Last night in Paris... Sting

Sting was in concert at the Olympia on Wednesday night. We were there too.

Sting doesn't seem to be too happy that everyone told him his latest album marked his big return to rock, since he didn't think he'd ever left it. He simply went to tease other muses. And for his return to the stage after various tours with Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel (this one may come to Europe next year; he told us he's working on it), he leaves no doubt: he plays rock, sophisticated certainly, often drawing inspiration and energy from music on the fringes, but in spirit, it's rock. The rock of an intelligent man, open to all cultures, who, at sixty-five, knows it would be ridiculous to jump around like he did in the early days of The Police. As he began his concert, he told us how moved he was to find himself on the stage where Jacques Brel, Edith Piaf and... Plastic Bertrand had performed, and he quickly hummed "Ca plane pour moi".
 

On stage, the musical framework is based on four musicians: a drummer, two guitarists, and himself on bass. A formula that has never been improved upon, like that of the Beatles, or the Stones. He also has three young backing singers who regularly participate—among them is Sting's eldest son, Joe Sumner—as well as the band's accordionist, who previously opened for the band, the Last Bandoleros.

The two guitarists are very similar. And for good reason: the young man, Rufus Miller, is the son of Dominic Miller, Sting's guitarist for the past twenty-five years. He was discovered at the Bataclan concert, and now it seems he's a full-fledged member of the band. The two men share the duties; Miller's son often holds the rhythm section while his father constructs his always disconcerting solos, but they sometimes engage in guitar duels where they respond to and stimulate each other. Angry classic rock for the son, unpredictable flights of fancy from the father, who also listens to a lot of jazz. Sting watches them, smiling.
 

His son, Joe, sometimes joins him at the microphone and will even sing alone "Ashes to Ashes" one of the most beautiful songs of that other "Englishman in New York" who made a joke in very bad taste a year ago. This family atmosphere seems to really please them, fathers and sons smile a lot, often stand side by side or face to face on stage, but the atmosphere is not naively good-natured, the latter must prove themselves, show that they can take the lead from time to time without crashing the company. After an hour and forty minutes of concert and the build-up of classics that follow one after the other, Sting will return to sing "Fragile". The crowd will then let him leave, appeased, grateful, happy.

(c) Paris Match by Sacha Reins