After taking a little extra time than anticipated to get to Sirromet, the fear of missing out on the full experience was quickly dissolved by the visual energy of the crowd! There was an attention to detail in the comfort and ease of the audience's outfits, and an air of confidence in what they were about to experience was worth their collective effort.
Joe Summer kicked off the afternoon preparing the crowd with his strong vocal ability and tone not too dissimilar to that of his father. James Reyne accompanied by his eight-piece band set the audience up and delighted us with some classic Reyne and Australian Crawls hits like 'Hammerhead', 'Boys Light Up', 'Oh No Not You Again', and of course 'Errol'.
In the absence of the regular DJ who entertained us between sets, we were wined and dined by the music of Frank Bennett during the break. His tunes backdropped the fantastic sunset vibe with cabaret lights and people moved about effortlessly grabbing food and drinks in a jazzy fashion.
The Englishman in Oz arrived on stage with a blistering entrance and all guns ablaze to the opening bars of 'Message in a Bottle' leaving no doubt he can still hold the high notes. Sting looked harmonious in a well-worn or fashionably aged t-shirt, skinny jeans, and combat boots with his equally strong well-worn aged unvarnished brown bass guitar draped around his shoulder.
'Englishman in New York' followed with Sting encouraging the audience to join in on the “oh oh I’m an alien”. He then introduced his wonderful band and promised that after being chased off stage the night before by the mother and father of all storms tonight would be perfect.
ting told us “You’ve been very good singing along to the hit songs, but I’ve got some bad news, I’m going to sing some new songs” as he reminded us that one day they could be hit songs. He started with two new songs from the latest album The Bridge 'If it’s Love' with its catchy whistling riff.
Sting spoke to us on the art of writing a love song “it’s not interesting if it’s a closed loop as I love you, you love me" he said. "I love you, you love someone else is far more interesting to a songwriter" he laughed. An illuminating lesson and introduction to 'Loving You' saw Sting propped on a stool with an atmospheric backdrop singing the beautiful love song of minimal beats and a captivating chorus.
Sting kept on electrifying us with those bass riffs and hits 'Fields of Gold', 'Shape of My Heart' was given a transformation with the help of the incredible R&B vocals of backing singer Gene Noble. Zac Jones on drums also wowed us on 'Seven Days' with its complicated 5/4 time and the reggae flavour on 'Wrapped around your Finger'. Running into 'So Lonely' and 'Walking on the Moon' with a bit of Bob Marley mixed in was also genius.
“I wrote this song as we needed a positive approach to the millennium” Sting told us as he launched into 'Brand New Day' which challenged the youngest band member Shane Sager to fill the big harmonica shoes of Stevie Wonder. The audience didn’t know where to look, over to Sting, back to Steve, back to Sting, it was impressive.
The evening was elevated by the closing numbers of 'Desert Rose' with the Middle Eastern range hauntingly beautiful, and the influential classics of 'Every Breath You Take', 'Roxanne', and the quiet and delightful 'Fragile'. It certainly was a superb night of Sting magic.
