STING & SHAGGY Review

So then Sting and Shaggy on the same stage at the same time? Who’d of thought it? ‘It Wasn’t Me’ that’s for sure.

I’m not going to lie I’ve had a little crush on Sting for years and it’s just over a year since I saw him last at Northern Stage for ‘The Last Ship’ so when I got the opportunity to see him again at another small venue, I jumped at it. But was I about to witness the sinking of the Titanic right before my eyes at O2 Academy Newcastle?

The atmosphere was great the audience was filled with more forty plus (me included) than young ones. Being Newcastle the home of Sting it could be said that the crowd was really there for him and just putting up with his joint headline.

Shaggy and Sting made their way to the stage in the signature style. Sting in a simple black tee and jeans and Shaggy much more flamboyant in a velvet suit and donning a hat that was pretty much glued to his head for the whole act.

The opening numbers were from the album 44/876 (the dialing codes for UK and Jamaica). This appeared to be quite a risky choice as not everyone had listened to the new album (thanks to subscribing to Spotify I had). Track three, now that’s what I’m talking about ‘Englishman in New York’ with a twist of ‘Jamaican in New York’ which Shaggy managed to get us all to sing along to. Next came ‘Every little thing she does is magic’ which was MAGIC.

Shaggy was Shaggy and lovably cheesy with a lot of suggestive hip movements. Shaggy took me back to my uni days circa 1992 with Oh Carolina which made me smile a lot.

There were more than just Sting and Shaggy on Stage. Shaggy collaborated with Alexander Stewart in a song entitled ‘You’. A great Reggie pop mix. Then there were Voices of Virtue Gospel Choir from Newcastle who was great so I’m going to have a look out for when they next perform a bigger set in Newcastle. My personal none headlining favorite was Gene Noble one of Shaggy’s backing singers and collaborators. I did a search to save you from doing so and here’s his amazing voice.

Roxanne / Bombastic was a great melting pot and as always, Every Breath You Take took my breath away. Whilst the lyrics to ‘It Wasn’t Me’ are still truly dreadful I still found myself singing and dancing along.

Sting was his unrivaled self but Shaggy for me brought the life to the show. Where there wasn’t interaction he got people singing and moving. I think the set without him would have been far less interesting. So, whilst Orville and Gordon (yes, their real names) don’t seem like a natural pairing long live the Sting and Shaggy collaboration.