Sting 3.0

Sting once again shows in Rostock what he really needs...

At his concert in Rostock's IGA Park, Sting presented himself as someone who simply doesn't need a huge stage show. "All this guy needs is a guitar. Absolutely crazy."

Wednesday evening: 12,000 people stand, dance, and cheer in front of three musicians. One of them: superstar Sting. He's not putting on a staged, superlative firework display, but an event where the music takes centre stage. "He simply doesn't need a show," says fan from the very beginning, Gerlinde G. "This is truly honest rock." And that's simply about the music. Just in time for the summer concert season kicking off in Rostock's IGA Park, the weather also cooperates this evening. Where the fans are crowded together in front of the stage, the enthusiastic crowd disperses towards the edge, where a few connoisseurs are sitting and lying dotted on the green lawn.

Mona and Ronny, for example: The two dance exuberantly at the edge of the crowd to "Englishman in New York." Ronny holds up a cell phone. Not to take pictures, but to Facebook with his godchild, Mona's daughter Marlene. "We've been friends for 40 years," says Mona, visibly euphoric about the atmosphere. A family. "And we're celebrating that today." With Sting, who has been accompanying the two fans musically for almost 40 years.

"You really notice that he's a full-blooded musician," says Luise K. about Sting. The fact that the British superstar is performing with a reduced line-up proves that he wants to "get back to the roots of his music." In addition to the 17-time Grammy winner, Dominic Miller on guitar and Chris Maas on drums will perform in front of more than 12,000 fans at IGA Park Rostock on Wednesday evening.

"Who knows if he'll come back," says Christian Jürs. The family travelled from Stralsund and Hamburg to Rostock to see Sting live "for once." "After all, he's one of our heroes from the 80s." They agree that there's hardly any music like this anymore. And: "Whatever Sting does is actually always good."

Matthias Berg particularly praised the intimacy of the concert – despite the 12,000 people. "The sound is really good," he says, adding that the music was "very well mixed." The three musicians essentially played one hit after another: 40 years of music history, from "Fields of Gold" to "Every Breath You Take" to "Roxanne." "The man is over 70," says Berg of the exceptional musician Sting, "and he stands on stage as if he were barely half his age."

The concert itself was completely sold out early on. "I also thought it was a cover band at first," says Christin D. with a laugh. Because with an 80-euro ticket price, the exceptional musician's concert was surprisingly affordable.

Despite the comparatively low ticket price, the €80 per person was still too much for the Saslawski family. However, that didn't dampen their spirits on the evening of the concert. They danced exuberantly "behind the fence." Quite a few of them set up here and on the pedestrian bridge on Wednesday evening so they could hear and experience the musician even without tickets.

"Simply amazing," says Lukas Jeschke. The student is sitting on the pedestrian bridge with friends, enjoying the music. Sting seems to him like a musician who's really on stage for the music. You can see that: "All this guy needs," he says, "is a guitar."

(c) Nord Kurier by Maria Häfer