David Cheal reviews Sting at the Albert Hall

In the days leading up to this concert, whenever I mentioned I was off to
see Sting, the response was invariably the same: a curling of the lip, and
an expression that bespoke either pity or disdain, or both. That's what
Sting does to many people, and you can understand why, with his tantric sex
boasts, his rainforest-saving antics, and his general demeanour of
aren't-I-cleverness.

And yet this is a man who has written and performed some solid-gold pop
classics, mainly as the former linchpin of the Police, but also sporadically
as a solo artist. He was responsible for one of the highlights of my
gig-going career, a show at the Albert Hall about a decade ago that was
electrifying from start to finish. So, uncool as it might be to say so, I'm
actually a bit of a fan.

This show, which, after the cancellation of his dates in Newcastle, Glasgow
and Birmingham, turned out to be the opening night of his British tour,
wasn't up there with the best of them, but it was still an absorbing and
uplifting night, with Sting leading his as-always immaculate band on a trawl
through his solo career, occasionally digging deeper into his Police years.

The laryngitis that had caused him to abandon those shows was still in
evidence: Roxanne, for instance, was performed largely as a dub version,
with the audience filling in some of the gaps. He was clearly straining on
Invisible Sun, too, but this didn't prevent it from being one of the show's
highlights. His voice, though, sounded perfectly comfortable in the
middle-register material that dominated the show - songs such as the
soaring, passionate Inside, from his recent Sacred Love album, and the
gorgeous key-shifting North African-flavoured Desert Rose.

It's a tribute to the quality of his music that I paid little attention to
the expensive-looking kit behind him - video screens that slid around,
lighting gantries that went up and down a lot - and focused on the
contributions of top-notch musicians such as keyboardist Jason Rebello, who
duelled with Sting's bass on the obligatory instrumental workout, and
guitarist Dominic Miller's colourful flourishes. Occasionally the show lost
momentum, as on the bebop version of Walking on the Moon, but in the main
this was a good, solid, satisfying and occasionally inspirational
performance.

© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004

Also, for the people down under, Redlands was launched onto the
international entertainment stage on Saturday night with Australian icon
John Farnham featuring in the first of the "Stars of Sirromet" concerts.
According to organisers this is just the beginning.  The "Stars of Sirromet"
open air concerts at the Sirromet Winery at Mt Cotton will become regular
events for the Redlands and already names such as Sting Mark Knopfler of
Dire Straits, Elton John and Neil Diamond, are being touted as up and coming
concert artists.

Cheers,
StingUs-team
www.stingus.net