Sting 3.0

For a guy who was done with the band, Sting’s show leans heavily into The Police...

As a solo artist Sting has enough hits to roll out a 20-song set list to comprise a two-hour concert, but instead for his latest tour he leans heavily into the band that he famously has no interest playing with anymore. 

Sting last played with The Police in 2008, and while their potential reunion firmly remains in the fantasy stage, it looks like he will never shake the group that made him globally famous. Maybe it’s a business decision.

On Sunday night at The Toyota Music Factory in Irving, Sting took to the stage with two bandmates after a 90-minute weather delay for the Sting 3.0 Tour. It was not a Police concert, but it was within feet of that stage. 

For fans of Sting or The Police, it’s a fun night of nostalgia and pop with a little bit of jazz, but does leave the patron asking, “Why not just play with The Police again?” The short answer is that Sting is 74, and he doesn’t want to, or need the money. 

He was joined by one drummer, Chris Maas, and guitarist Dominic Miller. Those two deliberately do not sound like Police guitarist Andy Summers or drummer Stewart Copeland, both of whom created sounds that gave the Police its unique pop/rock/punk flair.

Eleven of the 21-song Sting 3.0 tour set list comes from The Police, including the first song of the night - 'Message in a Bottle' - and the second-to-last-track, 'Every Breath You Take'. 

When The Police re-joined for their wildly successful reunion tour in 2007, they opened with 'Message in a Bottle', and closed with 'Every Breath You Take'. 

Sting does not do a straight rendition of The Police songs as they sounded when they were released in the ‘70s and ‘80s; he plays with the chords, and gives each version a different flair so the audience doesn’t feel like they are listening to their “Sting Essentials” ITunes account.

'Bottle', 'Wrapped Around Your Finger', 'King of Pain', 'So Lonely', 'Roxanne' are all timeless rock songs that he wrote, made him a very wealthy man, and the audience loves. The older crowd on Sunday night happily sang along to all of those familiar tunes that he sprinkled between some of his successful solo songs. 

Songs such as 'If I Ever Lose My Faith In You', 'Fields of Gold' and 'Desert Rose'. The complex and upbeat 'Desert Rose' is the only song that included some pumped in pre-recorded background music; aside from that, it’s three musicians jamming out. 

For this Sting 3.0 concert, Sting deliberately leaves a lot of his solo songs on the shelf. 'Brand New Day', 'Russians', 'Mad About You', 'It’s Probably Me', 'All This Time', 'After the Rain Has Fallen', are some of his notable solo hits that didn’t make it to this set list. 

A Sting fan is a Police fan, so no one in the audience was complaining about his set selection. The only real complaint was that the show was two hours when it could have been three. 

Sting has aged exceptionally well; he is not like some of his 80s counterparts who partied too hard and abused their bodies, and when they try to perform now are an embarrassment. Sting is a professional musician/entertainer who has been doing this for so long he knows exactly what he is doing to deliver a solid show that will leave his audience entertained, and coming back.

It’s just slightly ironic that a performer who can carry an entire show with his own stuff relied heavily on tracks from the group that is firmly in his past.

(c) Fort Worth Star-Telegram by Mac Engel