A few weeks back, my Monday evening started out better than expected, with light traffic, beautiful weather, and amazing parking opportunities. As I approached the venue a man from San Francisco's
Masonic Auditorium asked if I was going to the show. I replied, "Yes, what's up?" He said, "The show's been postponed". My heart sank as he calmly explained that one of the artists was sick and they wouldn't perform that evening. "They've already left for the hotel", he continued. What he also said was that it wasn't a cancelled event, so the show would or could be rescheduled for another night. The artist it turns out was
Sting, who is touring the country with
Shaggy promoting their new collaboration,
44/876 (iTunes).
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| Sting @ the Masonic (Photo: Ken McCain) |
Sting was forced to put a handful of shows on hold as he rested while getting over his illness. Thankfully the show was rescheduled along with a few others. Our show was just a few nights ago, this time on a Friday evening which tends to make for larger crowds.
Now, a few I spoke to thought that the Sting and Shaggy combo was an odd pairing. Perhaps many think of Sting as that mellow, middle-age, soft-sided singer turning out cool jazzy tunes, yet they'd only be partially right. But anyone who knows the musician knows that he has quite a history in the music business, starting out in the late 70's with the new wave rock band
The Police, and spanning the world of music from there on out. His solo career includes rock, jazz, reggae, classical, new-age and worldbeat styles, and combined with The Police, he has received 16 Grammy Awards along with countless others for his efforts. Shaggy himself is no stranger to the Grammys, winning one in 1996 for Best Reggae Album after two previous records in '93 and '94. His style is his alone, developing his signature singing voice while enlisted in the US Marine Corps.
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| Sting & Shaggy @ the Masonic (Photo: Ken McCain) |
What set The Police apart from so many other bands was their use of reggae beats throughout their songs. While rock beats hit on the 2 & 4, reggae beats are on the 1 & 3. Combined with an edgier sound and their youthful energy, they won over fans all over the world. Their songs became instant classics and continue to be played on mainstream radio. In the late 90's and early 2000's, Shaggy developed his own sound and grew as an artist himself. He collaborated and played on many other artists' albums bringing his unique flavor to spice up their tunes, so it was only a matter of time before these two artists would meet up and work together.
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| Shaggy & Sting @ the Masonic (Photo: Ken McCain) |
This year in April they put out their album
44/876 -- a title based on each others' country area codes. Heavy with a reggae beat, this album has sold extremely well so far this year. With over 500,000 copies sold world-wide, it is on it's way to becoming Platinum Certified by early next year. Of course, artists tour cities and countries as much, or as often as they can to promote these albums. It's a good thing that they do because quite often fans miss the fact that these bands have new material that is really good! And these two are no exception. Although heavily laced with Sting's solo and Police material, they were able to seamlessly work 8 of their 12 songs into the set. It was very cool how they bounced around from a Sting song to a new song, then a Police song to a Shaggy song into a combined Police/Shaggy song, and so on. The intermixing was so organic that it made you almost forget who's tune it was, as Shaggy would often take lead on one or the other.
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| Shaggy @ the Masonic (Photo: Ken McCain) |
After going on at 8:40pm, a bit later than expected, they came out by priming the crowd with Sting's "Englishman in New York". Twisting the lyrics a bit, Shaggy would then sing "A Jamaicanman in New York". It was a great way to start the show off by showing that they could have fun with each other and sing each other's songs, which they did from then on out. After the opener, they paused for a few moments as Sting addressed the crowd offering his great appreciation to all who turned out that night, and apologizing for having to cancel the originally scheduled show. It was hard on many who travelled from out of town as I did. I met some that night that came from Santa Cruz, others as far as South Lake Tahoe. I'm not sure if they returned, but others did as the venue was nearly filled to capacity. The floor was general admission for this show, with seating to the rear and in the balcony above. Looking down from my perch, I watched the crowd as the band pumped out hit after hit of "Oh Carolina", "Gotta Get My Baby Back", "Angel", and my favorite of the night, The Police's "So Lonely". People were jammed together in a 'sea of humanity', swaying back and forth, singing, fist-pumping, and dancing together during all of these songs and more.
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| Sting & Shaggy @ the Masonic (Photo: Ken McCain) |
The upper balcony was not much different than the floor, though with a little more space between everyone, and seating. Yet, when songs like Shaggy's "Angel", new tune "Dreaming in the U.S.A.", and The Police cover "Walking on the Moon" almost everyone was on their feet and dancing. And, if you know Shaggy's song "It Wasn't Me" this was the call to get up if you weren't already! After kicking out the mashup of "Roxanne" and "Bombastic" they came back with that party tune and sent the roof right off the building.
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| Sting & Shaggy @ the Masonic (Photo: Ken McCain) |
This duo may not be one that we will see more from in the future, but perhaps we will? They've turned out a great album and their stage show together is super fun. Shaggy is that kind of performer that loves to get the crowd involved and keeps them pumped the whole time. As he moves from one side of the stage to the other, he makes contact with the crowd while adding his flair to the song at hand. I have to say I was really blown away at how much fun this show was. I hope they continue with their collaboration because it seems to be working quite well. And as they wrap up their North American tour with a few of those other postponed dates, they take this union overseas for some select dates in Eastern Europe and Russia. Let's hope they can spread some love and peace along the way, and maybe they'll come back your way real soon.
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