Taking a musical byte out of Sting
It was almost 44 years ago since Sting’s first appearance at the now defunct Rang Bhavan amphitheatre in Mumbai when, on March 26, 1980 to be precise, this writer saw him (born: Gordon Sumner) perform live as part of The Police, a trio that also featured Stewart Copeland on drums and Andy Summers on guitar. For most attendees, this performance was their first exposure to an international act, although British space-rockers Hawkwind stepped into the country in 1970! However, before we shift into nostalgia, January 28, 2024 was a “Brand New Day”, both for Sting and for his fans, which was also the concluding day of Lollapalooza India’s second edition.
Sting’s performance commenced on the Budweiser Stage at Mumbai’s Mahalaxmi Race Course almost five minutes ahead of the scheduled 8.25pm start. After a shout-out to Mumbai (with no reference, however, to his earlier Bombay appearance) and, without much chatter, the 72-year-old craftsman of some of the more sophisticated pop melodies in modern music ran through an opening quintet of selections that seesawed between eras, combining Police mainstays (“Message In A Bottle”, “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”) to Sting’s solo career (“If I Ever Lose My Faith In You”, “Englishman In New York,” “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free”).
Sting’s present live band line-up:
- Sting – bass, vocals
- Dominic Miller – guitars
- Devon Webster – keyboards
- Zach Jones – drums
- Shane Sager – harmonica
- Melisssa Musique – backing vocals
- Gene Noble – backing vocals
The well-spread out repertoire consisting of a 17-song set list – including an encore with an expected Police song, “Roxanne” – was packed with some of Sting’s most recognizable compositions, including Police favourites “Walking On The Moon” and “So Lonely”, which surprisingly segued into Bob Marley’s “No Woman No Cry”. And of course, the song most associated with Sting was The Police’s “Every Breath You Take”, which elicited the expected roar from the 10,000+ audience as they sang along on this quick-paced live version over Sting’s one-time haunting bass line.
Sting setlist at Mahalaxmi Race Course, Mumbai (Jan 2024) –
- Message In A Bottle (The Police)
- If I Ever Lose My Faith In You
- Englishman In New York
- Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic (The Police)
- If You Love Somebody Set Them Free
- Spirits In The Material World (The Police)
- Fields Of Gold
- Brand New Day
- Heavy Cloud No Rain
- Shape Of My Heart
- A Thousand Years
- Walking On The Moon (The Police)
- So Lonely (The Police) segued with “No Woman No Cry” (Bob Marley)
- Desert Rose
- King Of Pain (The Police)
- Every Breath You Take (The Police)
Encore:
17. Roxanne (The Police)
Note: “Fragile” was the 2nd song scheduled as an encore, but was not played due to time constraints.
The precise musicianship from Sting’s competent band was thanks to core members and long-time musical partner Dominic Miller on guitar (who has played on most of Sting’s solo albums), Zach Jones on drums, and Kevon Webster on keyboards. In addition, backing vocalist Melissa Musique provided a joyful moment on “Heavy Cloud No Rain”, while fellow backup vocalist Gene Noble infused the melodic “Shape Of My Heart” (co-written by Sting with guitarist Miller) with heartfelt soul. As part of his musical team, Sting challenged harmonica player Shane Sager to match the proficiency of Stevie Wonder’s original playing on the Grammy-winning “Brand New Day”, and the twentysomething Sager did so with supreme confidence.
Sting’s compositions are certainly not your conventional tracks with the songs packed with thought-provoking lyrics, complex rhythms and, often, meandering codas, intermingled with elements of jazz, pop, rock, reggae, and even world music as on “Desert Rose”. And yet, there was Sting, his voice striving to achieve the level of muscularity of his biceps, rolling through his too well rehearsed, 90-minute setlist with ease.
Cut to 1980: Without the benefit of having access to The Police’s albums prior to their arrival, this writer’s only taste of the repertoire was having heard two songs played on a sponsored programme on All India Radio, ‘Thums Up Beat’, that used to be broadcast on Sunday nights at 9.30pm: “Message In A Bottle” and “Walking On The Moon”. Nevertheless, purchasing the tickets that ranged from Rs.25 to Rs.40 was always going to be a challenge, but one did manage to raise sufficient funds to attend The Police’s debut – and only – concert in India by pleading with parents that it was only to accompany a younger sister who wished to attend. While it is difficult to remember the time of the concert commencing, that it lasted for barely 55 minutes remains vivid, running through a restricted set list that encompassed songs from the band’s only two international albums released then: ‘Outlandas d’Amour’ (1978) and ‘Regatta de Blanc’ (1979).
The key factor of the performance was, of course, Sting who was a bundle of energy as he constantly pranced across the stage while singing, playing evocative and distinctive bass, and doubling on keyboards if memory serves this writer correctly. Equally impressive was the massive drum kit utilized by Copeland and his inspired playing.
Although the venue had sold its capacity of 3,000 tickets, attendance appeared closer to 5,000 due to obvious gate crashers, something that Copeland vividly recollects in a subsequently recorded interview of his Bombay debut: “We had an idea; really (it) was our manager, my brother Miles, who said: ‘let’s take this out, let’s go somewhere new’. In the soundcheck, they thought the concert was starting, and they just came over the walls. They just trashed all the fancy seats in front where all the people who paid for the show. We were playing to the people on the street, and they responded exactly in the way that an audience in Leeds would respond, which was pretty cool actually. That was one of the most emotional shows we ever played.”
The organisers of the one-off concert was The Times and Talents Club which, rumour has it, wanted to showcase an international police band but inadvertently invited The Police instead!
Select setlist of The Police’s 1980 performance at Rang Bhavan, Bombay (1980) –
- Next to You
- So Lonely
- Walking On The Moon
- Message In A Bottle
- Roxanne
- Can’t Stand Losing You
- Bring On The Night
So how did Sting’s performance in Mumbai compare with the one in Bombay? While the Lollapalooza gig appeared perfect as his being a professional musician was concerned with a backing band that was probably trained – or instructed – not to be spontaneous, one cannot help feel that the rawness and intensity of Sting’s presence, the first time around, was completely missing. Even The Police songs themselves, certainly sounded toned down and Sting’s distinctive bass-lines were sorely subdued in his present, solo incarnation (was this the fault of the sound engineer?), although the display of bass slapping on “Walking On The Moon” did recall some of Sting’s past brilliance.
Even Sting’s introductions of the songs were polite, and his earlier showmanship of prancing around the spectrum of the stage simply just did not exist. With more than fifty per cent of Sting’s set list being a tribute to his past, there was no denying that he really made an effort to achieve the right vocal pitch for The Police songs and, with the aid of the backing vocalists, Sting’s inability to achieve the higher octaves was camouflaged to a large extent, but not entirely. Perhaps it is because Sting was 28 when he first arrived on Indian shores and now, in 2024, he has aged to 72.
But there is no denying that Sting, both as a bassist and as a composer, takes a well-deserved bite out of this generation’s rock ‘n’ roll era!