I was lucky enough to purchase 3 tickets to a sold-out show of Sting at Ravinia Park in Highland Park, Illinois for Sunday, July 18, 2010. It was a girl's night out and fantastic, fabulous.
We arrived early enough to stake out our small piece of grass, 2 hours before the gates open and sat on our folding chairs in a shady area. Anticipation was high. Members could enter the park at 4:30, and when we entered at 5, the shady spots were already taken. It was the most crowded I've ever seen Ravinia, and one of my friends didn't leave our spot at all.
At almost 59, Sting looks hot and has a golden voice, carrying long notes and belting songs out in quick tempo. Each of us thought he was watching us in Every Breath You Take, [I'll be Watching You]. His presence on stage is warm, he introduced each song with how it came to be written and you could tell he was having a great time doing his "job." We should all be so lucky. Singer Jo Lawry did a great performance that night and on the CD. Some songs featured the clarinet, violins and other orchestra instruments.
Photo from Wikipedia
Sting and "the largest band he every played with," the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, played Sting favorites, such as Englishman in New York, Roxanne, King of Pain, Every Breath and Desert Rose.
And while rock music and symphonies don't always make the best marriage, this combination succeeded on a number of levels. Sting's melodies, for starters, have enough depth and richness to stand up to an orchestra. His rendition of "Russians," for example was full force, dramatic .**
"Sting, was born Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner; 2 October 1951) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, activist, actor and philanthropist. ... He attended St. Cuthbert's High School in Newcastle upon Tyne. He would often sneak into nightclubs like the Club-A-Go-Go, where he would watch acts such as Cream and Jimi Hendrix, artists who would later influence his own music. After jobs as a bus conductor, a construction labourer, and a tax officer, he attended Northern Counties College of Education, (which later became part of Northumbria University) from 1971 to 1974 and qualified as a teacher.[4] He then worked as a schoolteacher at St. Paul's Middle School in Cramlington for two years.
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| Sting in 1985 (Photo from Wikipedia) |
Sting married actress Frances Tomelty from Northern Ireland, on 1 May 1976. Before they divorced in 1984, the couple had two children: Joseph (born 23 November 1976) and Fuchsia Catherine (a.k.a. "Kate", born 17 April 1982). Joe Sumner is a member of the band Fiction Plane. In 1982, shortly after the birth of his second child, Sting separated from Tomelty and began living with actress (and later film producer) Trudie Styler. The couple eventually married in 1992, on 20 August. Sting and Styler have four children: Bridget Michael (a.k.a. "Mickey", born 19 January 1984), Jake (born 24 May 1985), Eliot Pauline (nicknamed "Coco", born 30 July 1990), and Giacomo Luke (born 17 December 1995).
Sting owns several homes worldwide, including Elizabethan manor house Lake House and its 60-acre country estate near Salisbury, Wiltshire; a country cottage in the Lake District; a New York City apartment; a beach house in Malibu; a 600-acre (2.4 km2) estate in Tuscany; and two properties in London: an apartment on The Mall, an 18th-century terrace house in Highgate.[26] He also once lived in a home in Bridgehampton, on New York's Long Island, during the Synchronicity tour in 1983. He also owns homes in the Caribbean, including one in the upscale community of Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic. According to an interview he did for German television broadcaster NDR in 1996, Sting chose a tree on the Lake House estate beside which he wishes to be buried. His net worth is estimated at $362.8 million according to
Insider Money magazine."
I bought the CD
Symphonicities and love it. The orchestral arrangements add zing to Sting's already unique voice and lyrics. It's not a completely classical sound, it includes reggae, ballads (Roxanne), and lots of songs including Straight to My Heart. I'm a little disappointed that Russians and Desert Rose, a few of my favorite songs aren't on this CD with the orchestral setting.
You can purchase the CD here:
Symphonicities
Guest blogger: Linda Blatchford,
http://linorstorecom.blogspot.com/
*Wikipedia
**Daily Herald, July 17, 2010
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