‘AN ENGLISHMAN IN CARDIFF’

STING: ‘MY SONGS’ LIVE AT CARDIFF CASTLE – 2nd JULY 2023

It has taken me a while to get around to seeing Sting live in person again. The last time was at the O2 Arena in London back in April 2015 during the On Stage Together tour with Paul Simon. That show remains one of the best I have ever seen. To witness such a combination of talents, not only of Sting and Paul Simon themselves but also of their respective bands, was really quite something. So from my perspective, this show had quite a bit to live up to. No pressure then, Sting.

Let’s start with the negatives and get those done and dusted before we get into this review properly. Please do feel free to skip the following two paragraphs if you want to fast forward to my experience of the show itself!

Shows at Cardiff Castle are obviously of the outdoor variety and are relatively large events. As a performance venue, it has something in the region of a 10,000 capacity. It was also a general admission show, all standing. Which means that no matter how soon you buy your tickets after they go on sale, if you want to be close to the stage and don’t fancy being stuck behind 9,999 other concert-goers, you have to arrive stupidly early to get in the queue. To make matters worse, being a bit of a Billy no-mates, I was attending the gig on my own. I managed to get to the venue at around 15:00, with the gates eventually opening at 17:00. Thankfully I was among the first to go through, albeit not before I had my belongings inspected and my nearly full bottle of water tossed in a skip by a stone-faced security lady who seemed to have suffered a massive sense of humour failure. Still, I was detained briefly enough that I was able to enter the Castle grounds and position myself stage centre, roughly in the second row. Perfect. Only one slight problem here. I was on my own and therefore didn’t have anyone with me to hold my place if, for instance, I developed a requirement to relieve myself. I was hemmed in amongst the crowd. Any attempt to move would result in me losing my place and fighting my way back to this ideal position would most likely be impossible. Perhaps the miserable security lady did me a favour in that department after all. And can I just say that I evidently remain the proud owner of a remarkably strong bladder.

There’s a lot of waiting around at a show like this. Especially if you are standing up. The gates opened at 17:00. The first act was not due on until 19:00. So all you can do in those two intervening hours is enjoy the DJ’s musical selections being pumped out of the PA system. And all credit to him, the guy had compiled quite a decent bunch of songs. It was OK for a while, but after two hours it becomes rather tiresome. I already felt like a proper lemon amongst that crowd and I almost wanted somebody to beam me up at this point, as much as I was looking forward to seeing Sting.

For all the waiting around, Cardiff Castle proved a beautiful setting for an outdoor summer concert

But then Joe Sumner came on. For the less initiated amongst us, Joe is Sting’s eldest son. He’s actually been in the music business for quite some years now, first with his band Fiction Plane and more recently on his own. And just to get things into perspective here, Joe is now approximately the same age as Sting was when he was touring behind the Mercury Falling album back in 1997 – by which time The Police were already a distant memory and he was a well-established solo artist. Where the bloody hell has all that time gone? Anyway, you may well have seen Joe with Fiction Plane opening for The Police on their 2007/08 reunion tour, or as part of Sting’s band during 2017’s 57th & 9th tour. He has been touring with his Dad once again in 2023, ably warming audiences up with his half-hour one-man show. He is quite the entertainer, interacting with the crowd and cracking jokes between songs, quite apart from displaying some impressive guitar skills and a terrific vocal range. He has a style all of his own, though you can certainly hear the family resemblance in that clear, penetrating tone of his voice. I definitely felt my spirits lifted by Joe’s performance. He is a formidable songwriter and performer in his own right. A live EP entitled Feelin’ the Love, Tastin’ the Fear featuring a similar set to the one he has been playing on this tour is available from your preferred music download or streaming merchant.

Then there was more waiting while the stage was reorganised for the second opening act. Dagny hails from Norway and established herself with her brand of Indie and Synth-pop with breakthrough single ‘Backbeat’ in 2016. There are precious few young, contemporary artists that I have felt able to get into and I wasn’t expecting to be impressed here. But I was. I genuinely enjoyed her 45 minute set immensely. She has great stage presence, a pleasant, likeable manner with the crowd and a good, tight band. Her songs are catchy and uplifting. You can clearly tell that she and her band are very much invested in the music they are making. She was the perfect warm-up act for what was to come and I shall follow her activities from now on with much interest.

I was hugely impressed by Dagny’s set

Another break followed Dagny’s set, while Sting’s road crew once again redressed the stage for the ‘main course’, so to speak. This crew includes one Danny Quatrochi, who has been Sting’s personal technician since at least the Triassic period. Possibly even longer. He’s the one responsible for handling all of Sting’s guitars and amps and, most crucially, that famous 1957 Fender Precision Bass that has been so synonymous with Sting over the last thirty years. When Danny brought it out during setup, I think I was as starstruck by the sight of that bass as I was by Sting himself. We all know it’s pretty beaten up, but when you see it in the flesh you realise just what a knackered old thing it is. Most of the paint has rubbed off over decades of use, there are long scratches and dents all over it…but unlike the frankly daft ‘relic’ instruments produced by Fender which have been deliberately scraped, chiselled and generally bashed about to make them appear worn, Sting’s old bass has real history and real character. Like Paul McCartney’s Höfner violin bass, it’s truly a star in its own right.

So the stage was set and, some four hours after I had assumed my position in the crowd, Sting came striding on, launched into ‘Message in a Bottle’ and all of those preceding hours evaporated instantaneously. That song, the first Police number one from 1979’s Reggatta de Blanc album, has always been as reliable a set opener as any. It immediately gets the crowd singing along and gets the show off to a flying start. A succession of hits from across Sting’s illustrious career followed with the likes of ‘Englishman in New York’ and ’Every Little Thing She Does is Magic’ all pleasing the 10,000-strong concert goers. He was clearly in a relaxed mood from the outset, enjoying a bit of banter with the crowd and even making an attempt at speaking a bit of Welsh. Happily, he managed to avoid dislocating his tongue in the process.

‘Message in a Bottle’ remains as effective a set opener as ever

Yet more classics were rolled out, with a healthy selection of songs from Sting’s quintessential 1993 solo album Ten Summoner’s Tales, which celebrated its 30th anniversary earlier this year. ‘If I Ever Lose My Faith in You’ is as fresh and uplifting now as it ever was. A funky ’Heavy Cloud No Rain’ was a showcase for the talents of backing vocalist Melissa Musique who duets and duels with Sting at the back end of the song. Harmonica player Shane Sager ably stepped into the shoes of the late, great Larry Adler for the solo on ‘Shape of My Heart’ while backing vocalist Gene Noble sang lines from Juiced WRLD’s 2018 chart hit ‘Lucid Dreams’ which sampled the song. ‘Fields of Gold’ has been a staple of Sting’s shows ever since it was new. As far as I am aware, it has never been out of the set in thirty years and, frankly, long may it remain. Hearing that song is never not emotional for me. I have a lot of memories associated with it, so to hear it being played live by Sting in person really is something a bit special. His long-time guitarist Dominic Miller excels on this song with his arpeggiated acoustic guitar picking and that simple but beautifully effective middle guitar solo.

It was also good to hear another classic solo album, 1991’s The Soul Cages, well represented by performances of ‘Why Should I Cry for You?’ and ‘All This Time’. The former, a song written from Sting’s perspective had he followed his father’s advice of never getting married and going to sea, still sends shivers down the spine to this day. The outro then immediately gave way to ‘All This Time’. Both of these were stellar performances and among of the many highlights of the evening.

With solo material dominating the middle section of the set, the latter stages saw the return of some more Police hits including the likes of ‘Walking On the Moon’, ‘So Lonely’ and ‘King of Pain’, which became a father and son duet with Joe Sumner. And of course no Sting concert would be quite complete without ‘Every Breath You Take’ and ‘Roxanne’, before the show was brought to a thoughtful close with ‘Fragile’ – a song that has been a reliable set-closer at Sting shows for decades now.

Sting performs ‘Fragile’

My only slight disappointment in setlist terms was the lack of songs from Sting’s most recent album The Bridge, which was released in November 2021. Since it began in 2019, the My Songs tour has focussed primarily on his most widely recognised material from across his career, but The Bridge is such a strong album and in my opinion some of the best work he has done in the last decade or more. It seems a shame to me not to showcase its material a little more. But this is only a minor complaint. The whole show was superbly and virtually flawlessly performed and the crowd was absolutely captivated by it right from the off. The sound was also excellent from where I was. I once went to an outdoor Elton John concert where the bass drum was so Earth shatteringly loud that it was enough to shake my innards to a pulp, but here the sound was clear, crisp and perfectly balanced.

Sting is very much front and centre of this show, now utilising a head mic which allows him the freedom to have more mobility around the stage than he would otherwise have with a conventional mic stand. If it were me, I’d feel a little self-conscious performing like this, since a stationary mic stand gives you something to sing into and somewhere to point your head, but Sting has been using the head mic since the tour resumed around the back end of 2021 and he seems very comfortable with it at this point.

And talk about stage presence. At 71, with possibly millions of road miles behind him, Sting still has it in spades. This man has been my musical hero since I was eight years old and there he was, standing only yards away from me singing his songs. Songs that have been etched on my psyche for what feels like forever. I had to pinch myself a few times. I felt so lucky to be as close as I was. And what’s more, Sting does have a way of making eye contact when you are near the front. I don’t think I was imagining this and to be honest, it can be a little unnerving. Especially as during the set opener, he just happened to be looking in my general direction as I looked up from my iPhone screen. Sorry about that Sting. I was paying attention. I was only trying to open the camera. Honest!

For all the waiting around, Cardiff Castle is a beautiful setting for an outdoor summer concert. The weather largely behaved itself too, except for the few spots of rain that fell – ironically enough given its lyrics – during ‘Desert Rose’. I have family in Wales and am always happy to be there, but I cannot possibly have been more pleased to be an Englishman in Cardiff on Sunday 2nd July 2023. I had tickets for the show at the London Palladium in 2022 but missed it for a mixture of financial and family reasons. This show more than made up for it. Sting thanked the crowd and told us “we’ll see you again”. And I hope it won’t be too long before we do. He is in great form and very obviously retains a great love of what he does. Thank you Sting and band for a magical evening.

The band:
Sting: bass / vocals
Dominic Miller: guitars
Zach Jones: drums
Kevon Webster: keyboards
Gene Noble: backing vocals
Melissa Musique: backing vocals
Shane Sager: harmonica

A Wonderful Crazy Night at Longleat

Elton John has been among my biggest musical heroes for nearly twenty years.  The first album of his that I heard was The Big Picture, a much underrated album that was released in September 1997 and for which I still hold a great deal of fondness.  I have followed Elton’s output ever since that time and have enjoyed hearing how his music has developed since then.  From the lush, atmospheric sound of The Big Picture, the music became increasingly roots-based in nature over albums such as Songs from the West Coast (2001), Peachtree Road (2004) and The Captain and the Kid (2006).  In recent years, he has been producing with T Bone Burnett, a collaboration that has resulted in three albums – The Union (2010, with Leon Russell), The Diving Board (2013) and his current album Wonderful Crazy Night (2016).  That last album has a distinctly upbeat rock emphasis, and is possibly the finest he has recorded in many years.

Though I have enjoyed listening to Elton’s recording output over the years, I had never taken the opportunity to see him and his wonderful band live until his show at Longleat on 12th June 2016 was announced.  Elton has remained a terrific live performer throughout his career and with Longleat being relatively local for me, I did not want to allow this opportunity to pass.  I am extremely glad that I didn’t let it pass – the reasons for which will become clear over the following paragraphs.

Outdoor shows are new to me – artists I go to see generally play smaller indoor venues but with Elton John having the large following that he quite rightly has, a larger show is in order, and Longleat is a wonderful setting for an outdoor show with the surrounding grounds and house providing the perfect backdrop.  We also had perfect weather for this show, which was somewhat of a relief as the forecast had not looked in any way favourable all week.  The only issue, however, was the traffic congestion in the general area surrounding Longleat coming from all directions.  Many fans, myself included, did not arrive at our seats for the start of the concert as a result.  I could hear the set opener, Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding, whilst walking from the car park towards the arena.  Unfortunately, Elton was three or four songs into his set by the time I reached my seat, but it was immediately clear from what I was hearing that he and the band were in superb form – Elton was in excellent voice and sang perfectly throughout the whole two and a half hour show.  He didn’t put a foot wrong.  And, of course, his talents as a pianist are extraordinary to say the least.  His performances on classics such as Rocket Man, which takes on a significantly extended form at his live shows, Burn Down the Mission, Levon and Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting to name but a few, were spellbinding.

I must also mention his band – Davey Johnstone on guitar, Nigel Olsson on drums, John Mahon on percussion, Matt Bissonette on bass and Kim Bullard on keyboards.  Davey Johnstone and Nigel Olsson have been integral components of Elton’s sound for over forty years and are still playing with the same fire as they ever did, if not even more so.  Nigel’s bass drum was phenomenally powerful.  Enough to cause a small earthquake.  The interplay between all of them was quite something – the exchange of solos between Elton and Davey on Levon was hugely impressive.  The whole band were clearly having the time of their lives on stage, particularly so on Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting.  It was at this point that John Mahon spotted a young girl in the front row and, clearly impressed by her dancing abilities, he lifted her up onto the stage to dance energetically for the 15,000-odd people attending.  Stage fright was clearly not an issue for her.  That will be quite some claim to fame in years to come!  The audience was positively captivated by the whole performance – everyone, without exception, was standing and dancing and singing along for at least the last third of the set.  It is difficult to single out particular highlights.  The entire show was one huge highlight.  Being there was an electrifying experience.

There was, however, an emotional element to this show.  The set featured three songs from Elton’s newest album, Wonderful Crazy Night.  Upon announcing Looking Up, the first of these songs, Elton told us that this album would be his last.  He said that, with it being such an upbeat album, he wanted to go out on a happy note.  This made his performance of A Good Heart, a ballad and highlight from the album, all the more emotional than it already is.  He was also sure to thank everybody for all the years of love and support later on in the show.  If Elton is indeed looking to retire in the next couple of years, Wonderful Crazy Night would be a great way to finish because it truly is a brilliant album which demonstrates the formidable combination of Elton and Bernie Taupin, a legendary songwriting partnership that has endured some fifty years, and the wonderful musicians he tours and records with.  And clearly Elton and his band are right at the top of their game as a live act at this point, so he would certainly be going out on a high.

The show ended with performances of Candle in the Wind, dedicated to those who lost their lives in the horrific attack in Orlando over the weekend, and Crocodile Rock to which we were all made to sing the famous hook – everyone, of course, obliged with the minimum of fuss.

As we all filtered out of the arena, a helicopter was seen departing the venue, evidently taking Elton home directly after completing his set.  I felt mixed emotions as I watched him fly away into the distance.  I was buzzing from witnessing such an astonishing show, but considering all the history he has made over so many years, there was a degree of sadness that this will probably be the first and only time I will ever see the great man live.  Elton John and contemporaries of his like are special.  They are special because they are unique, and with the direction in which the music business is going now, musical uniqueness and genuine talent in the commercial sense has become increasingly rare.  We will probably never see their like again.  So, I would urge you, if you have an opportunity to see him and other legendary artists of his era live, for heaven’s sake take it, because great performers such as Elton John are not going to be here forever.