Cavalcade for March 18
Sting (photo courtesy of Interscope, PR)
News of the great Chuck Berry's passage into the rock and roll "promised land," at the age of 90, came earlier today, so I'll honor the man with some of his music atop tonight's "Cavalcade" at 8.
This week’s FUV Essentials are the Police, and as I have discovered, quality Sting time is not to be underestimated. I had the oh-not-so hard task of conversing with Sting at his Manhattan home on Monday for a special FUV Live conversation and I’ll replay that interview at 9.
On Tuesday, I caught Sting’s set at Hammerstein Ballroom, and I’ll leave you with some impressions, to whet the appetite for tonight’s chat, and the handful of Police vinyl rarities I’ve dug out for the occasion.
What could have been a slush-out, due to the snowstorm that day, turned into a memorable performance by Sting. Mr. Sumner comes armed with a handful of new tales, collected on his strong new album, 57th & 9th. With its cold weather imagery, the lead track, “I Can’t Stop Thinking About You,” was a perfect fit with the snow-swept evening after New York’s near-blizzard weather event.
Sting’s son Joe Sumner provided a moving prelude to the rock-star elegy “50,000” with his rendition of David Bowie’s “Ashes To Ashes.” Sting closed the show with a solo acoustic version of his Oscar-nominated “The Empty Chair." But what fell in between was hardly filler. A generous scoop of vintage Police classics stayed true to the original arrangements, save for a stretch-out of “Roxanne” to include a cover of Bill Withers' “Ain’t No Sunshine." Eighties and Nineties solo Sting hits were sprinkled in, but did not dominate, so he made “Fields Of Gold” and “Desert Rose” count with fresh approaches.
The crowd sing-along on “Message In A Bottle” moved Sting to remark that he could never have imagined that his song would be committed to the collective memory of so many, forty years after it was scrawled down in his little pre-fame flat. “Next To You” has become a bookend-showcase; the first-ever Police song to be recorded is now the pre-encore show closer for this full-tilt touring band, sounding as fit as the well-toned Sting looked on this New York late winter night.
That's "Cavalcade," 8-10 p.m. at 90.7FM and on-demand next week under the Weekend Archives at wfuv.org,
