listen to the last three songs, because they are all fabulous. If you’ve never seen Sting in concert, here you can be treated to a couple of his famous call and response versions of The Police’s Walking On The Moon and Message In A Bottle - this is the way The Police always performed these songs, and the magic is still there (despite the sorcerer’s apprentice singing and playing odd instruments in the background)
The finale of the show (and I’m pretty sure this is the tour where this practice started) is Fragile, and I have written volumes about this song already in other reviews, so you can check those out if you wish. On this video, Sting played the song in it’s original arrangement; it is the perfect closer to the concert and can’t help but be a beautiful song. It’s my favorite Sting song, and I happen to think it’s one of those perfect ballads that come along so rarely.
So there you have it – a window into Sting’s past, where he still played songs by The Police as if he were still in the band, and where even though his band was pared down to the bare essentials, the resulting sound is powerfully impressive. The Soul Cages is admittedly the least popular album of Sting’s career, but hardcore fans will find a lot to love about this video. I recommend it for anyone who wants to see some really great musicians mess around with some really great material – this is a lot of terrific musicianship on display in this recording.
My Sting Reviews
Singles, Maxi Singles and other Song Collections
All This Time [Single]
You Still Touch Me [Maxi Single]
I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying [Maxi Single]
Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot [Maxi Single]
Albums
The Dream Of The Blue Turtles
Nothing Like The Sun
The Soul Cages
Ten Summoner's Tales
Mercury Falling
Brand New Day
All This Time
Sacred Love
Recommended:
Yes
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