Paul Simon and Sting on stage together calls for a few things: A style and genre merge of two musical icons from different decades ; an unusually big-sized backing band displaying an array of random instruments; and the remixing of many classical tunes.
By appearance, the duo comes off as oddly stepbrothers, however sonically, the two come off as a force (even while causing a minor delay in the show time).
“Sorry we’re late. I cut myself shaving, and did not want to come out bleeding all over my partner,” said Sting, at Amway Center on Sunday night, before he and Simon begin their two -and-a-half hour set.
While the union did spend some time together on stage together, two-thirds of the show each artist was on stage alone with their respective bands. As they rotated on and offstage, singing together between mini sets one could see the differences in the two style. Simon and Sting opened the show together with “Brand New Day” and “Boy in the Bubble,” and closed the show with a four-song encore — “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “Every Breath You Take,” “Late in the Evening” and “When Will I Be Loved?.”
Sting, 62, brings the personality and energy for the two. The tall, slender, balding rockstar setlist contained more of the explosive segments of the night. The singer-songwriter performed singles from the Police: “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic,” “Message in a Bottle,” and “Driven to Tears.” During the performance of “Roxanne,”
Sting also paid homage to a few other music icons, including the late-great Johnny Cash, performing single “I Hung My Head,” which he wrote. Sting would go on to tell the crowd about the time he and the Police first came to America during his early 20’s and toured the country in a station wagon. Prior to covering Simon and Garfunkel’s “America,” he stated: “growing up I wanted to be a writer, and Mr. Simon was the template.”
The production was far from extravagant — no fireworks or stage antics, just a display of good ole fashion. Simon dwelled on this to the fullest, focusing mostly on tracks from his solo career with “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard,” “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,” and “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes.”
Simon, 72, ignited the predominantly middle-aged crowd to be very animated, as many of those seated in the front rows remained standing for most of the show (including the older fellow to the left of me, who had to be helped carted out with his wheelchair and oxygen mask.
The floor security were kept busy the entire night, having to keep people in their seats and out of the aisle taking photos.
in New York.” On the main floor, ushers were busy keeping people out of the aisles, while alcohol-enforcement personnel in bright-red shirts searched for concertgoers gone wild. Still crazy after all these years.
While no one can replace Simon’s original partner Art Garfunkel, Sting and Simon showed that no one can have too many friends. Paul Simon and Sting’s “On Stage Together Tour” helps show that rock is the one genre where the older you get the more the people love you, rather or not they state is is only “experiment.”
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