Where: Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
When: November 20, 1987
Band:
Sting: Vocals, Guitar,
Steve Coleman: Saxophone
Kenny Kirkland: Keyboards
Delmar Brown: Keyboards
Jeff Lee Campbell: Lead guitar
Tracy Ann Wornworth: Bass guitar
Mino Cinelu: Percussion
Marvin Smith: Drums
Dolette McDonald: Backing vocals
I was 14 years old and this was my first concert...What a great start! It was a sold out show at Maracana Stadium, but I confess that Sting was not one of my favorite artists. My older sister is a The Police fan, and I went to the show to follow her and, of course, to participate in an event with huge proportions.
There’s some controversy about Maracana’s capacity. Let’s say that numbers may vary between 180.000 and 200.000 people. It’s too many people, my friends! We got there about 7 p.m. and the show was planned to start around 10 p.m. We were born in a poor family in the suburbs of Rio, so we didn’t have money to buy tickets near the stage and also to spend with souvenirs and food, so I went there with a backpack full of cheese sandwiches to spend the time…in fact, I could feed an Army with my sandwiches, LOL !
Shows in Brazil at that time were rare. Sting missed the oportunity to give the fans a set with more hits. He focused in the promotion of the album …Nothing Like the Sun, a double LP which followed the live album Bring on the Night. The songs We’ll Be Together, Englishman in New York and Fragile did a great success in the radio stations here, but the fact is the songs didn’t work well in a stadium concert. Maybe the reason is that Sting moved apart from the style of music he used to write and play with The Police, being more a Jazz band than a rock band. The result was an unbalanced set, with a lot of ups and downs. Maybe the direction he took on his solo career fits well for small and intimate venues. In meanwhile, The Police’s songs were made for Arenas and I witnessed this on his show. The highest moments were merely the songs from this old band, like Roxanne, Message in a Bottle, Spirts in the Material World and Don’t Stand so Close to Me.
It was a good experience, after all. I realized that I wouldn’t need to carry with me more than 2 sandwiches…
The coolest thing is that the partnership between me and my sister is still active. The last one was the Iron Maiden show, last march. It’s about time to go to another one! Maybe Eric Clapton in October...
Videos:
Spirits in the Material World
Bring on the Night / When the World is Running Down
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALSGy1_viLE 
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