Sadly, I never got to see them on that tour or with that lineup. First time I saw Sting was I believe ‘91 during the Soul Cages tour with Vinnie Colaiuta on drums—not a bad consolation prize. A couple years before that, the summer of ‘89, I spent a month in Paris, and my favorite live album at that time was Bring on the Night, which I distinctly remember listening to constantly on my Walkman on the flights and during my stay there. Since the documentary video I linked to was filmed in and around Paris just a few years before that trip, when I watch it I’m always transported back to that summer. The way Paris looked at that time, those ‘80s European cars—especially the French ones like Citroens, Peugeots and Renaults—even the blueness of the skies, literally everything in that documentary are exactly as I remember them from that trip.
Just last summer, I returned to Paris for the first time since then. It was cool, but it wasn’t quite the same way I remembered it. I’m glad I found that documentary, as that almost feels like a time capsule for me. Plus, every musician in that band were pretty damn incredible, which makes it a pleasure to watch.
