Sting at the Hallenstadion Zuerich, May 22nd and 23rd 2004
Concert report Sting at the Hallenstadion, Zuerich, Switzerland on May 22nd and 23rd 2004. The setlist: Intro : A Thousand Years (playback, no band) Send Your Love Inside Forget About The Future Dead Man's Rope Synchronicity II Whenever I say Your Name I Was Brought To My Senses This War Fragile Fields Of Gold Stolen Car Sacred Love Walking On The Moon Englishman in NY Roxanne Never Coming Home Encore 1 Desert Rose If I Ever Lose My Faith Every Breath You Take Encore 2 A Thousand Years Review by Simon C As you can see on the setlist, it?s exactly the same set as RAH and if you read those reviews on www.stingus.net, it?s pretty much the same, so I?m only mentioning the differences I noticed. The ?Hallenstadion? holds a capacity of nearly 12?000 people, the tickets for Sunday were going out very good, so Saturday was scheduled hoping to get 2 sold out shows. As far as i?ve seen, Saturday had about 9?000 people and Sunday was pretty much ?full house?. I needed to go to both show?s because Saturday was my birthday, and what better to have Sting singing at your birthday, isn?t it ? Unfortunately the book signing who was expected to take place on Saturday afternoon was cancelled because Sting obviously needed to take care of himself and decided to do only concerts and no other promotional stuff. Sadly, because there where a few people outside the shop waiting in the rain (including birthday-kid Simon). I?m not going to tell you a word about the supporting act, nellie mckay, I wish the people in Paris a good Tea time while she will perform ! The best thing was she only played 20 respectively 25 minutes. The show started with a fantastic instrumental intro of ?a thousand years?, before the band opened the 2 hour set with a great ?dance? version of ?send your love? and immediately everybody was standing up and dancing to the beat. ?Inside? was next a gave the first break, people wanted to dance instead of hearing a ballad. It was cool to hear this first 4 songs from the new record, i really think they sound better live than the studio versions. Synchronicity II??this is the song only diehard fans know, you can recognise Police - Fans by singing this song ! I felt like dancing and jumping, I really love this song, and Keith Carlock played it very Copelandesque ! It was a surprise and a good move to put ?fragile? in the middle of the set. ?walking on the moon? was played in the known ?jazzy? way with Brian, and ?englishman in new york? made people dance again ! Roxanne ?Mount Everest of the set? was next, a great and long version with lyrics from ?King of Pain?, ?bed?s too big without you? and ?spirits in the material world?, Dominic even played the intro of ?spirits in the material world? very shortly. All in all : Great show, Sting and the band where in a good mood, Sunday was definitely better than Saturday, there was much more energy in the band maybe due to Sting?s health. Good rearrengements of the songs, as i said - better than on the record. A few People where interviewed by radio stations, everybody was happy and saying it was a good show. So did the press too ! After having seen Sting for the 20th and 21st time, he still got it, live better than ever ! One last word on Merchandising : the obligate T-Shirt?s, official Sting CD?s, but also Dominic?s ?Shapes? (only signed copies available !) and the German Talking Book of ?Broken Music? (3 CD?s, about 220 min.)
I was there too on Sunday, I pretty much agree with Simon. I loved all the songs from Sacred Love apart from the title track, which I found somehow too flat. I'm so sorry Hole in My Life is out of the setlist, but seeing him on double bass in Walking on the Moon was a real treat! He was in a very good mood, very relaxed: all in all a better show than the Brand New Day gigs. As to the supporting act, I want to put in a word for her: she's a great piano player, and I found her lovely and very funny. Her show is certainly out of place in a stadium, but I was in front row and managed to pick some of her lyrics. Speaking of supporters, I just learned that Rufus Wainwright is opening for Sting in Italy. I've never heard his music but I read great things on him, I'm very curious. Ciao from Milan Michele
Rufus was the opening act in Helsinki, and sorry folks, don't wait up for him... Must have been one of the most boring opening acts I've seen, his music may work on a record (or on a much smaller venue), but as a live and heard for the first time it's was almost torture! None of my friends liked him, and neither did I... Just him playing piano / guitar and singing for a way too long time. But of course the critics on the papers liked him (actually they wrote in Finnish magazine Helsingin Sanomat that he was better than the boring "plastic" Sting, who was playing Alien in Ny etc. Why they even bother to write reviews if they hate the music already and don't even know the names of the most famous songs???). So I was really glad that Joss Stone opened in RAH gigs... at least she was good! Just my 2 cents... T I M O
-----Alkuperäinen viesti----- Lähettäjä: police- bounces+timo.saajoranta=saunalahti.fi@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:police- bounces+timo.saajoranta=saunalahti.fi@mailman.xmission.com] Puolesta Michele Piumini Lähetetty: 25. toukokuuta 2004 13:28 Vastaanottaja: Police Mailing List Aihe: Re: [Police] Sting at the Hallenstadion Zuerich,May 22nd and 23rd 2004
I was there too on Sunday, I pretty much agree with Simon. I loved all the songs from Sacred Love apart from the title track, which I found somehow too flat. I'm so sorry Hole in My Life is out of the setlist, but seeing him on double bass in Walking on the Moon was a real treat! He was in a very good mood, very relaxed: all in all a better show than the Brand New Day gigs. As to the supporting act, I want to put in a word for her: she's a great piano player, and I found her lovely and very funny. Her show is certainly out of place in a stadium, but I was in front row and managed to pick some of her lyrics. Speaking of supporters, I just learned that Rufus Wainwright is opening for Sting in Italy. I've never heard his music but I read great things on him, I'm very curious. Ciao from Milan Michele
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participants (3)
-
Michele Piumini -
simca@bluewin.ch -
Timo Saajoranta