Bought tickets for my wife’s birthday. She’s a big Sting fan, and likes Peter Gabriel too. I’m not too much into Sting’s solo stuff, but I really liked Peter Gabriel back in the day. And never saw him in concert, so I’m looking forward to that.
Anybody else saw them on this tour? I’ll report back on the experience if anyone’s interested.
They were both part of the Amnesty International Tour (along with Tracy Chapman and Bruce Springsteen) back in the late 80s so I saw them then. This was before most of Sting’s solo stuff.
What I remember most about Peter Gabriel was that he wore a headset and did a lot of jumping and rolling around on the floor for numbers like “Shock the Monkey”. I’m guessing he probably won’t be doing that this time around.
Have fun!
Nice. I’m seeing them Saturday
I’m seeing them on Tuesday in Montreal; can’t wait!
My first thought upon seeing the thread title was “Wow, that’s a lot of pretentious twatism to fit into one arena”. Lest you think I’m thread shitting, I dig both of them and am quite envious. I hope you and your Mrs. have a wonderful time 
Very jealous! I had intended to go when they were in DC and lost track of the date. But an acquaintance did go and said they were great!
Sting is one of my all-time favorite artists, and I loved his solo stuff before I was really familiar with the Police (whom I saw in concert twice when they reunited a few years ago). Did I mention I’m jealous?
I saw Sting when he toured with Paul Simon a couple years ago. It was a nice show, but not particularly memorable. Probably because our seats were so far away.
Is Tony Levin still part of Gabriel’s band? Hope so- he adds a lot to a show, and not just through his sublime musicianship.
Yep, he is!
You’re lucky. Wife tried to get tickets for the local show 'round here, and they were gone before she could log on to the computer.
It’s an outdoor thing, so we might just go hand out and drink beer and listen.
Does Sting sing Police songs on his tours? I like his solo stuff, actually, but I’m curious.
Yes.
Great concert. We didn’t know anything about the show going in, so there were some fun surprises. I don’t think a spoiler box is necessary for a concert review, but if you’re going to see the show and don’t want to know in advance what happens, fair warning!
I was wondering who would go on first, but they had actually combined their bands and played together. There were like 14 people playing on stage- including 2 guys with 2 complete drum kits and a third percussionist with bongos and shaker thingies. At least 2 keyboard players, several guitars-- made for a really big sound.
They said something at the beginning about how it was an ongoing experiment, they were having fun with it and we’d all have fun tonight. And it did seem like they were enjoying themselves. Sting and Gabriel took turns doing their own songs, or singing alternating verses of each other’s songs, and even covered each other’s songs completely once or twice. Sting did a nice high-energy cover of “Shock the Monkey”. Peter Gabriel did a slowed-down, bluesy version of “If You Love Someone, Set Them Free” that my wife thought he ruined, big Sting fan that she is, but I thought was really good. And yes, Sting played several Police songs-- I’d say he did more Police than songs from his solo career.
Let’s see, what else…Sting broke into a cover of “Ain’t No Sunshine” in the middle of Roxanne that was a nice change-up. Peter Gabriel hasn’t physically aged as well as Sting (someone said Peter Gabriel is looking a lot like Ed Asner these days; Sting looks 20 years younger than he is, the bastard), but they were both in fine voice, and I’d say they both still got it musically. I’m more of a Peter Gabriel fan than a Sting fan, so it was great to hear Peter Gabriel tunes I haven’t heard in a while. Unfortunately, Spotify and Amazon Tunes do not have more than a handful of Gabriel songs, so it looks like I’ll have to dust off some of my old Peter Gabriel CDs and give them a re-listen. Anyway, if you’re going, you won’t be disappointed.
I was not there, but from what I heard from friends, these two videos do a good job of setting the scene… it appears Peter can no longer hit the high note:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1AEP3HJdmYThat’s what the stage looked like last night. The sound mix in those videos seemed pretty muddy, but of course that could be the recording device. Sting’s cover of “Shock the Monkey” seemed more rocked-up last night than in the video. Seems like they were better in general last night, even though those videos are only from last week. Could just be my memories from being in the moment though.
Yeah, I did notice on some of the high notes Gabriel kind of petered out (heh) and let the backup singers assist. Guy’s 66, can’t blame him for losing a bit of high register but overall I thought his voice still sounded great.