Everybody loves Sting

Friday I saw Sting and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, and it was FABULOUS! Part VH1 Storytellers. Part musical theater. Part big band. All great reasons to spend the money and see him perform for yourself.

Sting had the genius idea to back up his songwriting with the winds and strings and percussion of the Royal Philharmonic, and since the majority of his songs were in fact written by the man himself, you know he was the one responsible for composing and arranging the Orchestra music to compliment such hits as "Roxanne," "Englishman in New York," and "Fields of Gold." Some of the arrangements were so different and new that I wished they was available for purchase at the over-priced souvenirs stand or on the relatively reasonably priced iTunes or the very free and very illegal downloading online. Perhaps it will come out in the future...

Arlene Schnitzer was the perfect venue for such a performance: it's intimate, classy, and the layout of the seats is such that everyone has a great view of the stage... as long as the people in front of them sit back in their seats. I did not have this luxury for the first twenty or thirty minutes. I had to tap gently on the shoulder of the woman in front of me and ask her to stop leaning over into her significant other's seat as I could not see Sting. Though romantic gestures are lovely, they could be less drastic than sharing the seat of your partner. She seemed a bit annoyed - I was annoyed as well because not only was she leaning left, her partner was leaning forward with his arms resting on his knees, obstructing my view as well - but she complied with my request. I had the support of the couple next to me, who agreed with me that it was inconvenient to have to look through someone's head in order to see Sting perform... if only I had the super powers to see through solid objects.

Sting is also a bit of a mumbler. The clever anecdotes he shared with the audience about his songwriting techniques and the meaning behind certain songs were hard to hear, which is interesting because we could hear his singing perfectly fine. Perhaps not so much a mumbler as a low talker.

In case you're wondering, the voice you hear on albums and radio is exactly like the voice you hear at the live performance, but there is something more soulful and magnificent about seeing him perform. It could have to do with the songwriting - as previously mentioned, he penned the music and lyrics for a good number of his songs - but you can feel the emotion behind every word he performed. I got goosebumps during some of his songs, and that's not just because it was quite chilly in the theater. I think it probably also had to do with the fact he had an entire orchestra behind him to give a little extra oomf. He even choreographed a few moves for the Orchestra do during the show, such as having the horns stand up and sing a little "oh oh" chorus; in particular, they were a very entertaining group of young men, especially the young man who through up a double fist pump, and the other young man who stuck the "rock on" hand gensture into the air as they were sitting down.

The overall experience made for an evening I'll never forget. Well done, Sting, well done. And excellent dance moves...