Sting celebrated his history with the Argentine public and welcomed Charly García backstage...

The English star gave the first of two concerts scheduled on Sunday at the Movistar Arena in the Villa Crespo neighborhood.

The concerts of the English musician's 3.0 tour will be especially treasured among Sting fans' memories, as they perfectly summarize and blend his solo career with the years he spent as the singer and composer of The Police, the band with which he became known to the world in the late 1970s.

The synthesis is very well achieved and also underscores a unique aspect of these times: the need for a veteran and established musician to continue taking to the stage simply for the sake of making music. Three musicians on stage (including the lead), acoustic and electric instruments without any sonic fantasies. Sting and his bass, one of those he's always used, and a microphone glued to his face, which gives him greater freedom of movement. That's all. Music. And that's what he delivered in the first of two shows scheduled at the Movistar Arena in Buenos Aires, with a repertoire that's practically the same as that of other cities he's been visiting recently.

In this show, which tours the world, "Message in a Bottle" kicks off a show that begins with English punctuality and runs for an hour and a half, across just over twenty songs. It's just the right tempo. The first thing you hear is the vector that sets the entire movement: a rock trio (guitar, bass, and drums) and a series of four chords. But it's not just any series, but a highly inspired equation created more than four decades ago by Andy Summers, who was then Sting's partner in the music world. Then comes the chorus and the return to those chords that, in the words they carry, will bring a fresh air, something new to say, to think about. Sting spoke about this a few years ago, in a talk that went viral. He spoke of the circular form of current composition and the classic format from which he had learned to make music. Regarding the current method, he mentioned the loop and circular composition. In contrast, the classic sense of creation is one that presents an idea and may (or may not) reach a point of strong tension ("crisis"). Then the situation reaches a musical bridge that leads back to the verses on the other side, with new ideas and other reflections.

Sting's songs (at least most of them) have that classic format and offer the possibility of finding something different beyond the chorus. And to this we must add musical ideas that are more inspired than complex. A simple bass line, an emotional melody, a riff that sticks in your ear and can last for hours or days. The show Sting created for this tour is a compendium of all of that. The songs his audience wants to hear and sing along to. An unbeatable format that made him famous almost half a century ago and that today puts him back on the road for a long-range tour, knowing that this retrospective is the nostalgia that thousands want to turn into music.

The Police's halo, obviously, hovers over the stadium at all times. What we hear isn't an emulation, at least not in every song. Because if it were, this show would be nothing more than a tribute band. And the truth is, there are songs that are true canons of the Police sound and their compositional modus operandi (think "Driven to Tears," for example) that don't sound like copies but rather reflect the style of each musician accompanying the English singer. Even so, in the songs by his old band, drummer Chris Maas (an outstanding session player who here gracefully assumes the role of a rock band musician, not a supporting one) masterfully captures the syncopated tones (syncopations, off-beats) of The Police drummer Stewart Copeland. And Sting's guitarist and longtime right-hand man for decades, Dominic Miller, resorts to Summers' harmonizing as often as he deems necessary. The solo Sting, on the other hand, comes with fewer stave prescriptions. The musicians are freer, and the audience participates differently. At least the Argentinian audience, who cheers with typical recital chants and winks back when they hear certain lines from the song "Englishman in New York."

Rhythmic control is another key to this show, as it's pure action and reaction thanks to its rapid-fire changes. The leap from "Everything She Does is Magic" to the placidity of "Fields of Gold" is truly an abrupt shift that flows smoothly. In another section, it moves from "Never Coming Home" to "Synchronicity II," which is that molecular explosion (from The Police's 1983 album), but this time with a speed limiter and other nuances provided by the musicians. Minutes later, "Wrapped Around Your Finger" plays, giving way to those moments where Miller can show off his own creations.

The musical quality is also evident in the lack of visual effects. Just two screens, at the top, with close-ups of Sting, are enough to decorate such a parade of songs that always hit the mark. Although some were more widely distributed than others, all of these titles are equally well-made. And the fact that he returned to his own roots, in terms of format, is something that suits this 73-year-old Englishman very well, for whom time seems to stand still. There were also other songs that were very meaningful to the audience: “So Lonely,” “King of Pain,” “Walking on the Moon,” “Every Breath You Take,” and the ones he saved for last, “Roxanne” and “Fragile” (the only moment when Sting put down his bass and sat down with a guitar). Charly García was also there, visiting him in his dressing room minutes before the concert; a reunion that will also take long-time fans back to the stage they shared in 1988, in River, during the Amnesty International tour.

(c) La Nacion by Mauro Apicella