Sting imposes his maturity at Sant Jordi in front of 10,000 people...

The British singer gives an elegant and polished concert in Barcelona. Elegant, sober, and punctual. It was 10:00 p.m. and the lights on the Palau Sant Jordi stage were beginning to flash, welcoming a soberly dressed gentleman in dark linen trousers and a shirt of the same fabric, also dark but with a white collar and cuffs. It was Sting, in front of 10,000 people, one of the few on whom a shirt with cuffs and collar like that looks good, confidently singing the rhythmic "Sacred Love" while the screens behind the stage displayed colourful images.

The audience roared as they know how to at the start of long-awaited concerts, and the band, five instrumentalists and two backing vocalists, began to show why they were the group of an artist as polished as Sting. Ahead lay two hours in which each attendee mentally filled the minutes with the songs they wanted to hear, and thus, between thought and reality, the audience began to surrender to Sting.

Approximately 10,000 people attended the Sant Jordi, which on this occasion reduced its capacity by placing a large black curtain at the back, reducing the distance, allowing it to be said that Sting had technically filled the venue again. The truth is that the production deployed by the British artist wouldn't have fit into smaller venues without losing visual impact, which was achieved more through a sober and elegant setup than through vulgar dimensions.

A delicate play of lights in uniform tones, an absence of flashes, and screens from the back showing projections alluding to the songs' themes were the key elements of Sting's staging. Commanding the centre stage, he took his bass, and without even moving, his presence was enough to dominate the entire Sant Jordi crowd.

Without any fuss, he let his voice and songs flow calmly, unhurriedly, with a measured manner. During "Fragile," everything was bathed in orange and green light, and the audience whistled excitedly. Sting was in his element. Then came "Fields of Gold," the bridge of lights rose, and the audience clapped as the rear screens fragmented, capturing a wash of yellow that contrasted with the purple that coloured the entire band. Sting, in the centre, was golden. Perfect.

Thus the night unfolded, amid elegance, restraint, and extreme neatness in the slow rhythm that unified the entire repertoire. Displaying the air of a model for proud older men, Sting transported the audience to a world of equality, class, and distinction in which the ugliest and most unpleasant aspects of existence were varnished with a charm crafted from elegant and polished pop with touches of jazz, aromas of reggae diluted in perfume, and evocations of ethnic music. During "Englishman in New York," the audience got excited, Sting said "yeah, yeah," the lights went multi-coloured, and suddenly, turning red, "Roxanne" began. Lights down, like in rock clubs, and the audience suddenly lost twenty years, returning to the eighties when Sting wasn't as attractive and interesting as he would be twenty years later. Paradoxes. For the encores, a pinch more of Police and house, which are no longer ages. In two hours.

(c) El Pais by Luis Hidalgo

Sting showcases maturity and The Police's hits at the Palau Sant Jordi...

Sting opened the Fòrum-Ciutat's pop star line-up last night with a concert at the Palau Sant Jordi, presenting his latest album, "Sacred Love." The most applauded moments of the performance were, as expected, those in which the British singer revisited past hits, including some memories of his former group, The Police.

The Montjuïc venue, with a capacity for 18,000 people, was set up to accommodate 10,500 spectators, according to the organizers. This figure was within the usual attendance expectations for Sting's concerts (on his previous visits, in 2000 and 1996, he performed at a smaller venue than Sant Jordi, the Palau d'Esports). The Olympic venue's curtain system created a warm atmosphere in the hall, without the discouraging sight of empty seats.

And Sting burst onto the scene, accompanied by a large band, aware that his creative present can hardly rival the past. He opened with "Send Your Love," from his latest album, followed by three other recent songs. A barrage of sober pop, sometimes functionally rhythmic; at other times, tending toward confessional intimacy. After introducing the musicians in improvised Spanish, he launched into "Dead Man's Rope," introducing a few verses of "Walking in Your Footsteps" by The Police.

The first explosion of the night came with a classic from the beloved trio, "Synchronicity II," with an almost metallic feel. "How are you?" he asked before letting out an enigmatic cry: "Miss!" Behind them, four video screens offered evasive images as the only scenic addition to a show centred on music, where the spotlight always fell on Sting and his musicians, with guitarist Dominic Miller leading a troupe that included two backing vocalists, two keyboardists, drums, and percussion.

Sting knows where he's at creatively and commercially, and that's why he spices up his concerts with regular references to his first solo albums and The Police's repertoire. But even so, on this tour, he feels generous with his recent offering: nine songs from Sacred Love that last night imposed a certain calm on Sant Jordi in anticipation of more spicy dishes, which Sting served alternating his usual instrument, the bass, with the guitar.

"This War," another song from the new album, alluded to a war, the Iraq war, which the singer once spoke out against. And 'Sacred Love' poured out conciliatory verses, in keeping with the current imagery of an increasingly spiritual Sting, who yesterday seemed happy to be part of the Forum's conversational offerings. "Every man, every woman / Every race, every nation / All are subject / to sacred love," sang the Briton in this piece. Two classics, "Fragile" and "Fields of Gold," happily interrupted a script oriented, in the middle of the concert, toward recent material.

But even the most die-hard fans expected that, in the final stretch of the show, the temperature would heat up with references to bygone days. The prediction was right. There was no mention of Walking on the Moon (a song performed throughout the tour and not played yesterday), but there was mention of "Englishman in New York," with a jazzy central fragment that recalled the days of "The Dream of the Blue Turtles," and also of "Roxanne."

The Police classic was reborn in a very extended version, with highs and lows that altered its inner tension, but which ultimately brought the audience to its climax. A reference to the present, "Never Coming Home," also in a generously timed version, centred the concert. A few encores prolonged the session with "Desert Rose," "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You," and another Police trophy: "Every Breath You Take," in a somewhat accelerated adaptation that shook the audience and the stands. The finale was a song from 1999, "A Thousand Years."

The dominant tone throughout the night was one of sober pop with few edges, comparable to the comfortable menus of adult radio shows. The fury of The Police's days is long gone. Sting's present is that of a musician capable of delivering formally impeccable concerts, but without the liberated energy of other times.

(c) El Periodico de Catalunya by Jordi Bianciotto

Sting unites 10,000 fans in the Palau Sant Jordi...

The first great musical star of the Fórum had it easy. The 10,000 souls that filled three quarters parts of the Palau Sant Jordi had the desire to listen to the sound of the musician and his guitar. And his voice. Sting's low, melodic tone maintained its quality from the first song to the last throughout the two hour concert.

Sting counted on the gifted support of Jason Rebello on piano, the guitar of Dominic Miller, the powerful drumming of Keith Carlock, the synths of Kipper, the dark, immense percussion of Rhani Krija and, of course the voices of Joy Rose and Donna Gardier. These last two a discovery.

Sting opened the concert - the first of only two concerts in Spain celebrating the 'Sacred Love' album - on schedule at 10pm. As the ticket office were still issuing tickets and the people were still buying merchandise the first chords could be heard within the walls of the Palau. Sting was living up to the British attribute of punctuality.

The angelic blonde dressed in fitted black shirt with white cuffs and collar soon made you forget he was past his fiftieth birthday. Behind him, three large screens displayed videos that accompanied each song from sensual dancing women, to images of golden fields during 'Fields of Gold'.

The new songs with their anti-war stance and culture mix can trace their origins to the day the Twin Towers fell culminating with Bush's victory over Saddam Hussein. The crowd followed the songs but kept their passion hidden until, as always, the 'classics' were played.

The emotion began to grow with 'Fragile' and 'Fields of Gold' but it reached the ceiling of the Sant Jordi with 'Englishman In New York'. The screen backdrops showed live images of the singer in black and white, in keeping with the video for this song - the one of Sting almost twenty years younger, taking a walk with umbrella in hand and long ''melena'' along the streets of the ''Big Apple''.

The show's apotheosis which reached the Barcelonian sky, came with 'Roxanne', one of Sting's biggest successes dating from when he was still with The Police. Red lights, as described in the lyrics, combined with ten minutes of applause, singing and whistling were all in this version which also mixed in some phrases from 'Message in a Bottle'.

It was followed by a song from the latest album and in turn by another classic from his solo career, 'If I Ever Lose My Faith In You'. And with the end approaching, time for another classic with the crowd singing along to 'Every Breath You Take'. Sting gave everything that was expected of him, except for some words in Castilian, ''Good night Barcelona. Thank you very much, Good-bye!''

(c) El Mundo very kindly translated by Yvonne Grier