Brand New Day: 1999/01

Sting, Jonny Lang bridge musical generation gap...

A good double bill should be rich with complements and contrasts, and by that measure, last night's AmSouth Amphitheater at Starwood show featuring Sting and Jonny Lang was a knockout by one-two punch.

It was a chance to watch two generations of sincere and skilled musicians at work and glimpse both forward and backward across a wide swath of pop music.

Lang, a 19-year-old guitarist and frighteningly mature singer, opened with a rangy set of blues and soul. Not stuck in the Chicago 12-bar formula, his songs coursed from slippery grooves reminiscent of Little Feat to a tender Irish-tinged ballad. Fronting a six-piece band and wielding a hollow-body Telecaster like a veteran, Lang completely involved the audience.

At one point he traded measures with his saxophone player, growing progressively spooky and rich. His hit 'Lie to Me' made for a fireball conclusion to a set that was like a clarion call to future generations of music lovers. Young rock doesn't have to be gimmicky or cute.

Sting's lush and worldly pop supported a performance that was joyful, unpretentious and gracious toward his Tennessee surroundings. He entered with a guitar but shifted to his battered bass after working through the Arabic strains of A Thousand Years, off his newest CD, 'Brand New Day', a double Grammy-winner.

Also from that album, 'Perfect Love...Gone Wrong' is a jealousy song full of dog jokes that featured a rap in French by the drummer and the first of several forays into deep jazz territory by the stellar pianist and trumpeter.

'Fill Her Up' is a bright song about a petty theft that begins as close to country music as anything Sting has recorded and evolves into a rousing gospel romp. At that point, Lang came onstage and threw his guitar into the fray, further elevating the energy level.

In many ways, though, old Sting is still the best Sting. 'All This Time' from the 'Soul Cages' album came off as one of the most thrilling passages of the evening, with its rich historical allusions, well-penned imagery and rock-hard backbeat. 'Moon Over Bourbon Street' from his first solo outing was spidery and romantic, played beneath a three-dimensional glowing moon that hung over the backdrop.

And, oh yes, Sting was in this band called the Police. 'Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic' and 'Roxanne' brought the house down, even though the added keyboards and horn didn't help these tunes, originally arranged brilliantly by one of the tightest trios that ever played together.

With a passion for rhythm and involving soundscapes, Sting comes off after all these years as one of rock's thinkers. In the past, he's struck thinker-like poses that were a bit much. But there was none of that last night, just good music well played.

(c) The Tennessean by Craig Havighurst

Sting's audience of 30-and 40-somethings is old enough to remember him as the blond, rebellious frontman for the London-based, post-punk rockers The Police, who jumped his way onto the American pop scene with hits such as 'Roxanne' and 'Can't Stand Losing You'. Maybe it's the age factor, or lack of stamina, that's made many content to sit down and listen to his more mellow solo side last Thursday.

In fact, it took playing his bigger hits such as the watered-down version of 'Roxanne' and 'Set Them Free' and 'Message in the Bottle' to bring the Sting crowd to its feet.

But Sting, being the master of masters when it comes to musical pathos, mixed those songs up enough that the crowd stood up and sat back down enough to give everybody a workout.

As fast as they jumped to their feet for songs such as 'All This Time' from the 'Soul Cages' CD and The Police hit 'Every Little Thing She Does', the crowd was just as quick to sit back down for the new stuff.

It's hard to think of songs like 'We'll Be Together Tonight' as old Sting, but with more than 30 years of song writing, you have to expect a lot of material. And with Sting, that material has changed over the years.

Not that that's a bad thing, necessarily. The Sting.compaq.com advertisements at his shows and even the coupon brochure for a "Sting-approved" concert photo handed to you at the front gate, just shows that the son of a former London milkman knows how to market himself.

It's not that Sting has lost any- thing. Au contrare. Sting himself would tell you he's just grown up.

The Sting of today seems more at home beginning a show with the sedate 'A Thousand Years' from his 'Brand New Day' CD and playing Police standards layered with lush orchestrations, warm trumpets and soft piano washes than belting out 'Canary in a Coal Mine'.

Sting's always been one to try new things. The best example of that is abruptly quitting one of the world's most popular rock bands at the height of popularity to start a solo career.

And that experimentation has not ended, as can be seen in his attempt at hip-hop in 'Perfect Love... Gone Wrong' which features a rap - in French mind you - by drummer Manu Katché. But that's what makes Sting... well, Sting.

That experimentation surely paid off in booking 19-year-old blues guitar sensation Jonny Lang as an opening act.

For those who don't know, Lang is a tall, gangly kid from Fargo, N.D., with a voice as big and soulful as Joe Cocker ever tried to be.

Being on the scene since he was the ripe old age of 17, Lang can tear up a crowd as well as his orange, hollow-bodied Fender Telecaster like the most seasoned of pros.

His screaming guitar work on his one hit 'Lie to Me', which he ended his one-hour set with, shows off the least of his talents.

Looking at home on the stage, Lang hangs onto the microphone and sings like he's actually lived the blues all his life. Strange, because one would think a kid, whose first song learned on the guitar was by the '80's grunge rockers Stone Temple Pilots, wouldn't even know what the blues are.

Lang is surely the brightest star on the horizon and the best bluesman to hit the stage since the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughn, whose influence can be heard in Lang's screaming riffs.

The juxtaposition of Lang and Sting made for a wonderful night - a night when both the future and the past of rock'n'roll could be seen in both artists.

Though Sting may have lost his innocence and grown up a little, his genius and mastery of musical tonality can't be denied on any scale. And with a young whippersnapper like Jonny Lane joining him on tour, the crowd at AmSouth was really treated to a night to remember Aug. 30.

(c) The Daily News Journal