The Sting-Annie Lennox double-bill concert Friday at the MGM Grand was a display of contrasts. On the one side was Lennox, who presented a tight, energetic, hour-long performance that had the near-capacity crowd cheering and screaming for more. Then there was Sting.
Ah yes, Sting. In his 100-plus minutes, he succeeded in alienating a huge portion of his fan base, not to mention driving the music critic for the morning paper out of the arena, saying it was even worse than the last Sting concert he had attended. I managed to last until the top of the second "encore," when I noticed that my entire row had left, along with a good chunk of the audience.
Lennox was great, opening with "Legend in My Living Room." Her vocal range is undiminished by age, powerful with a rich timbre. After introducing her band, including her just-married-in-Vegas drummer, she dedicated "Here Comes the Rain Again" to the Brits in attendance, bringing out its torch-song aspects while playing piano—yes, an actual piano from the '80s leading lady of techno-pop.
Once the piano was wheeled off, she returned to snarling and slamming out "Missionary Man" and "I Need a Man." A standing ovation brought her back for "Sweet Dreams" and "Why," and the applause continued. It was well-earned, with Lennox giving the fans what they wanted and then some, demonstrating creativity while never departing too far from what is still pop-rock.
Sting, apparently, has far more spiritual matters on his mind these days than anything so mundane as entertaining.
Opening with "Send Your Love," Sting was upstaged by the video displays behind him: giant, exotic dancing women. A quick hop to Memory Lane followed, with "Synchronicity II" and "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic," spiced up with a slightly syncopated rhythm.
Yet, the crowd was generally subdued. Yes, there were cheers—when Lennox returned for a duet in "We'll Be Together," and when he played his car commercial near the night's end. Yes, there were pockets of fans on their feet. And yes, Dominic Miller's Hendrix-ish guitar was appreciated. But the ocean of people presented a calm surface, undisturbed by Sting's sound waves. A stab at getting a call-and-response going for "Englishman in New York" failed. His 20-minute-long, free-form jazz interpretation of "Roxanne," complete with a miserable attempt at scat, elicited heckling. And he missed the high notes on "Every Breath You Take."
I can only hope he'll take a page from Lennox before he comes around again.