Sacred music

Sting’s Sacred Love Tour brought date night to Sleep Train and all around Schmoopy couples in business-casual fed each other corndogs squiggled with mustard and nuzzled plastic bottles of beer.

Moments after Dominic Miller, Sting’s guitarist of 14 years, played a handful of gentle tunes, Sting popped out to introduce Annie Lennox. Looking lithe and elegant in an electric purple blazer, Lennox opened with “Legend in My Living Room” and entranced while delightfully pirouetting, her incredible voice, aged like a fine wine, wrapping the whole of Sleep Train in a steamy embrace.

Lennox’s set included the popular solo material of “Little Bird,” “Walking on Broken Glass” and the beautifully rich “Cold,” as well as big Eurythmics hits such as “Missionary Man” (in big-time gospel style) and the strong “I Need a Man,” which finished off her set, leaving “Sweet Dreams” and the velvety “Why” for the encore. As the crowd cheered and screamed, the band bowed and Lennox joyously called “We hear you!” to the appreciative masses.

Sting’s visually stimulating set ranged from beautiful to overpowering. Opening with Sacred Love‘s “Send Your Love,” he grinned as he hurled off his pinstripe coat, his black shirt sexily unfurling. Without pausing, he launched into a couple of Police tunes, the rare “Synchronicity II” followed by “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.”

High points were his duet with Lennox on "We’ll Be Together," after which they kissed and he declared, "I get paid for this!"; "Fragile," featuring backscreen visuals of oil wells and bombs; "Whenever I Say Your Name," with background vocalist Joy Rose fantastically belting out Mary J. Blige’s part; and a jazzed up "Never Coming Home," featuring Jason Robello doing a piano solo the astute will remember from "Bring on the Night." Driving back home through nighttime fields of gold, we were wrapped in the eternal warmth an excellent performance yields.