Sting was still getting used to it...

It was a strange concert for Sting last night at the Olympia. The artist warned his audience right away, after a jazzy and rather elegant version of "Walking on the Moon," a Police classic, as the opening act. "This is the first time we're going to play these new songs in front of an international audience," he explained. "It probably won't be a perfect concert. But it's a show that's still evolving." The star had, in fact, chosen to present large excerpts from his seventh album, "Sacred Love," available since this morning in Paris, where he recorded and largely wrote it a few months ago.

In front of an audience of die-hard fans from various countries, most of whom had signed up for a ticket on the fan club's website, along with a few familiar faces like Luc Besson and Charles Aznavour, the artist played nine of the ten tracks from his new album. And it seemed as though this Sting, blowing hot and cold, was still in the process of getting used to it, in front of a crowd that wasn't always convinced.

"Inside," one of the album's highlights, seemed rather bland, marred by overblown arrangements, unable to match its studio version. "Send Your Love," his first single, sounded like a hit, albeit a timid one for the time being. The projections in the background, a mishmash of mystical new age images, sometimes weighed down songs that didn't need them. Not to mention "Fields of Gold," which his guitarist hadn't yet mastered, producing a nice hiccup that earned Sting a big laugh.

But fortunately, a few classics from his repertoire were there to raise the level, such as 'Desert Rose' sung as a duet with Cheb Mami, the evening's surprise guest. All that remained was an encore to make amends with the closing songs 'Every Breath You Take' and 'Fragile' before meeting up again in a few months for a real concert as part of a real tour.

(c) Le Parisien

Whores and Saints...

In the City of Love, Sting presented his seventh solo album, 'Sacred Love,' to a select audience. After 25 years of an unprecedented career, the 52-year-old still reflects on firsts and lasts – even when he occasionally slips up.

Paris – These moments are rare, when past and future meet and condense into one feeling. Then you stand there somewhat perplexed, moved, shed a tear over false victories and true defeats, look back and forward, say goodbye, shake your head at yourself and your struggles, and laugh serenely at the inevitable: Tomorrow's another day? - OK...

Sting is doing well. Why not? The American radio royalties alone from the now over twenty-year-old jealousy drama 'Every Breath You Take' bring him around 2,000 euros – daily. He took a two-year break to work on his autobiography, yet he was still a big hit in the charts: Craig David, three decades his junior, reworked Sting's song "Shape Of My Heart" into "Rise And Fall," while Johnny Cash re-recorded Sting's mournful ballad "I Hung My Head" on the last album before his death.

So Sting is somehow always there, even when you don't hear from him in person. Like a good friend, he'll drop by and stay for a while, for an evening with the right questions and a few answers. His seventh solo album, "Sacred Love," was released on Monday – and for that, he returned to Paris. It was there that Sting recorded his first solo album, "The Dream Of The Blue Turtles," in the early 1980s, with which he ventured out of the Police's clutches, documented in one of the best music films of all time and the live album of the same name, "Bring On The Night."

Almost twenty years later, Sting is back on stage in Paris with a premiere. Outside, tickets for the exclusive release party are being traded for 200 euros; inside, people between 20 and 60 sit on red cushions in the cramped auditorium of the Olympia. While he once said that you have to be on fire from the very first moment at a concert, he now strolls onto the stage in a striped suit with a slightly graying beard. He intones the Police classic "Walking On The Moon" in bar jazz style, drawn out, very calm, very relaxed. He spreads his arms, tilts his head, and shrugs his shoulders: "Tomorrow's another day - OK..." A casual intro.

The man has nothing left to prove. And that's what his new material sounds like. Sting has been around for so long that he, who has borrowed from everywhere, can now even quote himself. That's what you call a classic. On 'Sacred Love,' he references his Police days ('Walking In Your Footsteps' becomes 'His Footsteps') and his early solo career with 'We'll Be Together.' The creamy, rich sound, the jazzy syncopations, the ethnic touches, the occasional foray into country, his signature falsetto, all recorded and performed by the most expensive water carriers in the music market. When Sting steals from Shakespeare, as on the new album, the author doesn't even get a credit. The musician laughs about this and immediately quotes another top artist, Bert Brecht: 'Bad poets borrow, good poets steal.'

It's sentences like these, and the playful music, which always goes a bit further to avoid being ordinary, that earn Sting the accusation of being pretentious. The former English teacher laughs at this too: "That comes from 'pretend,' to pretend. But I don't pretend.' I just do what I do and can't escape the judgment of others. But I don't do it to prove anything."

On stage in Paris, Sting occasionally turns his back to the audience and watches one of the short films illustrating his music on the screens behind the musicians. There, when he leaves the missionary position at the front of the microphone, he lets the puppets dance for him. Nude figures writhe in voluptuous proportions in an erotic shadow play, a go-go dancer in a skimpy black dress arouses herself on poles, and a finely dressed Persian beauty adds jazz to her belly dance. In these moments, the bass in front of his belly looks like the remote control of a mature man, half-ashamed and half-enjoying, zapping through a few erotic channels - and no longer ashamed of anything.

Sting plays his new songs, which, like on his previous album, 'Brand New Day,' revolve almost monothematically around love with all its twists, turns, and mutations: It teems with saints and whores, sometimes lustful, sometimes soulful, sometimes devilish, sometimes missionary, sometimes indulgent, sometimes admonishing, sometimes excessive, often lonely, very close to madness, then again too cool to be true. And hovering over it all is a touch of self-irony: 'Sacred Love'? Does the man mean it (even if one knows the devastation a strict Catholic upbringing can leave behind)?

Sting finds refuge in and through metaphors. He's a master at it, whether he's plundering the Bible or Jungian theories from psychoanalysis. They can be frighteningly beautiful, but also annoyingly smart-ass. There are total failures, like the tartar-inducing 'Forget About The Future' and (on the album) a mannered duet with hip-hop queen Mary J. Blige. But there are also some truly sparkling Sting gems: 'Dead Man's Rope' touches beyond the usual goosebump-inducing formulas, as does the wonderful 'Inside,' which speaks of the inability to reveal one's feelings. 'The Book Of My Life' has the potential to be a quiet anthem for Sting fans in the autumn mood: 'Though the pages are numbered I can't see where they lead,' he sings. Maintaining composure, even as the end draws near: 'There's a promise of heaven and hell, but I'm dammed if I see.'

'The War,' which Sting presents as a fresh, blazing rock song, falls out of character. It's as delicious as a currywurst after three weeks of haute cuisine, a throwback to his missionary days, when Sting wanted to save, if not the world, then at least the rainforest. "Don't do nothing" is his message, which comes across as a moralizing finger-pointing. But he's not stupid enough to set the pre-war debate about Iraq to music, instead asking awkwardly naively: "You may win this war. But would you tolerate the peace?"

It's fitting that he clearly borrows from Arabic music and builds bridges between the forms. This could easily be chalked up to him being fashionable multiculturalism on the wave of "We love each other, whether Muslim or Jesuit." But it's also true that Sting already hinted at these arabesques in the early 1990s in his mourning album "Soul Cages" and four years ago turned "Desert Rose" with the Algerian singer Cheb Mami into a fine global hit. That was a defining style – long before September 11th.

Sting was just inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame with Police: The man has been making music for over 25 years and could fill a four-hour concert with top-ten hits alone. The fact that, at almost 52, he still feels too young for the museum and wants to be more than a hit machine became apparent, rather involuntarily, at his debut concert in Paris. He still has standards: He quickly had his first-class musicians rehearse for another six hours before the first live performance of the new songs.

But guitarist Dominic Miller then completely botches the overly sugary hit "Fields of Gold," which has probably been played a hundred times. Sting lets the band continue strumming, and Miller has to repeat his solo – only to fail again. Sting just giggles into the microphone, forgets the lyrics, messes up the strings, and jokes around with Miller on stage until the whole audience is just laughing instead of choking back a few tears during the song, as usual. "We can do things differently," I suppose, that's what they were meant to say – and it seemed as if everyone felt a little lighter, more liberated.

Sting is still a puzzle, even if you think you know all the pieces by now. The Sting who sang and mourned love in Paris on Monday has certainly found his inner centre, with slight excursions into kitsch and nerdiness. Once, as a young, unknown singer, Sting was inspired to write his whore anthem 'Roxanne' in the red-light district of the French capital. More than 20 years later, he sanctifies love and has landed on 'Sacred Love'. He lets the title track glide seamlessly into the exuberant joy of 'Bring On The Night', his first solo outing, as if a circle were closing between that experiment in Paris of yesteryear and the city of love today. Past and future in one moment. Love is timeless. Tomorrow's another day. OK.

(c) Der Spei gel by Markus Deggerich

What a great show in Paris!

Well, I must I'm still amazed with the experience I had in Paris, Olympia... Such a venue! I loved every minute I spent down there... From getting my excellent seats in 6th row on saturday from the hands of Wendy (quite nice to finally get an image of your faces Dave & Wendy after all those years of web communication) to getting a free poster from a guy obviously from the staff but who I can't give a name, very nice guy, very friendly anyway. From getting back on Sunday evening to have some more meeting with Dave and some extra tickets to invite my best mate and his girlfriend to an event they couldn't have experienced without this gift from the fan club, this indeed was a true show from Sting to fans. So Thank you Dave, Wendy and Tina for making it happened this way...

This leading to the night in the hall itself: man, this is it, Jason and Sting on stage for the most incredible live version of anything I've heard by Sting and past bands live.

- This introduction with ''Walking On The Moon'' is a complete success for me. I know we were all complete freaks down there in the orchestra seats, but the response the audience immediatly gave was the most incredible I've seen for a first song in the set. And it's musically one of the most challenging thing Sting did on stage since a Loooong time, in my opinion...

- 'Send Your Love' was very nice. I'm not crazy about this song, but it add somme nice arrangements making it a treat for me. Like hearing some serious drumming from Vinnie!!! About time. I liked the kind of ''a cappella'' ''there's no religion but sex and music'' part too. I could have dealt with the acoustic guitar more proheminant in the song as he did on television in France. All in all I like the fact that Sting is still able to make some serious rearangements of is single on the first public performance. What the tour needs is challenge, let's have some!!!

- 'Inside' was a bit harsh for me. Takes off too late, the bridge part ''I climb...'' was very nice though and made the song work in the end for me. It's obvious to me that it needs some reworking.

- I'm sorry to say that I don't like 'Whenever I Say Your Name'. Well, it's a nice song but got nothing to do with Sting's album musically in my opinion. The duet would have perfectly fit to Blige's album. About the rendition they made with Joy Rose Monday night: it worked better than the album for me, less over-produced, more groovy. Maybe Vinnie is responsible here. I hope that the drummer taling the kit on tour will be able to groove it the way he does. Well Vinnie is just god of drums!

- 'Dead Man's Rope' was really good, I love the song, I love it. I just can't understand why Sting likes so much to tease us with two lines of a great songs like 'Walking In Your Footsteps' and just sticks to the album version where it could be the starting point of a miraculous medley ''à la Sting'' like I call them.

- I enjoyed 'Forget About The Future' and the jazz part - 'Jeremiah Blues' solo is a nice touch. Dominic Miller is definitely growing on me! ;-) The fact that the album radio trick is quite impossible to render on stage is not a problem for me... it worked.

- 'This War'! OH MY GOD! That's the way I noticed the 3 screens behind the band! Only joking of course, but that's the only time it made perfect sense to me. Really strong. Very nice to see my musical hero taking so radically position in front of an audience. By the way, it's an amazing song, and it was amazingly good to me live. Again, 'The Soul Cages' citation is what made love Sting's music worthwhile to me, expand Sir, expand!

- 'The Book Of My Life' turning into 'Mad About You'. Woaw... I loved the new arrangement for 'Mad About You', it has the speed and feel that that lights it up and gives it more dramatic feeling to me. Really works very well, hope to hear more of this.

- 'Sacred Love' or ''where the big screens where too much for me''. What I want to say here is that it ruined the song for me. I love it and can't even remember the way it was played! I was not at all shocked, I don't care about nudity, it can be awesome, but this was way too first degree. And the girl didn't made it for me, just thinking about all those things, how I thought it was out of place, etc, and the song was over! Failure...

- 'Field Of Gold'. Hemmm I'm beginning to think I look negative all the way down the review... So before saying ''I don't want to hear that anymore on stage'' and commenting the AMAZING version we had Monday I have to say that I love the new album, and that I love Monday night show, really. It's just easier to point out the things that made it a little bit less amazing than the very very amazing things, as I don't know that much vocabulary to say AMAZING, I'm french you know! :-) Well, here we go again... 'Fields Of Gold' is a great song. But how many times to we have to ear that live again? Considering the audience was made in great part of hardcore fans that night, why 'Fields Of Gold' and not 'I Burn For You' has quoted in half of the anwsers to the question Sting made on this site. Oh well, it's a never ending story. Then it happened. Dom and Sting made it the treat of the night! Unbelievable! AMAZING! ;-)

- It was really nice to have Cheb Mami on stage, and oh my god, Vinnie knows how to shook drums sticks! ;-)

- Never Coming Home' is certainly the track I love the most out of 'Sacred Love' at the moment. Incredible lyrics. I loved it. I loved the way it melted into 'When The World Is Running Down', I thought that the final with the yelling of ''whe was never coming home'' under ''when the world'' frenetical ending worked perfectly. The screens were really nice till the dancing, but once again, it's distracting from the music and the band and it doesn't make sense. The only moment it worked for me was 'This War'.

- encore... hemmm... pretty good if you except that we had already heard that encore serie the last 2 tours! Come on, that can be more challenging!

I spent a great night, met a great deal of persons I'd never met without this show, and that's the most important. Thanks for reading that far, it was long I know! Thanks again to the fan club for making it happened the way it happened, thanks from Jack and Anne, the two people you invited through me. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

(c) Martin Vauchel for Sting.com

Rendezvous in Paris: Sting Sends His Love...

For many years now, the one thing that the Fan Club has received most requests for is a special Fan Club concert. The recent launch of the new online Fan Club not only provided the perfect opportunity for organising such an event, it also provided Sting with an outlet with which to preview the songs from his new album 'Sacred Love'.

So, on the evening of September 22, we found ourselves with almost 2,000 Fan Club members, competition winners, record company employees and VIPs at what is widely recognised to be one of Paris's best venues in terms of acoustics and viewing - the L'Olympia Theatre in the Boulevard des Capucines. The final few tickets for the show were snapped up by eager passers-by who were taken by surprise at seeing the name 'Sting' being displayed outside the theatre.

Sting arrived in Paris after appearing at the Festivalbar show in Verona on the Saturday, and spent two days rehearsing with the band for the show. Several people bumped into him as he strolled casually between his hotel and the venue, catching their first glimpse of him since the last tour. Looking as fit and trim as ever, and sporting a deep tan and blond/grey beard Sting continues to defy the passage of time.

Show time came around quickly, and a little after 8.45pm, Jason Rebello took to the stage followed shortly afterwards by Sting who walked out to a welcome that must have taken his breath away. After more years than we care to remember of seeing him play live, we can't recall a warmer more heartfelt welcome anywhere. The noise eventually subsided, and together Sting and Jason performed their new very jazzy reworking of 'Walking On The Moon'. A surprising choice to open a set with perhaps, but if more than 25 years of Sting's music have taught us anything, it is that surprises are always just around the corner. It's a two way street - he enjoys surprising us and we enjoy being surprised.

The rest of the band were then introduced - Dominic Miller (guitar), Vinnie Colaiuta (drums), Rhani Krija (percussion), Kipper (keyboards) and Joy Rose and Donna Gardier Elliott (backing vocals) and Sting took the opportunity to welcome us all and to explain that he and the band were still feeling their way with the new material and to expect some mistakes during the performance. He also told us that they were trying out some new visuals for the first time and that he hoped we'd enjoy them.

Danny Quatrochi handed Sting his ancient tiny Spanish acoustic guitar and placing one foot on a stool he held the instrument flamenco style and launched into the current single, 'Send Your Love'. Inside the opening track from Sacred Love was the third track of the evening, and seriously warmed the crowd up. Joy Rose, stepped forward to trade lines with Sting in the later part of the song, and demonstrated what a fabulous singer she is. The final notes brought a standing ovation and the comment from Sting that he was surprised that so many knew the lyrics, even light heartedly suggesting that we must have bought bootleg copies! Someone shouted out that the lyrics were on the website, to which he replied - ''Ah the website - so how is my website?'' which prompted an encouragingly loud and positive response.

Introducing 'Dead Man's Rope', Sting spoke about his friend, the late Kim Turner, and dedicated the song to him. The song is one of those featured in the exclusives section of the website, and is clearly already a favourite amongst fans. The version in Paris was poignant and uplifting - a great performance of a great song.

Joy Rose then again stepped forward to duet with Sting on 'Whenever I Say Your Name'. Although Mary J. Blige performs on the album version from the time we first heard this song live at the Mermaid Theatre in London, we immediately preferred Joy's performance which seems more dynamic. Let's all hope that Joy tours with Sting next year because she adds so much to the sound, and deserves to be recognised as much more than merely Mary J's stand in.

Then three further tracks from the new album followed: 'Forget About The Future', the guitar driven 'This War' and finally 'Sacred Love'. 'This War' is a terrific song and it was wonderful to hear Dominic Miller come to the fore and satisfy us with some raucous playing. The song featured some striking visuals - comic strip style drawings of soldiers, oil wells and aircraft on the three backdrop screens - but the backdrops to 'Sacred Love' were equally memorable, albeit for different reasons. As Sting sang ''take off those working clothes...'' the left hand screen showed a stunning silhouetted lap dancer performing her routine on a chair before later reappearing on the right hand screen performing an acrobatic pole dance, before taking off her boots, putting on her dress and shoes and exiting. It would be safe to say that not all male eyes in the audience were focused on Sting during this song, something he jokingly alluded to at the end of the song when he asked ''what had been going on behind him'' whilst he'd be singing.

An old favourite followed with 'Fields of Gold', but what promised to be a by-the-numbers run through of a song that most of us had heard performed live many times before, suddenly veered off into the world of the weird and wonderful. At the song's mid-point everything was proceeding as planned as Dominic wandered to the front of the stage ready for the spotlight and his solo. Instead, he seemed to forget the chords he'd played hundred of times before and gave us something totally unexpected, not least to himself. The look on Dominic's face brought about a wave of laughter and cheering from the audience and Sting looked across with a mixture of amusement and puzzlement before inviting Dominic to try again, which he did - perfectly.

With the audience still cheering Dominic, it was Sting's turn to crack. In mid verse he simply burst out laughing much to the amusement of Dominic and the audience. Regaining his composure he began singing once more before making the mistake of catching Dominic's eye. This took him back over the edge once more, and he burst out laughing again. Dominic then wandered over to Sting, reached down to his music stand and calmly turned his lyric sheet over before looking at the crowd as if it say 'It's a good job I'm here to keep him straight'. The crowd loved it and simply erupted. Dominic turned away, gave the crowd a smile, and then walked back to the front of the stage where he made a play of watching for Sting following him. As the two embraced at the end of the song, we realised the preciousness of those four minutes and the camaraderie and warmth not just between Dominic and Sting, but between the whole band, and between the band and the audience who realised what we'd seen.

For 'Book of My Life' Rhani Krija came to the front of the stage and was joined by Dominic who took a seat on one of the monitors and this then segued into a reworked and very nice version of 'Mad About You' which felt more middle eastern than ever. Sting then introduced Cheb Mami, and we knew 'Desert Rose' was coming. The audience danced and sang along at the top of their voices and it was wonderful to hear the song again with the prince of rai in fine voice.

'Never Coming Home' lived up to the promise implicit in the album version of the song as Jason's keyboard solo took the song off into a frenzied near lyric-less version of 'When The World Is Running Down'. After years segueing 'Bring On the Night' and 'When the World' together, it was wonderful to hear this variation. Sting was playing and dancing with such passion at the front of the stage you almost feared that he'd break through it, and he brought the song and the end of the main set to an amazing climax and thoroughly deserved his thunderous ovation.

The band returned to the stage but sadly there was no more new material. Versions of 'If I Ever Lose My Faith In You' and a sing along 'Every Breath You Take' were followed by the inevitable Fragile which rounded the evening off. As Sting walked off stage he smiled to the camera which had been recording the concert and gave a gesture that said, ''THAT was a show!''.

Highlights? 'Dead Man's Rope', 'This War', 'Sacred Love', 'Fields of Gold' and 'Never Coming Home'/'When the World Is Running Down'.

Disappointments? We could be greedy and say that another 2 or 3 songs would have been good, but by the time the tour kicks off in the States in January this may well have happened. It was a shame though that 'Stolen Car (Take Me Dancing)' was not played.

Surprises? The amazing Joy Rose; the filmed backdrops which we thought were striking and will possibly be much more effective in larger venues; and no 'Roxanne'.

Unsurprisingly, Fan Club members had travelled from all around the world - Japan, India, Cyprus, Israel, South America, and South Africa as well as from all over Europe and the USA for this unique event. The buzz around and immediately after the event was unbelievably positive. It was a great way to launch the album, and it would be nice to think that this show has set a precedent.

(c) Dave & Wendy for Sting.com

The message of love...

He looked fantastic, with his supple trained body, his sexy black shirt, his lightly unshaven face and his blond hairs, which don't want to become grey at his 52nd. No other solo performer is in business as successfully as Sting and no other ex-rocker can permit so many liberties.

In the Olympia, where many big names have played before, Sting introduced his new CD to the world on Monday evening. They had come from far and near, journalists and fans, to listen to songs about war and love. Because on 'Sacred Love' Sting has a message: 'Send your love into the future'.

Fans of The Police - his ex-band - will moan. Again these dreamy songs, which touch one just as refined as mellow. Again the urge from the old republican in Sting to be equal, brotherly and free. Once again his new age doings of this multimillion pop star with seven houses, a happy family and great success.

And yet, the audience couldn't get enough of it. One foot on the stage and the room was already standing on its feet to sing along with 'Walking on the Moon'. It was like he was looking for devotion - amongst his 'troops' - with this mysterious smile: does he feel superior or really grateful? Or both? It is common knowledge that Sting likes to be at a safe distance from a crazy crowd, but at the same time he gets a kick from performing and from mass attention.

The concert would be a test case, he told. A test of the new songs, but also of the visuals on the three screens at the back of the podium. 'Send Your Love' showed in which direction it would go: belly dancing women, lightning, fiery colours and ethnic culture. Add these, let it thicken musically with soulful and warm music and the label is called Sting.

He had seven musicians, but in comparison to his band of some years ago, they had little variation to offer. Most of his songs were built up by atmospheric noises, a wall of organ playing, decorated by some guitar playing and the voices of Sting and two background singers. The problem with this approach is that it's easy to repeat and difficult to create exciting moments.

But maybe Sting doesn't want to be exciting? His new album is about issues such as religion, war and love. It's about the world after September 11 and about England who went to war in Iraq. It's about society today: 'There's a war on education, on information', he sings, 'A war on our compassion, on love and life itself'. And then this one liner: 'There's no religion but sex and music'.

One strongly gets the impression that the writer won it from the musician this time. Sting had something to say and he came up with some songs, but also 'musical surroundings'. On 'Inside' he tells how it's more difficult it is to declare love then to declare war. The song only became moving at the end.

But the man remains a pro and by the time the band is more rehearsed they will also swing more. 'Dead Man's Rope' (about dying), a powerful and groovy 'This War', completed by animation of oil wells and soldiers and 'Sacred love': these are all songs well above average.

In the mean time the image kept passing. Numerous circles, universal poses, ethnic clothing and behind this all an enormous fascination for the East. The rai singer Cheb Mami featured on 'Desert Rose' and Sting had the entire hall dancing on 'Every Breath You Take'. Mostly friendly, even gallant, saying goodbye. Love him or curse him, at least he's takes a position.

We will meet again in May or June 2004 when his world tour will pass here. Or in October, when his live DVD or autobiography will be released. It tells about his childhood in Newcastle, when he used to rise at four in the morning to deliver the milk with his father. It doesn't go further then his 25th birthday, so many questions will remain unanswered.

(c) De Standaard (Belgium) by Peter Vantyghen & translated by Lithium Sunset