Annie Lennox (and Sting) Concert

Date published: July 12, 2004

Last night, I went to an Annie Lennox and Sting concert at Darien Lake Performing Arts Center. Originally, when the tickets went on sale, I really wanted to go, but didn't know if I knew anyone that would want to go. Luckily, Ken, a friend who I met while Geocaching, was interested in going as well.

Even though I wish our seats were closer to the stage, they were okay. After a brief opening act (Sting's guitarist) and a short 15 minute break, Annie took to the stage. Her staging was simple; besides the band and their equipment, the only set pieces were these HUGE spotlights around her. When I say huge, I mean that each spotlight was about the size of a keg of beer, and there were about 6 of them.

As with the staging, the music was stripped down, simple, and intimate. I kept thinking how perfectly this minimalist approach worked for Annie. It's the power of her voice that is the most amazing part about her music; She could sing without any instruments at all. She can sing with the best of them, no doubt about that. No wonder her and Aretha Franklin have sung together. Sisters are doin' it for themselves.

She sang a good selection of her hits as well as songs from her most recent album, Bare. At first, I was wondering if she would only sing songs from her three solo albums and not from her Eurythmics years. That was not the case. "Here comes the Rain Again" was sung as a ballad sans instruments except for the piano that Annie was playing. Her head was back lit and had a cool glow to it because of her bleach-blonde hair. There must be an angel playing with my heart.

I can't remember all the songs she sang, but I know "Sweet Dreams," "Walking on Broken Glass," "Missionary Man," and "Sisters are Doin' It for Themselves," were all present, as well as "Pavement Cracks" and at least 3 other songs off Bare. Though they were all great, on the drive back both Ken and I mentioned that were were a bit let down by "Missionary Man." Apparently we both see it as a favorite, but both noticed something was not quite right about it when it was performed...I don't recall either of us pinpointing what that was though.

As for wardrobe, I don't exactly recall what she wore, but I believe she had a knit cap on for the first couple songs. After taking that off, she sang a bit more and then took her jacket off after. The only other wardrobe change I recall was that for the encore she came back wearing a different jacket. You're probably wondering "why don't you just look at your photo to see what she was wearing that night?" Well the reason for that is that it's not my photo (shh, don't tell). The photo is from the same tour, just not the same venue.

Because it was still light out when Annie was performing, the projection screen never really turned on. Thus we didn't really get to see any closeups. I'm sure it would have only revealed how amazingly the 50 year old woman looks for her age. Besides, we had an okay view anyway. We could see her dancing around, swaying her hips, and making those unique arm movements in the way that only she can do.

All in all, Annie performed like the amazing artist she is.

After a short break, Sting came on. Here's where our story takes a bit of a turn. Sting's show was all about the set. He had lights galore and even 3 or 4 huge screens that showed video through his songs. I couldn't help but feel that unlike Annie, Sting needed the extra glitz for people to like his show. Don't get me wrong, Sting has some great songs and like Annie he has really stood the test of time. I'm just not much of a Sting fan...his music just doesn't have the same oomph that Annie's has. I spent more time thinking about the programming that went into the lighting systems and huge screen displays than I did really watching or listening to Sting.

Luckily, Ken and I were really only there for Annie. He even leaned over at one point and said "Anytime you want to go is fine." He said this not just because he wasn't much of a Sting fan, but also because the two men in front of us were being stupid. As every song started one would say "Man, I love this song!" and the other would agree and they'd high-five each other. I wanted to stay for a bit as I thought Annie would come out for at least one duet.

After we both figured Annie wasn't going to come out and were about to leave, she finally came out. Her and Sting did a duet of "We'll Be Together." They both seemed to have a lot of fun while performing it, though Annie again was the one who performed more. Sting just stands and plays guitar most of the time. Annie always has energy and dances around. Sting joined in a bit, and I thought it was only because he was just feeding off her energy. At the end of it, they hugged each other, and Annie waved goodbye to us and left the stage.

All in all a good time, and I'm glad I had someone to go with me. I even saw some other friends there.