Sting 3.0

Sting brought his fans the best of The Police and his solo career...

The British artist performed this March 2nd at the Movistar Arena, for a crowd of 14,000.

In just under two hours of a concert - which also had no opening artist - Sting managed to deliver all of his hits, both solo and with The Police. The omissions may be few, as the artist and his band delivered 22 songs in a show where the music takes priority over everything else.

Although he greeted the Bogotá audience about four times, Sting chose to say little and put his full intention into the pieces. The band's "power trio" format, like The Police, allows for a much more rock-oriented approach.

Thus, the night began with "Message in a Bottle," setting the tone for the entire concert. Sting jumped in with his bass, an instrument that doesn't hide the passage of time, and took on the lead role, but always in association with his drummer Chris Maas and with a top-quality guitarist who has been with Sting for many years and is even co-writer of 'Shape of My Heart': Dominic Miller.

If you compare this performance with Sting's previous ones in Bogotá (at the Gran Salón de Corferias in 2010, and then with Shaggy in 2018 at the Movistar Arena), in the first, he performed 17 songs, while in the second, the duo performed 13 songs by Sting and The Police. Therefore, this time, their exploration of The Police is more in-depth.

Then, Sting and his band began to travel through "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You," "Englishman in New York," "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic," "Fields of Gold," "Never Coming Home," and "Synchronicity II," which is already one of the most energetic moments. All of it, nonstop.

Only at that point did Sting allow the band a break to speak to the audience.

"A story from the Bible...", Sting began the introduction to the song 'Mad About You', originally from 1991, from his album 'The Soul Cages', which is considered by critics to be the most conceptual of his career.

Consistent with his personality, Sting was a man of few words but did use symbolic gestures, such as when he held a small white cup in his hands and allowed the lights and cameras to rest on the utensil: it had the words "coca nasa" handwritten on it.

Then came more songs from The Police's repertoire: "Spirits in the Material World," "Wrapped Around Your Finger," "Driven to Tears," and then "Fortress Around Your Heart," one of the first songs that marked Sting's separation from The Police, one of his first solo recordings and also dedicated to his divorce. It's one of the few songs he hadn't performed before in Colombia.

Then came more songs from The Police, and although he had already delivered some great hits, there were still some missing pieces: "Can't Stand Losing You" by The Police, in a very different version from the original; "Shape of My Heart," which was one of the most reflective and emotional moments; 'I Wrote Your Name (Upon My Heart)' and 'Walking on the Moon' and 'So Lonely', by The Police, in which Sting travels through very original and different variations.

Nearing the end, it was time for a single whose original complexity forced the band to resort to some synthesizer and räi instrument sampling, as well as replacing the voice of Algerian singer Cheb Mami. Sting then provided both vocals on "Desert Rose," while Miller covered much of the Arabic instrumentation on guitar.

After that, Sting 3.0 returned to The Police's repertoire with "King of Pain," the song that has become an anthem "Every Breath You Take." After a visit to the backstage area and back, they performed a more free-form version of "Roxanne."

However, the closing act was "Fragile," the song Sting always closes his concerts with, in which he ditches the bass to take up acoustic guitar.

Less than two hours of concert, but enough for Sting to deliver the most complete performance of his three visits to the country.

(c) El Tiempo by Carlos Solano