How Sting Performed Magic in Manila...

For a guy of 71, Sting looked incredibly fit when he stepped out onstage at the Solaire Theater for the first of his two-night show here in Manila over the weekend. A typical septuagenarian might shuffle around the house, perhaps with a cane, occasionally yelling at the neighborhood kids to keep quiet or get off their lawn, but here’s Mr. Gordon Sumner flying halfway across the world, rocking out and still giving the people what they want. 

Of course, Sting’s lifestyle is well-known; he works out regularly and watches what he eats—not strictly vegetarian but close enough. Which is probably the reason why, even at this age, the man could still put on an excellent show.

The British singer-songwriter, who is on his fourth visit to Manila, could have chosen to perform in one of the bigger venues, like the Araneta Coliseum, where he was last time, but that he chose the much smaller, swankier theater inside the Solaire Resort and Casino tells us he prefers being closer to his audience, interacting more intimately and organically with those who profess to loving his music.

That includes me. Most music fans have an origin story—or that moment when they first discovered or fell in love with a song or record and the artist behind it. I never caught Sting during his time with The Police (too young), but Ten Summoner’s Tales is one of my desert island picks—an album I discovered when I was 13 and whose cassette tape lived in my Sony Walkman for the better part of that year. I would discover later that it was one of the most defining records of his career, producing songs that would become signatures years after they came out.

And that led me down the proverbial rabbit hole—digging through his older catalogue before he became a solo artist, and following the material that came out after. None would match the impact TST would have on me, but it became easy to fall in love with the artist behind the music—thoughtful songwriter, talented guitarist, passionate vocalist.

All was on full display on his return engagement here in Manila. After a short 30-minute set of his son Joe Sumner—who seemed to have inherited his dad’s musicianship—Sting and his band launched immediately into “Message in a Bottle,” followed by “Englishman in New York,” and “Every Little This She Does is Magic.” He kept the banter to a minimum—except when he noticed a sleeping kid near the front row, which he kept ribbing about for the rest of the evening. He worked in a few songs that were newer or deep cuts: “If It’s Love,” “Loving You” and “Rushing Water,” but as expected, people most responded (sometimes physically—some were jumping up and down) when it was more familiar tunes, such as “If I Ever Lose My Faith in You,” and “Fields of Gold,” which, of course, are both from Ten Summoner’s Tales.

In “Brand New Day,” he challenged his harmonica player that the original recording featured Stevie Wonder himself, but Shane Sager, who is all of 28 years old, wasn’t fazed and proved he was up to the challenge.

As the night progressed, it became increasingly evident how much the show was like a well-oiled machine.  There was hardly any need for musical cues, and the entire seven-person crew, led by Sting himself, traded good vibes and energy off of one another. You’d expect nothing less from someone who’s been doing this for close to a half century. Legacy acts, for the most part, are a crap shoot: you never know where the artist is at that point, or whether he’s still in condition to perform, but there is absolutely no fault I could find about how Sting and his band performed that night. The vocals were on point, even on the high notes in songs like “So Lonely,” and “Desert Rose,” and his mastery of the bass—his instrument of choice throughout most of his career—was unparalleled. This could have been the Sting from 1993 or 2003 or 2013. 

For audiences, that was kind of the point. We watch these legacy acts because their music transports us to moments of joy or excitement, to memories we’d like to relive, and perhaps even to people we liked, loved, and lost. We can’t stress enough how the songs we grew up listening to can take us to emotional highs, even for just three or four minutes at a time. Yes, we can listen to the records over and over again, but when it’s delivered live right in front of us by the artist, the feeling is multiplied exponentially. That’s why we go to concerts, and that’s why we appreciate it when the artist gives it all he’s got to take us there. There’s magic in the space of a pop song, which would make artists like Sting wizards of the highest order.

By the time he performed “King of Pain” and “Every Breath You Take,” the audience was in full on ecstasy. He ended the regular set but came back out to do two more.

“What song should I sing,” he teased the audience. The answer was obvious, of course. The theater was bathed in red lights for an explosive rendition of “Roxanne,” followed by Sting solo on the acoustic guitar for perhaps one of his most poignant, “Fragile.” At that point, everyone was up on their feet, silent and mesmerized, before bursting into enthusiastic, genuine applause and appreciation. What else is there to say, except that it was magic.

(c) Esquire by Paul John Caña

Sting 'My Songs' concert: 7 incredible highlights...
 

Sting just finished his two-night stint in Manila at The Theater in Solaire, and clearly the Englishman still has got it.

While his show in Solaire is something of a 180 degree turn from his last Manila performance at the Big Dome 10 years ago, a few important things have remained the same: Sting's artistry, his command, and sensual appeal.   

He brought the house down, lifted the crowd up, buttered us up with his music, and soothed whatever frayed nerves was present.

Joe Sumner opened for Sting with an easy seven-song set. On Friday, he took the stage late at 8:05pm but very much made up for the slight delay with his eagerness, his clear appreciation for being here, and his music.

He ended his set at 8:30pm and by 8:50pm, the lights turned down low and everybody knew: It was time. Below are seven highlights that won't make us soon forget this show.

1. That's how you open a concert. Sting entered the stage in an outfit that emphasized his incredible physique: a grey tiny tee that let his muscles make themselves known, super slim black jeans and boots.

Before we could get lost in his appearance, the rockstar strapped on his bass guitar and quickly went down to business, and boy did he mean business. He opened strong with three of his most popular hits: "Message in A Bottle," "Englishman in New York" and "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic."

2. What an intimate show. Sting greeted the crowd between his third and fourth songs and made everybody feel special. He apparently kept count of his visit to the Philippines, saying this was his fourth, and then notices a little boy sleeping in one of the front rows.

This was a sign that the concert is going to be an intimate one, a complete turn around different from his last Manila show in Araneta where everything was so big and so loud, each number ending in thunderous applause.

The next three songs had Sting sitting on a stool, looking ever so cool, taking everybody out for a mellow ride.

Here you see the artist confident in his skin and in his talent. There was no extravagant set, no dazzling effects, no extra palabok, just Sting and his incredible songs.

3. Some humor and a few jokes. "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" had the well-dressed, well-heeled crowd go as wild as it can, which isn't really saying all that much.

But when Sting got to the line, "You could say I'd lost my belief in our politicians," emphasizing the last word, the crowd got it, hooting and laughing. There were not a few politicians present that evening, along with ambassadors and business tycoons.

The sleeping little boy will become a recurring theme, something of an anchor that Sting will use to ground everybody back to earth.

4. Ethereal, dreamy, and lakas maka-high! After pulling everybody back together by noticing the little boy, Sting took us to church: He begins the ethereal "Fields of Gold" with background lights making it seem like we were inside a cathedral.

On "Brand New Day," and with so much gusto, he jammed with the youngest member of his band, the harmonica player Shane Sager, playing licks originally done by Stevie Wonder.

He followed it up with "Shape of My Heart," and then with "No Rain," and by the time Sting got to "Seven Days," the crowd was already riding high on the music trip.   

5. A most importance balance. Who knows how Sting does it but the evening was a careful balance of excitement and steady mellowness. At one point, the show felt like an elevated version of MTV Unplugged, where it's just the musician, his songs, and a few of his closest friends.

He does "Walking on the Moon," an unbelievable medley that included "No Woman No Cry," and in ascending to another level with  "Dessert Rose," he took everybody with him. Insane.

He calls in Joe Sumner to do "King of Pain" and then he ends with "Every Breath you Take."

6. Sting's candid demeanor is so endearing. Toward the end of the Friday show, the rockstar gamely photobombed a couple's selfie, shook some lucky hands, and when the handshaking became a little too much, he comfortably made it known.

Depending on the time latecomers entered, Sting would greet them with an easy "where have you been?" or "You didn't miss much," or "you missed the entire show!"

At one point, he caught the sleeping little boy awake and introduced himself with an endearing "Hi, I'm Sting!"

7. The encore. When he left after "Every Breath You Take," the crowd, clearly big Sting fans familiar with his set list, knew the night isn't over yet. Nobody left, everybody shouted "more" and Sting relented.

He opened his encore with a smashing performance of "Roxanne" only for him to gracefully land the crowd back to earth — or take us back to heaven, we're no longer sure — with the delicate "Fragile."

Sting finished his last of two shows on Saturday at The Theater in Solaire, after which he will fly to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore for his short My Songs tour.

(c) GMA Network by Lou Albano