If you’re going to start a show with a propulsive timeless classic like “Message in A Bottle,” where do you from there?
The answer, for Sting, now a shocking 75 years old with a portrait of Dorian Gray hanging in his attic, is just to keep swinging for the fences and peeling off one hit after another for more than an hour and a half.
That’s what he did on Wednesday night at Brooklyn’s historic Paramount Theater in Ft. Greene. With his longtime collaborator guitarist and writer Dominic Miller, and newish drummer Chris Maas, he landed his worldwide 3.0 tour like the sleekest private jet onto the most intimate airfield.
These shows — and more to come — follow Sting’s nine month run touring his Broadway musical, “The Last Ship,” to acclaim. You’d think he’d go home to his English countryside castle, or New York penthouse, or Malibu beach retreat. But what would he do, especially with wife Trudie Styler over in Europe directing her second movie this year?
It doesn’t hurt that — not to jinx it — he’s fit as a fiddle with a voice so supple and unadorned — this is a back to basics show — that any mistakes would be immediately obvious to the fans. He did concede, when I saw him after the show, that he was “fighting a little cold.” Only he seemed aware of it.
This little trio makes a big sound and takes chances, even performing a song they hadn’t rehearsed just to challenge themselves. Otherwise, once “Message in a Bottle” flew like a rocket through the Brooklyn Paramount — roughly the size of a substantial Broadway house — was treated to hit after hit, no filler, from solo hits like “If I Ever I Lose My Faith In You” and “All this Time” to songs from the Police era such as “Roxanne” and “Every Breath You Take.”
These arrangements are pared back, giving them new ways to breath in jazz and rock modes. There’s even a country song that was once a hit for Toby Keith. After committing his catalog to orchestral symphony, reggae and other genres, Sting can take pride the the songs — like those by Paul Simon, Billy Joel, or Elton — stand the test of time. Any change brings an intriguing improvement, especially when the band feels like they’re making it seem effortless,
As I said, the 98 year old beautifully restored Paramount — which Sting recognized as a palace for the kind of American music that influenced him as a young musician in Newcastle, England — is surprisingly small. It seats around 2,300 people, and every ticket is sold for this run. If you turn up looking for one and are unsuccessful, there’s always a piece of Junior’s cheesecake across the broad avenue.
Fiction Plane opened the show, the trio run by Sting’s gifted eldest son, Joe Sumner. An indie hit 20 years ago, Fiction Plane is trying out new songs for a comeback album this year. Sumner has the family gene –he can’t help composing a tricky song wrapped in a sticky melody. Also, he can sing and play the guitar with a twist to the family business. I look forward to hearing that new album soon.
PS The funniest part of the night was me explaining a “home run derby” to Sting after the show. He’s an Englishman in New York, you know.
