Hall of Fame rocker Sting sure knows how to throw a party. To celebrate his 60th birthday, the former Police front man welcomed a cavalcade of legendary performers to rock with him at the Beacon Theatre in New York City this past Saturday night including Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Lady Gaga, Chris Botti and Branford Marsalis. In fact, nearly every tune Sting and his band played at the 27-song show featured at least one guest.
Sting w/ Lady Gaga – King of Pain
So far a number of videos from Sting’s birthday bash have surfaced and the performances range from the amazing (Bruce Springsteen’s solo guitar version of Fields of Gold) to the surprisingly good (Robert Downey Jr. sings Driven To Tears) to the emotional (Stevie Wonder lays into Fragile) to the unsurprisingly terrible (will.i.am freestyles on Walking On The Moon) to the killer (Bruce Springsteen joins Sting for Can’t Stand Losing You). Towards the end of the evening, all of the special guests joined Sting and the band for Desert Rose and Every Breath You Take.
Here’s hoping the report that official footage from the show will be released for free in November as part of a free app is true, because there’s plenty of performances that haven’t made it to YouTube yet including Billy Joel sitting in on Everything She Does Is Magic, Herbie Hancock working his magic on Sister Moon and Marsalis guesting on If You Love Somebody, Set Them Free. The evening ended with a Scottish bag pipe troupe taking over the stage, a present from Sting’s wife Trudie Styler.
Take a look at the setlist (via StingUS)…
Set One: Robert Downey Jr. Intro, Englishman In New York (with Branford Marsalis), All This Time (with Joe Sumner and Jimmy Nail), Seven Days (with Chris Botti), If You Love Somebody, Set Them Free (with Branford Marsalis), Walking On The Moon (with Will I.am), When We Dance (with Chris Botti), Hounds of Winter, Sister Moon (with Herbie Hancock and Lionel Loueke), Consider Me Gone (with Herbie Hancock and Branford Marsalis), Driven To Tears (with Robert Downey Jr), Whenever I Say Your Name (with Mary J Blige), Brand New Day (with Stevie Wonder)
Set Two: Roxanne (Bryn Terfel), Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic (with Billy Joel), Don’t Stand So Close To Me (with Billy Joel), End of The Game, Why Should I Cry For You (with Joe Sumner), Wrapped Around Your Finger (Rufus Wainwright), Bring On The Night/When The World Is Running Down (with Branford Marsalis and Herbie Hancock), King of Pain (with Lady Gaga), Fragile (with Stevie Wonder), I Hung My Head (Bruce Springsteen), Fields of Gold (Bruce Springsteen), Can’t Stand Losing You (with Bruce Springsteen), Desert Rose (Everyone), Every Breath You Take (Everyone), Message In A Bottle
The festivities at the Beacon along with Black Eyed Peas’ Central Park performance raised over $7 million for the Robin Hood Foundation. Sting’s Back To Bass Tour kicks off on October 21 in Boston.
2 Responses
Wow, Downey Jr, sounded very good (if not just LIKE Sting).
This is a PSA, to will.i.am and the black eyed peas, please stop everything you are doing… you are all terrible.
“This is a PSA, to will.i.am and the black eyed peas, please stop everything you are doing… you are all terrible.”
+1