Happy Birthday, Gordon Sumner!
Sting celebrates his 72nd birthday on tour, of course, tonight in Concord, California. Sting has been on endless worldwide tour since the pandemic ended, bringing his vibrant show to sold out audiences everywhere.
Three weeks ago I caught Sting and his trio at Jones Beach. The show comprises two hours or more of greatest hits, with a few gems mixed in. You get “Roxanne” and “Every Breath You Take.” but also solo hits like “If Ever I Lose My Faith in You” and “All This Time.” The gems are songs like the gorgeous “Why Do I Cry for You?” and the funky “Loving You.”
The musicianship on stage is beyond compare. The band includes Sting on his supple bass, Dominic Miller doing filigrees on his guitar, and Sting’s gifted son. Joe Sumner, who performs with dad but also opens the show. He has a catchy new single called “Live Life” that I wouldn’t mind hearing on the radio.
There’s nothing like hearing a few thousand people singing “Sending out an SOS.” But the reason they’re doing it is that the songs are so well composed and constructed they’ve lasted 40 years. They’re built like great architecture, the kind where you look up at a building and keep seeing the ornamentation for the first time. “Was that always there?” you ask as Sting’s well trained vibrato soars across the theater even better that it did it, say, The Ritz in 1985.
So happy birthday, Sting! And did I mention that at 72 he looks twenty years younger and the plays guitar with the ferocity of a youngster? I just did!
