Mar 01, 2014
There's really no obvious reason the Simon and Sumner partnership should have worked. Unlike the highly logical tour teaming of, let's say, Elton John and Billy Joel, Paul Simon and Sting seem to share little in common. At least on paper. Simon, 72, one of the rock era's most important singer-songwriters, had already recorded a virtually flawless oeuvre with Art Garfunkel and released most of his essential solo work before Sting, 10 years younger, entered our consciousness as a New Wave rocker with the Police in 1978. Little of the erstwhile Gordon Sumner's catalogue is what one might expect Simon to wrap his own poetic sensibilities around. Nor was it easy to imagine much of an overlap between the fan bases of the two artists...
Feb 26, 2014
With Sting and Simon's joint On Stage Together tour at its halfway point, Paul Simon can see some discernible benefits to the collaboration. "We're becoming more like each other," he told the Wednesday night, Feb. 26, crowd at The Palace. "I personally feel I'll be more Adonislike (and will) be able to have sex for days at a time" - a reference to Sting's joking reputation for lengthy sessions of tantric amoré. Of course, Simon added, "I'm not sure I'm looking forward to that..."
Feb 26, 2014
Here's something you don't see everyday: Sting deferring, complementing, and hanging back. It happened Tuesday at the United Center, with the former Police bassist handling his new role as sidekick to Paul Simon with what appeared to be genuine enthusiasm. Also just in: Sting can apparently take a joke. Simon - looking for all his frumpiness like he had just emerged from a long, lazy afternoon in his man cave - glanced over at the lean, black-clad Englishman and predicted that merely by basking in the younger singer's aura, he would emerge much more "Adonis-like" at the end of their tour with unrivaled sexual energy. Sting smirked, only to later praise the New Yorker as "one of my teachers and mentors" whose songwriting talents are "humbling and inspiring."
Feb 24, 2014
Which of Paul Simon's signature songs does Sting perform on the On Stage Together tour? Find out in Sting.com's first video from the tour and hear Sting's thoughts on touring with the iconic singer/songwriter.
Feb 23, 2014
With top tickets running $252 each and a pair of widely acclaimed classic rockers sharing the stage, Sunday night's Sting and Paul Simon concert at St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center promised an evening of polite, polished nostalgia. The crowd of more than 7,000 got just that, plus an entirely unexpected mid-show detour, with malfunctioning equipment threatening to derail the evening Simon introduced as their own "musical experiment." Things started out smoothly, with Sting and Simon offering joint performances of Sting's "Brand New Day" and "Fields of Gold" and Simon's "Boy in the Bubble." The idea was that they'd share the stage for a few songs, then split off and take turns doing brief solo sets, rejoin for some more songs, and so on...
Feb 21, 2014
Ten years apart in age and a world apart in importance. Paul Simon and Sting make interesting tour mates. The two are good friends and that's what sees them out for 18 dates of the On Stage Together tour. Last night at Rogers Arena was night number seven of the tour, and backed by a 14-piece band the show was seamless and slick. From the opening notes of 'Brand New Day', the title track to Sting's 1996 solo album of the same name, the way the two intended to merge the material was made clear. Two bands and two distinct singers - plus the benefit of Sting playing bass - would turn everything into a world music-tinged orchestra where Sting, 63, and Simon, 73, could trade verses as well as do solo sets with their own bands plus extras...
Feb 20, 2014
The improbable pairing of two baby-boomer icons - Paul Simon and Sting - enthralled a capacity crowd at KeyArena Wednesday in what Simon affectionately called "our little experiment." Blending their respective bands and repertoires into a powerful evening of rock 'n' roll infused with world rhythms, Simon and Sting took turns performing separate sets as well as stirring duets of each other's most beloved songs. The two friends, neighbors and fellow New Yorkers - who launched their "On Stage Together" tour earlier this month in Texas - expressed a deep admiration for each other that began years ago, when Simon was performing with Art Garfunkel in the folk duo Simon and Garfunkel and Sting with The Police. Separated in age by 10 years - Simon is 72, Sting 62 - the two rock stars proved they have much in common...
Feb 17, 2014
As the lights dropped in the SAP Center, a sudden and powerful applause erupted in the near-maximum capacity building in anticipation of witnessing two rock music legends: Paul Simon and Sting. "Paul and I share a lot of musical curiosity about a spectrum of music that's pretty wide, and as vehicles for songwriting. So we have lot in common," Sting said in an interview earlier this month with Billboard magazine in regard to touring with his New York neighbor, Paul Simon...
Feb 17, 2014
Last month, Paul Simon and Sting spoke with Rolling Stone about their "On Stage, Together," tour. "We come from very different places, culturally," Simon explained. "Our voices are different, our accents are different, our sense of rhythms are different." And he's absolutely right. Where the beloved half of Simon & Garfunkel pulls influences from folk music and worldbeat, Sting's roots are in rock, pop, soul and reggae. To be honest, I wasn't quite sure how these two seemingly different icons could possibly pull off a collaborative tour, and to my delighted surprise, they proved to me that it can be done, and done well...
Feb 16, 2014
At first thought it seemed a divergent coupling - Paul Simon and Sting, obviously both tremendous songwriters, each with a formidable and timeless body of work. But together? Would that work? Some people suggested that Sting was a true rock star, whereas Mr. Simon was a folkie, and would be hopelessly outshone. But as time has shown, Paul Simon moves from triumph to triumph, and last night at the Forum was a new chapter of joy in one of America's most remarkable songwriting stories...
