17.11.2011
USA, Houston, Verizon Wireless Theatre
Back To Bass Tour - Houston
good Audience

Disc 1: [1:11:41]
01. - 08. All This Time [see my notes below] [4:19]
09. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic [regular quality from 3:23 onwards, see my notes below] [4:41]
10. Seven Days [4:44]
11. Demolition Man [5:19]
12. I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying [4:19]
13. I Hung My Head [6:06]
14. Stolen (Take Me Dancing) [6:05]
15. Driven To Tears [5:13]
16. Fortress Around Your Heart [4:48]
17. Fields Of Gold [4:20]
18. Sacred Love [6:06]
19. Ghost Story [5:05]
20. Heavy Cloud No Rain [4:01]
21. Inside [6:29]

Disc 2: [1:11:08]
01. Love Is Stronger Than Justice [7:42]
02. Hounds Of Winter [6:29]
03. End Of The Game [7:11]
04. Never Coming Home [7:00]
05. Desert Rose [4:55]
06. Every Breath You Take [5:55]
07. Next To You [4:24]
08. Message In A Bottle [with a very short intro of "The Yellow Rose Of Texas"] [4:29]

Soundcheck:
09. Fields Of Gold (with male fan singing!) [2:49]
10. I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying [3:51]
11. End Of The Game [5:35]
12. Never Coming Home [6:46]
13. Inside [1:47]
14. All This Time [2:09]

Taper: rhoeckel

Recording location (during the concert):
Block 104; row A (= first row in 2nd section, right side of stage), approx. 30 metres away from the stage
During the encores (I think it was "Every breath you take") I stood up and rushed to the front (hey, I'm used to this at "normal" concerts...).

Recording Info:
Sony ECM-717 -> Sharp MD-MT15 -> PC -> Feurio (track split) -> CD-R -> Audiograbber (WAV file) -> TLH (flac level 8)

This show was part of the Back To Bass North American 2011 tour.
Sting - vocals, bass, Dominic Miller - guitar, Vinnie Colaiuta - drums, Jo Lawry - backing vocals, violin, Rufus Miller - guitar, Peter Tickell - violin

Remarks:
Well, there's a lot to tell about the "making" of this concert...

-> how the hell did I get there?
Being a specialized computer administrator from Germany I got an invitation from IBM to visit their labs in Rochester, MN and Toronto, ON.
I added two extra days to this short trip (originally 5 days) so that I could attend two Sting shows in Texas (Nov 16 Grand Prairie & Nov 17 Houston).
For the first concert I just arrived in time (having flown in from Toronto that day) so I sat down in my seat 15 minutes before the concert started.
And to be honest, I wanted at first to find out if and how the security measures are in the US (I didn't want to spend the night in jail or eventually miss my flight home).
That's why I decided to record only the second concert in Houston...

-> why are the first two songs recorded that poorly?
First of all I have to say that one of the minidiscs had an error so the recording has some major bad skips,
especially during the first song "All this time" and even sporadically during the whole concert (e.g. "Fortress around your heart").
Secondly, during the whole concert it was very dark in the audience room. I managed to start the recording in time but I couldn't see if it was well balanced or not.
At the end of the second song "Every little thing she does is magic" I knew (from the day before) that this would be the only time when some very bright spotlights
would be switched on with direction to the audience. These few seconds I could use to balance out the recording level nicely.

***** PLEASE NOTHE THIS ******
So I honestly recommend the complete first song "All this time" and the major part of the second song "Every little thing..." (up to the 3:23 mark)
only for the die-hard hardcore fans & completists!!!
***** PLEASE NOTHE THIS ******

I think it's time to buy another recording device, Edirol R-09 here I come...;-)

-> some facts about the soundcheck:
Well, to throw in some nice bonus I also added some part of the soundcheck I was able to record. The first two songs are pretty good as I was staying inside the venue (I took some open back door to get in). In the afternoon those who bought expensive VIP tickets got the chance to attend a special soundcheck with the highlight of selected fans being called onto the stage and sing a tune together with Sting and his band (just like in the days of the Police reunion). So here you hear a male fan singing "Fields of gold" being backed by Sting and band! After that Sting decided to go into the usual soundcheck mode and rehearse some songs to try out different endings etc. Unfortunately I got caught by a security guy during "I'm so happy..." and had to leave the venue. Of course I went around the building again and tried to enter that particular door again but in the meantime it had been locked. So from track 02-11 onwards the soundcheck was recorded from outside the venue. As a major road was nearby you can hear some heavy trucks driving up and down the street...:-(

-> some remarks about the concert & the musicians:
After the (for me) rather boring Symphonicities concerts I was glad to hear that Sting switched back to his bass to play some shows in rather small theatres. He looks really more comfortable with his bass around his neck that standing on the stage without no instrument or tapping the tamborine...The selection of songs rather pleases the longtime Sting fan than the usual concert goer who expects a "Greatest Hits" set. Of course there were quite a few 'country' songs but being in Texas made this somehow appropriate. My favourite songs were "Demolition man", "Driven to tears" and "Ghost story". Sting told almost exactly the same stories and jokes as the night before in Grand Prairie/Dallas but at least musically
you could feel that the first part of the show was still in an evolving stage. At least on the encores (starting with "Desert rose") Sting was in autopilot mode. [BTW, the night before in Grand Prairie during "Message in a bottle" I stood RIGHT IN FRONT of Sting - I got very excited and even got some weak knees, believe it or not!]

The musicians:
Sting - dressed very casual in blue jeans and a pink "25 years labyrinth" T-shirt (whis is not on sale on the merchandise stand) he looked very pleased and relaxed

Dominic Miller - musically excellent as ever but on this tour he rather stays a bit in the background

Vinnie Colaiuta - musically amazing as well but also working modestly through the set

Rufus Miller - in many ways acts a lot like his father (you know, when he steps to the edge of the stage, closes his eyes and turns his head up to the roof when playing a little solo), solid performance. As a great fan of Andy Summers and also Dominic Miller I always get a bit annoyed when I see more than one guitarist on the stage...;-)

Jo Lawry - we all know that the is very cute. During the Symphonicites tour I didn't like her voice that much, her rather cold, Scandinavian-like voice didn't fit to all the songs that good (e.g. "Whenever I say your name" where she used to shout rather than to sing -> I always miss Joy Rose on that particular song). Here, she managed to convince me a bit more, one highlight was definitely "The hounds of winter" while the end of "Stolen car" is absolutely ridiculous (bad).

Peter Tickell - being almost the same age as Rufus (25/26 years old) he is the secret star of the show. Before these two concerts I was a bit undecided - I had listened to some other shows from this tour beforehand (available on DIME) to "prepare" myself for these concerts and I was a bit puzzled by the violin playing during so many songs. But you really have to see Peter live in action to witness this thrilling performance -> this is worth the ticket price alone!

For more info check out www.sting.com, No art - make your own! Do not sell this recording - trade freely! Enjoy & see you in Amsterdam & Cologne for the European part of Sting's "Back to bass" tour!

Dimeadozen.org: Torrent 385397 (by rhoeckel)