The Sting of all time!
The day I read in the papers about Sting coming to India, I had made up my mind to go for his concert, wherever it might be! I wanted to live up to being a Sting fan.
The destination was Bangalore and Bangalore it would be. I got my travel tickets booked and forced my very reluctant brother to accompany me ( He was later glad I dragged him along!). Bought the tickets to the concert and was all geared up to go! My mother and my sisters found it funny that I was so passionate about watching a singer and would travel all the way to Bangalore for him. Can Pea 'BEE' be far from a Sting?
Last week on this day, my brother and I were on the train. We reached Bangalore the next day - the day of the concert. I was going to be staying with my cousin. She was there to pick us up from the station and take us to her place. As soon as we had freshened up, my brother took our leave to meet up with his friends who had also arrived here specially for the concert.
That afternoon was bad. I never expected this! I came here all the way from Mumbai to see Sting and here I was with a headache - a very bad one at that. I didn't feel like eating anything and was very, very upset. What if I didn't get to see him? I prayed hard for my headache to dissappear, popped a Dispirin and rested. I was fine in a while. Thank God!
The gates to the concert venue were going to open at 5.30 p.m. My brother picked me up from our cousin's and we reached there at around 7.00. Half an hour to go and the 'buzz' would start! 7.30 the lights went out and the stage was all lit up. Sting would be here any moment. The moment lasted almost an hour.
At 8.00 the band members climbed onto the stage and started playing. The crowd was cheering them aloud. The cheers became frantic screams when all of a sudden the music gained tempo and Sting emerged from under the stage! He looked like an English gentleman. Black shirt with a white collar and black trousers. I was reminded of his interview in one of the magazines where he was asked about what he felt about the new 'boy bands'. He gave a fitting reply saying - "I'm a man." He was a man, indeed! A 53 year old man who was like wine. The older it is, the better it gets!
He started out with Send your love from his last album, Sacred Love. After the song he stopped to look at his keyboardist and called out to him , "Challo!" The keyboardist replied in a confused tone, "What's Challo?" Sting gave him a smile and said, "In hindi, 'CHALLO' means 'get going'!" He got the audience going the next minute when he started Message in a bottle. I loved the way he stopped singing just before the words - 'Message in a bottle' and let his audience complete the sentence! Apart from this song, he belted out 2 other Police numbers. Roxanne and Every breath you take. Then there were the very best of Sting - Fields of gold, If I ever lose my faith in you, Shape of my heart, Englishman in New York, Fragile, Brand new day, Thousand years and Desert Rose (He also sang the Arabic part and it sounded very English!).
Surprisingly, most of the people knew Sting only for his Desert Rose. If only they knew the depth of his writing. I love the man for the way he writes - about love, world peace and humanism.
He enthralled the audience for 2 full hours that included 2 songs which he sang with women who were providing the backing vocals. The songs weren't that great but their voices were very impressive and the little jig that he did walking with one of them all across the stage - back and forth was really good to watch! All in all it was a great show. Great sound (according to all audio engineers at the console. Most being my brother's friends). Great audience and a great voice that stung our hearts!
That wasn't the shape of my heart before I saw him.
Comments
I heard that you were so happy, you couldn't stop crying...it's probably him...
Keep singing...sorry, stinging :-D
Your heart goes ring-a-ding.
No prizes at all for guessing,
The singer has to be Sting.
Really nice to see you had a time of your life!!