Irving Plaza Gig review...

Sting Caps Tour With New York Club Show...

Sting wrapped his Broken Music tour Saturday (May 14) with a private show at New York's Irving Plaza, which, as previously reported, was filmed for DVD release later this year by director Lance Bangs.

In line with the set lists from throughout the tour, Sting dusted off nearly a dozen Police songs, including 'Demolition Man', 'Spirits in the Material World', 'Invisible Sun', 'Driven To Tears' and 'Next To You', the latter of which was performed Friday on CBS' The Late Show With David Letterman.

The show also featured 'The End of the Game', which appeared on an import version of the 1999 album 'Brand New Day', as well as a cover of the Beatles' 'A Day in the Life'. During the former, a female fan was brought onstage to help sing but had trouble reading the lyrics off a Teleprompter. It's like Thursday night at the Apollo, Sting joked afterward.

The event was also notable for one of its exclusions, marking what is believed to be Sting's first show in decades to not feature the Police's 'Every Breath You Take'.

U.K. rock act Fiction Plane, led by Sting's son Joe Sumner, opened the evening with a high-energy set featuring tunes from its upcoming EP, 'Bitter Forces' and 'Lame Race Horses', plus three tunes from its 2003 MCA debut,'Everything Will Never Be OK'.

Afterward, Sting and Fiction Plane celebrated the tour's conclusion well into the wee hours at New York club Bungalow 8, along with such well-wishers as David Bowie, actor/director Penny Marshall, Today anchor Katie Couric and B-52's vocalist Fred Schneider.

Here is Sting's May 14 set list:

Message in a Bottle, Demolition Man, Spirits in the Material World, Synchronicity II, I Hung My Head, If I Ever Lose My Faith in You, The End of the Game, Driven To Tears, Heavy Cloud No Rain, Invisible Sun, Why Should I Cry for You?, Fields of Gold, A Day in the Life, King of Pain, Voices Inside My Head/When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around, Roxanne, Next To You, Lithium Sunset

© Billboard by Jonathan Cohen