It wasn't quite David Bowie crooning "Little Drummer Boy" alongside Bing Crosby, but the pairing of Sting and Paul Simon could certainly be considered an odd couple of sorts. But on Saturday night at the ACC in front of 15,000 fans, it worked.
The duo spent over two and a half hours rotating in and out, in addition to some collaborations on their hits, resulting in a lively experience that remained fresh and exciting while adding interesting new sounds to old classics. The smooth transitions from song to song, coupled with a steady stream of hits and a lively crowd, made for a dynamic and fun show.
Sometimes, the contrast between the folksy Simon and the rock-oriented Sting was jarring. The differences between the two performers were highlighted in the transitions between their respective material, as when Sting performed “Walking on the Moon” and Simon followed with “Mother and Child Reunion,” or in their encore shift from “Bridge Over Troubled Water” to “Every Breath You Take.” These constant shifts added an air of unpredictability and a thrill to the proceedings, particularly seeing each artist step out of their own song book and into the other’s, as Simon did on “Fragile” and Sting did on “The Boxer.”
Comparison-wise, Sting was certainly the more inspired of the two music legends. In his typically peak physical shape, he happily discussed his history of performing in Toronto (including a joking reference to a sparsely attended Horseshoe Tavern show early in his career) and generally looked excited to be there as he belted out just about every Police hit imaginable.
Simon, for his part, was well received by an appreciative crowd, but couldn’t match the zeal of his on-stage partner. On their 10 collaborations (the show featured 32 songs in all), which were spread out across the show, Simon’s vocals were often lost under the still-powerful pipes of Sting. To be fair, the ex-Police front man is a decade younger than the former half of Simon and Garfunkel.
Both men were boosted by a smooth, simple show structure that saw them each perform about five songs at a time before collaborating and then ceding the stage to the other. The format allowed both men to perform their biggest hits and maintained a consistent energy that would have been difficult to sustain if either of Simon or Sting had remained on stage throughout.
Also helping the overall flow of the show was an explosive orchestra that featured a necessarily versatile set of musicians to accommodate the varied sounds of the duo’s respective songs. The back-up band was never more explosive than when Simon led the encore with “Call Me Al.”
And yet, as Sting acknowledged towards the end of the two-hour, 45-minute performance, “the whole idea for this show started with two guys and their guitars, so that’s how we’re going to finish it.” With that, the pair closed out the night with a no-frills version of the Everly Brothers’ “When Will I Be Loved?” with the focus landing firmly on an unlikely, but talented, duo.
