Recorded on September 21, 2010 as
Sting was smack dab in the middle of his
Symphonicities tour,
Live in Berlin -- available as a CD/DVD set, a Blu Ray, and a condensed single-disc CD -- offers further orchestral reimaginings of
Sting’s songbook, retaining a healthy chunk of the songs on the 2010 album
Symphonicities and finding room for other highlights from his past, both obscure and quite familiar (“Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” “Russians,” “King of Pain,” “Every Breath You Take”all pop up on the video). Compared to the studio album, the symphonic flourishes don’t seem quite as overwhelming -- the attention is drawn to
Sting and his songs, not to the orchestrations -- and the show is paced expertly, turning
Live in Berlin into a bit of sophisticated comfort food for longtime
Sting fans. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine