THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
When I was in grade school, my sister heard a high pitched scream coming from my bedroom and thought I had hurt myself. Upon arriving on the scene, she recalls that I was not damaged, but extremely excited over Sting’s new song, that had just come out on the radio. Such was my obsession as a teen in Muncie, IN.
To say I’ve been obsessed with Sting and The Police is an understatement! Growing up in the American Midwest, I was glued to watching music videos. Listening to homegrown bands like John Cougar, Journey, Van Halen and Kansas on my 8 track tape player in an Indiana cornfield, a friend asked me to listen to a new song he found interesting – The Police’s ‘Roxanne.’ The music was mesmerizing and from another world (and country) entirely. The Police were three blonde rock gods (singer and bass player Sting – born Gordon Sumner – along with drummer Stewart Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers) that became ‘blonde’ when their manager, Miles Copeland had their hair dyed for a Wrigley’s chewing gum commercial. The look stuck and the British trio (although Stewart was an American living in London) quickly moved from the ‘punk’ scene they’d been associated with to become the biggest band in the world just a few years. The invention of MTV didn’t hurt, I was glued to the television in hopes of ‘Spirits In The Material World’ or ‘Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic’ might come on. I was working as a tennis camp counselor, I needed to rest, but I couldn’t miss the opportunity to see a Police video.
When I won a tennis tournament in Northern Michigan, my prize was two tickets to see The Police at Castle Farms Music Theater in Charlevoix, MI (on a farm owned, incidentally, by the Loeb family of Leopold and Loeb murder fame). I took my sister on a road trip to see the band. It was during this concert, in the middle of a Michigan field, that I realized my one true love was the band’s leader. The name Sting was given by a member of his first band, Last Exit, as he was in the habit of wearing an old yellow and black striped sweater, full of holes.
For my birthday treat one year, I took my family – four kids in their teens and tweens and two 40-something parents – to Market Square Arena, the big venue in Indianapolis, to see the Synchronicity tour. We were treated to the opening act, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, followed by The Police. I remember my mother covering her ears for most of the evening as the music was so loud, but she did warm to ‘Every Breath You Take’, which was climbing the Billboard charts at the time. The best birthday present ever!
I recently wrote a little book, How To Break Into The White House, about working for George Bush Senior. In it, I describe that I only got together with my spouse, the British Ambassador in America, because I thought he could introduce me to Sting. He did the opposite by once throwing himself between me and my idol and his wife while dining in a private corner at Nobu London on Park Lane. ‘I have to protect him from you,’ was his excuse. The maître d’ agreed. The Daily Mail ran a piece by Sebastian Shakespeare with the headline ‘Wife of ex-US ambassador has a Sting in her saucy tale,’ with a photo of me next to one of Sting in the gossip section of the paper! I didn’t know whether to be thrilled or horrified. But, later that day, I got an email from Sting’s PA asking for two copies of my book. I couldn’t believe it. My spouse monitored my inscription to make sure I didn’t write ‘Run away with me – soonest!’ I wrote a perfectly polite inscription to him and also to his wife, Trudy, then duly FedExed the books to their penthouse in New York City. ‘I’ve finally gotten my wish,’ I thought and checked my email hourly for an invitation to, if not ‘run away’ with Sting at least to ‘have tea.’ I haven’t heard a word!
When a friend asked me to see Sting 3.0 (the name of his current tour) at the Hammersmith Apollo I couldn’t wait! I have seen The Police or Sting solo around two dozen times over the years all over the world. I’ve seen him in Holland and London numerous times; I dragged my husband to the reunion tour at Twickenham in 2008. As soon as he was old enough I took my son to see him in Juan-les-Pins, France in the standing section. He and his band were always spectacular and I always fell in love all over again.
The Apollo was lit up in rainbow colors, with ‘Sting – Sold Out’ emblazoned outside. “He chose to play two Apollo shows rather than one at the O2,’ my concert date informed me. This was Sting’s first return to the theater since 2017, making it his 16th appearance at the historic venue. He joked with the audience that when The Police started, playing at the Apollo (then known, famously, as the Hammersmith Odeon) was their dream... instead they played at The Greyhound Pub down the road.
Just as The Police only had three members, Sting’s new band has longtime contributor Dominic Miller on guitar, Chris Maas on drums, and the star himself on his beloved, trusty and well-used Fender bass. The three operated in perfect ‘synchronicity’. (The opposite of Sting with Copeland and Summers, whose concerts sometimes ended in a punching match – the former Police members are now suing Sting for lost compensation, and Copeland recently was quoted saying “It got combustible in the studio and on stage with The Police.”)
These were the songs of my teenage years in Indiana. In his autobiography Broken Music Sting states, “I watched huge ships being built at the end of my street only to be released into the world, never to be seen again….that I was I wanted for myself.” He wrote and produced the Broadway musical The Last Ship based on his early years in Wallsend. The impact The Police had on me was monumental and was one reason that I escaped Indiana, urging me to ‘launch’ myself into the world as well, just like the young Gordon Sumner.
Bathed in blue lights, Sting looked feisty in a tight white tee shirt and black jeans. He has just celebrated his 74th birthday, which is a great tribute to yoga and tantric sex. He oozed coolness, and looked and sang better than most performers decades younger. The Apollo holds 3,500 people so the show felt intimate and personal, like he was singing just to me. I kept waving back – in vain, I realized, as everyone else was doing the same thing.
The concert opened with the muscular ‘Message In A Bottle’, followed by ‘If I Ever Lose My Faith In You,’ ‘Englishman In New York,’ and a spellbinding version of ‘Every Little Thing She Does is Magic’. Some of the greatest songs ever, sung in the space of 20 minutes or so. I was in heaven.
Sting then perched himself on a stool and explained that the next song was inspired by a ‘little cottage’ he bought after some success, “...actually a castle” he admitted, and began the chords of the iconic ‘Fields Of Gold’ referring to the barley fields surrounding his Wiltshire Estate that inspired him to write the song, one that Sir Paul McCartney has admitted he wished he had written.
The show was simple and streamlined, in comparison to The Police’s Synchronicity tour that featured Sting hanging off an apocalyptic scaffolding in a tattered orange jumpsuit while Stewart Copeland energetically thrashed his drums on a futuristic mountain of debris.
Sting’s voice was mesmerizing especially with no help from back up singers for the entire show, just harmonies from Dominic Miller. He next played the moving ‘Shape Of My Heart’, which has entered the Gen X mainstream after being sampled by Juice Wrld in his song ‘Lucid Dreams’.
‘Wrapped Around Your Finger,’ and ‘King of Pain’ from Synchronicity, were just as mesmerizing. ‘Desert Rose’ came next, with its vibrant strings and Moroccan chanting. Then Sting sang two songs from the first Police album, Outlandos d’Amour bringing me back to memories of Indiana cornfields, ‘So Lonely’ and ‘I Can’t Stand Losing You’, Sting truly returning to his roots. He also played ‘Walking on the Moon’ with its reggae groove – I once read that he wrote the song in a hotel, with the original words as ‘Walking round the room!’
He ended the set with a haunting and hypnotic version of ‘Every Breath You Take’. Hearing his hits without additional ornamentation was a dream come true. It was raw and emotional as he introduced his band at the end of the show. It wasn’t too long before the trio reappeared for an encore. ‘What do you want us to play,’ asked the frontman, but the answer was obvious as the song that made The Police famous had been missing all night. Shouts of ‘Roxanne’ filled the Apollo. He nodded with a knowing smile.
‘Roxanne’ was so much like the original version I was surprised he didn’t recreate the distinctive nervous laugh before the opening line. He ended the encore with ‘Fragile’. He introduced the final song with “we will leave you with something quiet and thoughtful”. This was the only time during the show that he picked up an acoustic guitar and his delivery was flawless. Many were in tears during this meaningful song, especially poignant composition in today’s world, realizing “...just how how fragile we are”.
