Seventeen Years Ago Today . . . Sting

August 3rd, 1991 - Alpine Valley, Wisconsin.
My first live experience with Sting. I only mention this now, as opposed to say a 20 year retrospective, because of its relevance to the recent Police tour. Sting had at that point been long removed from the Police, never to return. He had taken his music into a farther orbit from the world of rock- more jazz, more classical. He had created this persona of a "rock star", even though he didn't play all that much rock. So, given the years of jazz bands and the melancholy feel of The Soul Cages, along with the intimate small-club settings that had begun the tour, one could have expected more of the same low-key approach. That night Sting stepped out onto the amphitheater stage - and he rocked! The sound was the closest I'd heard to the original Police sound. The Soul Cages was a rebirth for Sting. The growing size of his bands, although quite elegant and grand, had grown too large, along with his attitude of arrogance. Here we had Sting as a musician, stripped down, with the genius previously found in the studio now brought out to the stage. The hair was cut and the attitude diminished. He was back on bass and his playing was much more complex, more improvisational, and the songs came alive. He had found a band that was the equal of The Police. Dominic Miller brought back a less-is-more approach to guitar, in the tradition of Andy Summers. Its obvious his style created a unique sound that helped Sting write the best songs of his career. It is unlikely that we will ever hear another SC again. Vinnie Colaiuta was another top class drummer - showing a proficiency with poly-rythmic complexity that is rarely matched. And David Sancious brought the keyboards into the rock universe - raw, powerful and fluid. The four of them bonded into one single element: solid, but dynamic; stripped down but expansive and immensely layered. The energy of this band was uncontainable even in the polarized material from the etheral Soul Cages. And the elegance and grandeur were still there, as heard on MTV Unplugged and at the Montreaux 91 Jazz Festival. It was the best band he ever had. The tour was fairly well reproduced on The Soul Cages Live video (when will there be an expanded DVD version of this?)

But, after 1995 Sting (& Dominic) played with less capable bands for a mediocre decade, never nearing their previous achievements. There was another rebirth in 2005 when they were joined by Josh Freese and Lyle Workman for a very limited Broken Music tour. Once again a 4-piece band, this time with two guitars. More Police tunes were resurrected and Dominic got to rock harder than ever. This was obviously the catalyst for the Police reunion and these songs were given a new life. Now, it seems that the final chapter of The Police has been written. Sting's only commitments now are more lute performances, and we can only hope that like the Broadway shows of 1989, these "distractions" are the calm before the storm. Another rebirth is not needed, only a continuation of the momentum and a return to the previous band. I remember that after the 1993 show I kept thinking that the best was over, it would never be that good again. I was right in one sense - that particular band was done. Fortunately in the more general sense I was wrong, and fifteen years later everything would come full circle with The Police. But, now I think it may be true. Even though we are far from the peak of Sting's career in the 1980s, I have seen him live 4 times in the last 5 years, and it would have been 5/5 if the Broken Music tour had come closer. I can only hope that says something about a continued presence and that 2009/2010 brings some new Sting material of high quality that "rocks."