Despite having once watched the masterful Sting and his bandmates live performing at the Milton Keynes Bowl in the 1980s, I had forgotten how many great songs The Police had released.
It felt like a Shannon Crocket Quiz Night as our table pondered over the hits trying to beat each other in a ‘name that tune’ extravaganza as soon as each opening chord was struck.
Close your eyes, and the soulful laments of British musician Stefan Marque took the audience back to the days when Trump was something you shouted at the end of a game of cards.
Stefan promised a ‘high-octane performance’ and tribute to 17-time Grammy Award-winning English artist Sting and he certainly delivered that with a fabulous stage show, with sounds, lights and acoustics playing their part to perfection.
The fare was impressive too as was the whole concept of sitting down to dine in a friendly, packed theatre-like atmosphere.
Stefan, popular among local music fans as ‘Mr Sting’ owing to his love for the internationally renowned songster, dished out hit after hit.
The Police – Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland – formed in 1977 and broke up in 1986 but not before scoring five UK Official Singles Chart Number 1s such as Message In A Bottle, Walking On The Moon, Don’t Stand So Close To Me, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic and Every Breath You Take.
Friday’s show was based on Sting’s current ‘Sting 3.0’ tour line-up and set list as he has been playing essentially a collection of his greatest hits and Stefan, whose wife Olivia is part of a well-known Bahrain-based family, called his offering ‘Mr Sting 3.1’.
As this point, the musicianship of his stage compatriots must be appreciated. Karl Roderick on guitar and Krishain Dewaas on drums played a tight and top-notch couple of sets.
It was fun and I’m sure most of the crowd left singing Roxanne if not at the top of their voices, surely inside their heads, or his solo smash Englishman In New York, for that matter.
As for Stefan, he is shortly off to join a Beatles tribute act in Greece called Abbey Rhodes, playing the role of another legendary bassist and singer, namely Paul McCartney, in a four-piece act playing mostly the mop-tops early material.
I wonder if they fancy dropping by the kingdom at the end of their tour … I know the perfect venue.
-Stanley Szecowka
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