{"id":2448235,"date":"2019-09-01T23:58:44","date_gmt":"2019-09-02T05:58:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=312204"},"modified":"2019-09-01T23:58:44","modified_gmt":"2019-09-02T05:58:44","slug":"sting-an-aspen-virgin-no-more-closes-jazz-aspen-labor-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/sting-an-aspen-virgin-no-more-closes-jazz-aspen-labor-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Sting, an \u2018Aspen virgin\u2019 no more, closes Jazz Aspen Labor Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.6381709741551\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-312204-27\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/JASphotos-atd-090219-19-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/JASphotos-atd-090219-19-1024x726.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Sting1 | Sting performs on Sunday, Sept. 1, 2019, at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Labor Day Experience in Snowmass Village. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"0\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"11\">\n<p><strong>Sting performs on Sunday, Sept. 1, 2019, at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Labor Day Experience in Snowmass Village. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong><br \/>Sting1<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/JASphotos-atd-090219-19-1024x726.jpg\" alt=\"Sting performs on Sunday, Sept. 1, 2019, at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Labor Day Experience in Snowmass Village. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/JASphotos-atd-090219-21-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/JASphotos-atd-090219-21-1024x731.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Sting1 | Sting performs on Sunday, Sept. 1, 2019, at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Labor Day Experience in Snowmass Village. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"0\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"11\">\n<p><strong>Sting performs on Sunday, Sept. 1, 2019, at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Labor Day Experience in Snowmass Village. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong><br \/>Sting1<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/JASphotos-atd-090219-21-1024x731.jpg\" alt=\"Sting performs on Sunday, Sept. 1, 2019, at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Labor Day Experience in Snowmass Village. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/JASphotos-atd-090219-24-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/JASphotos-atd-090219-24-768x1024.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Sting1 | Sting performs on Sunday, Sept. 1, 2019, at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Labor Day Experience in Snowmass Village. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"0\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"11\">\n<p><strong>Sting performs on Sunday, Sept. 1, 2019, at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Labor Day Experience in Snowmass Village. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong><br \/>Sting1<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/JASphotos-atd-090219-24-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Sting performs on Sunday, Sept. 1, 2019, at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Labor Day Experience in Snowmass Village. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/sting-an-aspen-virgin-no-more-closes-jazz-aspen-labor-day\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/sting-an-aspen-virgin-no-more-closes-jazz-aspen-labor-day\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>He may have waited until four decades into his reign of pop stardom to come to Aspen, but Sting delivered what the fans came for on Sunday night, closing the 2019 Jazz Aspen Snowmass Labor Day Experience with a hit parade for a lively sold-out audience in Snowmass Town Park.<\/p>\n<p>Opening with \u201cMessage in a Bottle,\u201d \u201cIf I Ever Lose My Faith in You\u201d and \u201cEnglishman in New York,\u201d the performance was tight as a drum, honed in an ongoing world tour showcasing his biggest songs both from The Police and his solo career \u2013 the greatest hits he recently re-arranged and re-recorded for the 2019 album \u201cMy Songs\u201d (though he did venture to play his 2018 collaboration with Shaggy. Backup singer Gene Noble here stepped in for the reggae rapper).<\/p>\n<p>Early on, Sting admitted with a smirk that he was an \u201cAspen virgin\u201d and that somehow he\u2019d never played here. This debut came on a three-night, three-show swing through the Mountain West that concludes the North American leg of Sting\u2019s ongoing tour. The Aspen show was preceded by a benefit concert with the Utah Symphony to benefit the Zion Forever Project in Utah.<\/p>\n<p>Sting is a remarkably well-preserved 67 years old and wears it well, proudly sporting a tight black t-shirt with cutoff sleeves that exposed his distractingly defined arm muscles, cut enough to be visible from near the back of the venue.<\/p>\n<p>His voice is still a robust instrument, too. Though he occasionally leaned on his backup singers and talked through some lyrics, he hit the higher notes when he reached for them, including that iconic whine on the first syllable of \u201cRoxanne\u201d in the chorus.<\/p>\n<p>Energetic and engaged, he urged crowd participation throughout with hand claps, and during regular built-in call-and-response passages \u2013 even calling for a bit of jazz hands on \u201cDesert Rose.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He performed with a four-piece band, two singers and a harmonica player, but it was Sting\u2019s show, tirelessly leading the action of center-stage and working his weathered 1957 vintage bass guitar.<\/p>\n<p>The joyous \u201cEvery Little Thing She Does is Magic\u201d was a high point for this very sold-out and enthusiastic crowd in Snowmass Town Park, followed soon after by a set-closing run through \u201cWalking on the Moon,\u201d \u201cSo Lonely,\u201d \u201cDesert Rose,\u201d \u201cRoxanne\u201d and \u201cEvery Breath You Take.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It may have been a by-the-numbers hit parade, but you don\u2019t go see Sting for new revelations. You go to hear those hits, to belt out \u201cSo Lonely\u201d with 10,000 fellow fans, and if \u2013 like many Aspen concert-goers you\u2019d never seen him before \u2013 to check the experience off of your list of rock legends. And on that front Sting more than delivered, playing fresh and arena-tested interpretations of just about everything you\u2019d hope to hear him play.<\/p>\n<p>Few fans left early from this festival closing, 95-minute performance \u2013 a testament to Sting\u2019s enduring allure. His three-song encore began with \u201cKing of Pain\u201d and \u201cNext to You.\u201d Then he quieted things down, saying \u201cIt\u2019s my custom to leave a place quiet and thoughtful, so that you can go home quiet and thoughtful,\u201d before ending playing \u201cFragile\u201d to a hushed crowd.<\/p>\n<p>It may have taken him 40 of touring to make it to Aspen, but he left the stage with a promise to return: \u201cWe shall see you again!\u201d <a href=\"mailto:atravers@aspentimes.com\">atravers@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/sting-an-aspen-virgin-no-more-closes-jazz-aspen-labor-day\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sting performs on Sunday, Sept. 1, 2019, at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Labor Day Experience in Snowmass Village. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)Sting1 Sting performs on Sunday, Sept. 1, 2019, at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Labor Day Experience in Snowmass Village. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)Sting1 Sting performs on Sunday, Sept. 1, 2019, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2448235","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-26 01:50:07","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2448235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448235\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2448235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2448235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2448235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}