57th & 9th: World Tour

Sting knows his worth – instead of new songs, we heard Police hits one after another...

Many want to be rock stars, few can become one, and even fewer can wear it. 

Stardom suits Sting. He has been the attraction of the world's biggest stages for almost 40 years. 

On Thursday night, Sting performed in Finland for the thirteenth time. The smallest venue has been the Helsinki Ice Hall, and he hasn't had to cram an audience there for over 20 years. 

That's why it was nice that this time Sting's arena gig was straightforward and the music was made first. 

Instead of background projection screens, the back wall of the stage was a curtain like in an old theatre, and the drum platform that rose from the simple stage was barely higher than at the Tavastia club. 

The uncomplicated setup was emphasized by the composition of this time's band, which was no longer looking for the fusion jazz stars who had participated in previous years. Now they were operating on the basis of a family business. 

Sting's eldest son Joe Sumner, who had been with the band for over 25 years, was joined by guitarist Dominic Miller as his second guitarist, and backing vocalist and occasional second soloist was Sting's eldest son Joe Sumner. 

The line-up was rounded out by Percy Cardona, a harpist borrowed from The Last Bandoleros, whose insightful playing brought a sharp variation to the Millers' airy guitar sound. 

Sting himself played his old instrument, the bass, again, as he had on his previous tour. 

Sting, who turns 66 next Monday, looked at least 20 years younger than his age from a distance, and his singing voice still rose brightly into the upper register. 

That was necessary, because almost half of the songs heard during the evening were old hits by The Police: Synchronicity II, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, Message in a Bottle, So Lonely, Every Breath You Take and so on. 

After musical and folk projects, Sting returned to the more straightforward rock sound of the Police days with his 57th & 9th album, released last year, which is currently being promoted by the ongoing tour. 

The album has been a fairly good success even in the current era of streaming hits. It has reached the top ten on the sales charts in numerous countries, but at this point in the tour only three songs were included. There were eight in early spring.

Even the highlight of the new album, 50,000, was only partially heard. The song describing the death of Sting's peers and inspirations and thus the disappearance of stadium rock as a whole was only a short clip after the version of Ashes to Ashes borrowed from David Bowie. 

Of course, if they have made such great and timeless songs as the Police hits a long time ago, then why not play them. The strongest of them was Roxanne, which closed the actual set, into which Sting and the band smoothly immersed half of Bill Withers' old soul classic Ain't No Sunshine. 

Fields of Gold and Shape of My Heart, which are among the biggest hits of Sting's solo output, may have already rubbed off on the album versions into the soundscape of conservative radio rock, but they came back to life with appropriate restraint in the live versions. 

Sting's political stances have been criticized as hypocritical in recent years, especially in his native Britain, where stars from working-class backgrounds have always been viewed with particular critical scrutiny. 

The only song on the set that referenced the current state of the world was Desert Rose, which Sting originally recorded with Algerian Cheb Mam in 1999. 

The passionate and emotional sound borrowed from Rai music now sounded like it came from a very distant and optimistic time.

(c) Helsingin Sanomat