Excellent comments Teri! My interest in Sting's music started to wane when Mercury Falling was released. I dare say it may be his worst solo album to date. That tour made me not want to attend the BND tour. I haven't listened to SL as much as I thought I would either but I like it a bit more than the previous 2 albums. I didn't mean to imply that BND is an album full easy listening songs. Sorry if it came across that way. What I meant was that the people who have attended Sting's concerts over the last 5 years look much older to me than on previous tours. The demographic seems to have moved from 18-35 crowd to 35-65 crowd. Maybe it's just that we're all gettin old but I think there are 2 other good reasons for that. 1. Ticket prices have gotten out of control (thanks Clear Channel) so younger folks can't afford it 2. Sting's musical taste has changed and evolved since TST and as such, he's produced some darker, deeper, quieter, mellower non-top 40 sounding songs. I mentioned this shift may have happened around BND because of the marketing of Desert Rose. The song had a very broad appeal (and helped sell some Jaguars to rich folks I presume). I believe the song had cross-over appeal and got airplay on a variety of stations. You may remember BND was barely on the charts soon after it was released and the Jaguar commercial gave the album and song a shot in the arm. It is more than disconcerting to see people getting up and walking out, sitting down during Roxanne, or flat out napping during your idol's concert. I just never thought I'd see the day. I would never go that far either -especially when I've forked out good money for the privledge. By the way, the people behind us left after Annie's set. I loved Sting most with the Police too and I don't expect him to play 5 Police tunes in a row at his concerts. It's in the past and I'm over it. We were spoiled a bit with his earlier show i suppose so he had some pretty big shoes to fill. The fact that he pretty much left the set list alone this time around speaks volumes. I imagine it'll be the same set list when he comes to Toronto again in Oct. I don't plan to be there for that one. I guess I'm still stuck with the memories of the early nineties Sting too. Chris Teri Kronberg <burgaus@juno.com> wrote:

super-extend-o-delux-o version of Roxanne-o. It's the longest version of Roxanne I've ever heard. Lots of little noodling here and there by the band which is cool for fans but tiresome for the 50-somethings who really enjoy the "easy-listening" Sing songs and probably became fans around the BND album.

I don't think of BND as easy listening. My love for Sting returned in full force with that album, so I could never dislike it. Though, I have found it to be lulling at times in a good way. SL is easy listening for me. I actually fell asleep listening to it--and that was while watching the DVD too. *sigh* I'm not happy about that at all. I had a fantastic time seeing Sting in March--but couldn't help but notice that the growd was as equally unenthused during the SL songs as me. They even used those times to leave their seats. I would never go that far.

Are these the people Sting is marketing his music to these days? My parents?! Yikes!!!

Yeah, my parents do enjoy his music. 0_o Well, mom always loved EBYT from the classic Police days. Dad always sang Roxanne (as badly as the guy did on SNL in the elevator), and loves Fields of Gold. I like the more energy-filled Sting solo or wilder Police songs myself--which is something that's not so much in SL. In fact, the Police songs are being down-played into the mix over the years, which is probably why Synchronicity II stood out so wonderfully in the March performance.

I still love the guy.

Me too, but I've been thinking lately about when I loved him most--during The Police days. I've come to terms with that now. The love is still there, but it's been changing. Like, I came out of seeing him in March and felt satisfied that I wouldn't be seeing him again, until the next album, maybe not then. I've never loved any singer as much as him, which makes this feeling a bit hard to accept. I'm thinking maybe it's because I discovered him with The Police, and fell in love with them first. I'm thinking maybe there is a definite difference between those who were into The Police, and those who became a fan of Sting later. The memories don't haunt you. Though, right now, the memories of early nineties Sting keep haunting me. Perhaps, now we're equal. Teri ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the Internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the Web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today!