I’ve been quite fortunate to review a large number of musical artists in my five years running The Photo Pit. But, this past performance I reviewed may be one of the most well-known artists I’ve reviewed yet. That artist is Sting. Vocalist and bassist for The Police from 1977 to 1984, which was one of the most successful rock bands in the world. Sting started his solo career in 1985 with the release of his album The Dream of the Blue Turtles and he hasn’t slowed down since. Fifteen studio albums, multiple Grammy and BMI London Awards, and millions of fans. Sting has not only had a huge musical impact on the world. And I’ve been a fan for quite some time.
When I learned Sting was coming to Florida for three dates on his My Songs Tour, the choice of which location to cover was quite easy; the Seminole Hard Rock and Casino in Tampa, FL. The venue is built directly inside of a hotel and casino. The hotel is luxurious, adorned beautifully with rock and roll memorabilia in so many places. You walk through a gorgeous and constantly busy casino to get to the Seminole Hard Rock venue. And the concert venue itself is wonderful. It’s spacious inside, yet gives a feeling of intimacy. It has stadium seating on both sides and anywhere in the venue provides a wonderful view of the artists performing. There was no doubt in my mind this would be the perfect place to see him perform and I was thrilled to receive that approval email.
The night of the show the Seminole Hard Rock was busy and loud. It was a sold-out show and fans were buzzing for Sting. Fans were dressed to the hilt, taking selfies in front of the huge display with Sting’s My Songs Tour logo, and buying Sting merchandise before heading into the show. As the time drew near, fans quickly made their way to their seats. And when the lights dimmed, the crowd cheered as the show was ready to begin.
Opening for Sting that night was his son, Joe Sumner. The vocalist and bassist of the band Fiction Plane was going solo on this tour with his father. Standing on the stage with his guitar and in front of the mic, he looked comfortable and most importantly, happy. Joe is an accomplished singer and writer and showed that with his most recent single “You You You” and his well-known “Hope”. He also performed Fiction Plane’s most well-known single “Two Sisters”. Overall, a fabulous performance from Joe to kick off the show.
While it may have felt like an eternity for fans, when Sting stepped onto the stage the venue erupted in cheers. The cheers were so loud the stadium seating shooking. On stage with Sting were his supporting musicians of Dominic Miller (guitar), Rufus Miller (guitar), Zach Jones (drums), Shane Sager (harmonica), Kevon Webster (keyboard), Melissa Musique (backing vocals), and Gene Noble (backing vocals). They kicked off the performance with The Police song “Message in a Bottle” and what a kickoff it was! Sting sounded amazing, the music accompaniment sounded wonderful, and Melissa and Gene sounded great. The crowd was already on their feet and singing along. He followed that off with one of my favorite songs from his solo career “Englishman in New York” from his album …Nothing Like the Sun. Hearing it live was everything I knew it would be, energetic and fun. Sting seemed to be enjoying the crowd’s reaction to it singing back the chorus to him. Straight after that was “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free” from The Dream of the Blue Turtles.
The My Songs Tour was to support his 2019 album My Songs. The album was a reconstruction of fifteen songs with a more contemporary focus. What Sting also included with this tour are some stories along with some of the songs providing some history behind the music. It provided a wonderful element to the show to understand the history of these songs. He spoke a lot writing songs about love and how his heart had been broken and how he broke a few hearts in his life as well before performing “If It’s Love” from his most recent album The Bridge. Sting explained during his childhood he wanted to be one of two things: a musician or a cowboy. And coming from England cowboy was the least likely to happen. But, he became a huge fan of country music and explained how country performer Toby Keith did a cover of his song “I’m So Happy I Can’t Stop Crying” from Mercury Falling. So he performed the song and you definitely can hear the country music influence in the song along with “I Hung My Head” from the same album. Though, the best story was during his performance of “Roxanne” from The Police’s debut album Outlandos d’Amour. In the middle of the performance, he explained how the song became a college drinking game. Every time someone hears the word “Roxanne” you would drink. Sting mentioned he sings the word at least 17 times during the song, which got a huge laugh from the crowd. He continued his performance singing “Roxanne” multiple times in a row and when he got to number six he said, “I’m drunk”.
I really enjoyed some of Sting’s re-constructed versions of songs that night. “Fields of Gold” from Ten Summoner’s Tales had a little bit of a faster medley than the original and truly loved the gold lighting they used during the set. “Wrapped Around Your Finger” from The Police’s Synchronicity was a wonderful modernized version. During “Shape of My Heart”, also from Ten Summoner’s Tales, had Gene singing a medley in between the chorus and verses, which truly added a brand new element to the song. It was really good. His performance of “Desert Rose” from Brand New Day let Dominic and Rufus show off their guitar skills. Though my favorite was having Joe joining Sting on stage to perform “Driven To Tears” from The Police’s Zenyatta Mondatta.
This was a fantastic evening some of the best music from Sting’s catalog of The Police and his solo career. This night was everything I hoped it would be and everything I needed it to be. This was a spectacular night that I will always remember and highly recommend anyone to catch this tour while you can. Sting will be performing a residency in Las Vegas at Caesar’s Palace from June 3rd to June 18th. You can find more info on the My Songs Tour, music, and merchandise over at sting.com.
Sting’s setlist that evening was:
- Message in a Bottle (The Police song)
- Englishman in New York
- If You Love Someone Set Them Free
- Every Little Thing She Does is Magic (The Police song)
- If It’s Love
- For Her Love
- Loving You
- Rushing Water
- I’m So Happy I Can’t Stop Crying
- I Hung My Head
- Fields of Gold
- Brand New Day
- Shape of My Heart
- Wrapped Around Your Finger (The Police song)
- Walking on the Moon (The Police song)
- So Lonely (The Police song)
- Desert Rose
- King of Pain (The Police song)
- Every Breath You Take (The Police song)
- Roxanne (The Police song)
- Driven To Tears (The Police song)
- The Bridge
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