This was an interesting experience!
I’d never seen a show in Bend. At about 4.5 hours from home, it felt a bit too far to drive. But Cari and I decided to plan a trip to the Oregon Coast over Memorial Day week, and that gave us an excuse to stop in Bend on the way to see Sting. (Just me; Cari skipped the gig.)
First, let me say something about Sting. The show was excellent. He did some Police songs that he didn’t do when I saw him in Portland a couple years ago. He didn’t do them traditionally. Most of them were slowed down and done in a more jazzy arrangement, which Sting has been doing regularly in recent years.
After the show, as I was walking back to my hotel room, another concert-goer approached and asked me if I liked the show. When I said I did, he quickly shot back with something like, “Wow, I didn’t like it at all.”
That speaks to what I think was the big issue with the show: Most of the crowd was expecting to hear Sting and Police songs played true to their original version. That’s not what they got.
I think it also didn’t help that the show was on the Sunday night of Memorial Day weekend, when no one had to work the next day and everyone was in a start-of-summer party mood. Some snapshots from the night:
- I’ve never seen more people come up to the barrier, turn their back to Sting and get a selfie with him behind them. Must’ve been 50 people who did that. He laughed/smiled the first couple times, then it sure seemed to be pissing him off.
- About 20 minutes before Sting started, a woman and her husband took their seats next to me. She was already blitzed when she started a conversation. At one point, at the top of her lungs, she told me, “I THINK STING IS SO GREAT. I USED TO HAVE SEX DREAMS ABOUT HIM WHEN I WAS YOUNG.”
It was quite a night. Loved Sting. Didn’t love everything else. I’m going to another show in Bend later this summer. Fingers crossed for a better crowd! 😅
