A pleasant evening with a great artist...

Sting in Borggården was just as pleasant as we had hoped. A series of hit songs and a warm atmosphere ensured that he was a perfect fit.

An expectant, educated and adult audience applauded wildly when Sting took the stage at exactly eight o'clock on Saturday evening. The sun was slowly setting, the Nidaros Cathedral loomed in the background, and everything was set for a great experience.

"Great" is, in my ears, a good description of the event. It was very good, it was easy to get carried away and sing along - but it was not ground-breaking in any way.

Because even though Gordon Sumner has called himself Sting ever since he broke through with The Police 37 years ago, he has never been a hard-hitter. He doesn't have much musical sting, but he is socially engaged, sincere and thoroughly likeable.

All six musicians on stage are also excellent musicians, and Sting, who turns 64 this fall, has so much experience that it couldn't possibly go wrong. When he also performed songs that most people in Borggården knew well, it gradually became very clear that this was the right man in the right arena.
 

He got straight to the point with "If I Ever Lose My Faith In You" and continued with one of many Police songs; "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic". The nearly 20 songs we heard were a good mix of Police classics and goodies from his own solo career.

"Englishman In New York" and "So Lonely" ensured that the atmosphere rose and rose, and after just under half an hour we got the first highlight of the evening: A beautiful version of the poignant "Fields Of Gold".

The concert offered several highlights of almost the same class, but also some filler where the musicians were more interested in showing off their skill and versatility. In such sequences it was easy to be impressed, both by drummer Vinnie Colaiuta and the jazz-oriented keyboard player David Sancious, with whom Sting has played for many years.

But with people like that on the team, people who can fix anything, he could have let loose even more, played with more energy and boldness, instead of running through song after song in rather strait-laced versions.

But I'm not complaining. We got "Message In A Bottle". "De Do Do Do De Da Da Da" and much more before the regular set came to a close with the classic "Roxanne". 

The song selection and order we re pretty much identical to what the audience in Østersund heard the night before, but in Borggården we got one more encore. After the sure fire hit "Every Breath You Take" ("there it came, yes", said the audience), he came back with "Next To You", which was missing in Østersund, before singing a subdued and intense "Fragile".

And that was the end of the evening. And as I said, the evening was very nice. Sting is certainly not innovative in any way, but he holds his own unashamedly well, recycles his old songs in a way that commands respect and is still a great artist.

(c) Adresseavisen by Trygve Lundemo