An Englishman in Newport – Sting wows Isle of Wight Festival...
Other bands taking to the Main Stage on Friday included Lottery Winners, Amy Macdonald, The Corrs and Faithless.
Former The Police frontman Sting has wowed the crowds at the Isle of Wight Festival with a set of greatest hits.
Wearing a white T-shirt and tight black trousers, the 73-year-old raced straight into fan favourite Message In A Bottle which got the crowd singing along.
Half way through his one-and-a-half-hour slot, Sting said to the Newport audience: “We are delighted to be back at the Isle of Wight festival, it’s a historic festival.
“Thank you for inviting us.”
After bounding through An Englishman in New York, Walking On The Moon and Every Breath You Take, the band went off before returning for an encore of Roxanne which the crowd enthusiastically sang along to.
Sting then finished with Fragile, the only acoustic song in the set.
Other bands taking to the Main Stage on Friday included Lottery Winners, Amy Macdonald, The Corrs and Faithless ending the night while Clean Bandit headlined the Big Top.
Some 55,000 partygoers have crossed the Solent to reach Seaclose Park in Newport for the four-day event also being headlined by Stereophonics and Justin Timberlake.
John Giddings, who has run the festival since re-launching it in 2002 following the legendary events which ran from 1968 to 1970, has said he goes with “gut feeling” when choosing the acts.
The 72-year-old told the PA news agency: “You want to book acts that have a catalogue that’s going to entertain an audience for an hour, hour and a half, and, secondly, someone who’s capable of performing to an audience of 50,000 people in a field, because they need to be able to project to entertain.”
Other acts performing during the weekend include The Script, Jess Glynne, Supergrass, Example, Busted and Texas.
(c) Bournemouth Echo by Ben Mitchell
Sting’s Trio Reignites Classic Hits with Raw Bass Power at Isle of Wight 2025 Headline Set...
Sting returned to trio mode at the Isle of Wight Festival, and it hit all the right notes. With his bass slung low and a band that knows how to leave space, the “Sting 3.0” tour rolled into Seaclose Park with a set that felt tight, punchy, and full of low-end charm.
He opened with “Message in a Bottle,” and from the first few bars, it was clear this was no nostalgia act. The trio, featuring drummer Chris Maas and longtime guitarist Dominic Miller, kept things focused and locked in.
Sting’s bass tone was present and unmistakable. Clear, round, and commanding the mix in a way only he can. He played his well-worn 1955 Fender Precision Bass throughout the set, the same single-pickup workhorse that has long defined his live sound.
The set covered both solo material and Police favorites, including “Englishman in New York,” “Fields of Gold,” “Every Breath You Take,” and “Roxanne.” He closed with “Fragile,” which felt like the right way to end the night.
For the bassists in the crowd, it was a reminder of why Sting’s approach still resonates. The space, the feel, the economy of it all. Still fresh after all these years.
(c) No Treble by Jody Miller
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