Sting - Bring On The Night
Performance
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Sting - Bring On The Night
Performance
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In 1984, at the height of their popularity, Sting ditches The Police and throws together a group of world-class, black, American, jazz musicians to begin work on his first solo album, The Dream Of The Blue Turtles. Fans generally praised it as an ambitious new musical direction for Sting, and critics called it the height of his pomposity. I'll concede some to both opinions, but the album is certainly remarkable in it's unique melding of jazz, rock and pop. As this DVD aptly demonstrates, the music has stood the test of time and sounds as fresh as ever nearly two decades later. Bring On The Night was filmed in 1986 by acclaimed director Michael Apted, who also directed Gorillas In The Mist, Gorky Park, and Coal Miner's Daughter, to name a few. The movie was filmed in a documentary style and mixes rehearsal and behind-the-scenes footage with live concert footage. I have always preferred the uninterrupted live concert video, over this documentary style music film, but when it is put together as well as this, it makes it much easier to digest. It certainly helped that some of the behind the scenes stuff was as interesting as the song performances. During a French news conference to introduce the new band and tour, a British journalist is playfully scolded by Sting for referring to him as Gordon - his real name. Sir Sting is brought back down to Earth later in the movie as Branford Marsalis reads aloud from a tabloid article that discusses Sting's (Gordon Sumner's) rags-to-riches upbringing and he hilariously compares him to the sitcom character George Jefferson. After the band hears Marsalis refer to Sting as "Little Gordie Jefferson", they spontaneously break into The Jefferson's' theme song "We're a movin' on up..." It was priceless seeing the world's most pretentious musician completely humbled for a few seconds. You get a feel for Apted's brilliant directorial style right away as he whisks you around Paris and the French countryside on the way to a beautiful 18th century castle which has been housing Sting and his new band during their rehearsals for the upcoming tour. The camera weaves through the castle halls, as if it is being drawn to the sounds of the dynamic reworking of "Bring On The Night", originally heard on the Police's Reggatta De Blanc album, and now emanating from a huge rehearsal room within the center of the mansion. As we turn the corner to the room, we are greeted by Sting and the band jamming enthusiastically to what has now segued into a fiery version of the Zenyatta Mondatta classic "When The World Is Running Down, You Make The Best Of What's Still Around". Jesus, that's one long song title. These brilliant performances of the two Police classics was one of the highlights of the whole film, and immediately lets you know that Sting intends to one-up these old Police songs with this new band. Sometimes he succeeds, sometimes he doesn't. Sting expanded the boundaries of pop-rock by enlisting the services of several renowned jazz musicians including Branford Marsalis on sax, Kenny Kirkland on keyboards, Darryl Jones on bass, and Omar Hakim on drums. These cats have jammed with the likes of Miles Davis, Wynton Marsalis, and Dizzy Gillespie. Also helping out were Janice Pendarvis and Dolette McDonald who lended some excellent backing vocals to the mix. You are given an intimate look at the rehearsal process, Sting's meticulous and sometimes overbearing direction, as well as the great fun this group had together preparing for the tour. Opening night of the tour was at the beautiful Theatre Mogador in the heart of Paris. The show opens with a dazzling performance of the Zenyatta Mondatta classic "Shadows In The Rain", which begins with Sting passionately singing the opening verse, accompanied only by a ferocious drum beat laid down by Omar Hakim, and moments later the full band kicks in and lets the crowd know that they are in for one special night. Next, they reel off a few new songs from The Dream Of The Blue Turtles, which are greeted by a polite, but enthusiastic, response from the slightly bewildered audience, who are still figuring out what to make of this new experiment. The highlight of this segment was probably during "We Work The Black Seam", which had Sting playing a huge upright bass, as Hakim executes one of the most impressive drum performances I have ever seen. The two biggest Police hits "Roxanne" and "Message In A Bottle" were disappointingly only performed unaccompanied by Sting, who played a very clean, chorused, electric guitar. Marsalis added a few gentle sax riffs to "Roxanne", and Sting's solo versions were quite enjoyable, but they could have transformed these songs into something really special with this fantastic band. As great as the performances were on this DVD, the production was even more impressive. The original 1986 film is given new life with a brilliant high-definition, widescreen video transfer and digitally remastered 5.1 surround audio. The DTS mix is one of the best I have heard, and the Dolby surround and stereo mixes were excellent as well. The picture was clear and sharp, and the camera work certainly reflected the fact that a world-class director was in charge. The camera angles, and scene transitions were impressive and you are given an intimate look at all that went on from the first band rehearsals on through to the successful opening night of the tour. The DVD also included some great bonus material including music videos for "Bring On The Night", "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free", and "Russians". Also included is the original trailer, a photo gallery, and a neat feature which allows you to create a "personal play list" from ten of the tracks, which allows you to arrange and play them back in any order. This should have included all of the music tracks, instead of only ten though. With Bring On The Night, Sting and Michael Apted created one of the best music films ever, and this outstanding DVD transfer has made it even better. Don't miss this one. Reviewed by Paul M. Roy - April 2005 |
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Running Time: 97 Minutes |
DVD Release Date - March 2005 |