Sting & Shaggy: The 44/876 Tour

Jul
17
2018
Nimes, FR
Arenes

Sting and Shaggy, fire and water at the Nîmes Arena...


The Englishman and the Jamaican appeared side by side this Tuesday evening, July 17th, at the Nîmes Arena.


Obviously, it came as a surprise. The unconditional Sting fan, poor him, wasn't prepared for such a combination. He wasn't ready to hear his immortal Roxanne brutally cut with a dancehall billhook, like Shaggy's suggestive Boombastic.


The partnership was disconcerting. It was supposed to last the length of one song; the two artists got along so well that they recorded an entire album (44/876, released in the spring) and Sting's long-planned summer and European tour, which just stopped at the Arena this Tuesday evening, ultimately became a Sting and Shaggy tour. While the Jamaican didn't appear on the bill, surprise, he didn't leave the stage for a single moment. He appears on all the tracks, sometimes giving the British standards and those of The Police an unexpected Caribbean tinge.
 

The alliance works well on the tracks from their joint opus, from which the duo happily picks and chooses (no fewer than eight pieces played this Tuesday): obviously, it's what they're made for. The somewhat rigorous rocker undoubtedly has a little more difficulty when "Oh Carolina" (Shaggy) mixes with "We'll Be Together" (Sting), when the illustrious and bouncy "So Lonely" (The Police) entangles with the little-known, reggae-infused "Strength of a Woman" (Shaggy).


Two voices, penetrating for the Englishman, languid for the West Indian, in front of a rather small musical ensemble (two guitars, drums, keyboard, two backing vocalists; Sting himself provides the rhythm part on bass). Water and fire. The composure of the former, dressed in black, who barely has a word for this packed amphitheatre where he usually plays. The passion of the second, colourful and hatted, who dances and harangues the crowd with enthusiasm for two hours (28 songs, all the same), giving a welcome warmth to the show. Including on the standards of Sting, Message in a Bottle, Walking on the Moon, during which, inevitably, the crowd reacts more. 


And when, at the second encore, the sly Shaggy sets about congratulating the crowd on the French team's recent world title, the crowd that was cheering and singing "we are the champions" just before the concert, he dispels a lot of reservations. Some will leave delighted with the trip. The die-hard fan will leave muttering that no one will touch their Roxanne.

 

(c) Midi Libre by Mathieu Lagouanere

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