AT FIRST it seemed a night for the mortgage rockers; the upholstered seats set the scene far better than anything Sting could do on stage. It is eight years since he last played Dublin, and the audience seemed fairly happy to have him back, though it was hard to tell sometimes.
A 1996 Sting audience doesn't really go leaping about in appreciation, they simply nod knowingly.
Then about five songs in, the whole thing took off when the cabaret started. Sting invited two people out of the front rows on stage for a bit of a banter and an attempt at a chorus. Once he discovered they couldn't sing, however, they were relegated to a waltz about the stage while Sting got another guy out of the front row. Rory gave the main man a good run, for his money, and then darted around the stage shaking hands, with every member of the band, from the brass section to the keyboard player.
By the time the trio went back to their seats, the audience had relaxed into something approximating a fever, albeit a seated one. Then all the old Police numbers came tumbling out; "Roxanne", "Synchronicity", and "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" included.
They mightn't have screamed and they mightn't have moshed, but they did love Sting.