Sting 3.0

The same as always, only now in a trio: this is what Sting 3.0 was like at the MVM Dome...

Yesterday's Sting party could have been a fantastic concert. Of course, I know deep down that it was, because even at the age of 74, we saw a real world star in great shape, with great musicians by his side and great songs, but there are too many "buts", the lack, the question mark in me.

There are legendary performers who are good to catch live once, and there are those who are past the zenith of their careers, and we can see them as a kind of last chance. That was the case for me a few weeks ago, when I saw Eric Clapton play guitar for the first and probably last time. Still, even if it came again, I might not go again, because somehow I feel like I “had it”, I locked it inside myself, put it in that lucky drawer, deep in my memory box and thank you, I’m happy that I was lucky enough to have it. Not to mention productions like Metallica, because of whom the whole city, a little bit the whole country, was transformed and for days I felt as if everyone was there, even those who weren’t. Families competed to see who was the bigger fan, there were long lines for the relics and those few days turned into a kind of joint celebration for the fans and a little bit for everyone else.

And then there’s Sting. A career spanning almost fifty years, so many unforgettable hits, eras, The Police and a solo career. A genius who emerged from the working class, who is such a pop performer that his songs are still full of exciting musical solutions, they loosely mix reggae and Bach, he has flirted with jazz and electronic sounding and has been renewed many times before our eyes, yet he has remained himself. It's just that - to the delight of many - he is almost coming home to us, as if all his journeys touch Budapest and although on paper each of his tours is different, it is still a little bit the same.

We have seen him with a full orchestra, we have seen him with symphony orchestras, we have seen him with his friend Shaggy, and now he has arrived in a trio on a sort of "back to his roots" basis, to play exactly the same songs as he always does with a simplified arrangement. Of course, it is difficult because there are at least ten songs that you can't do a concert without, since these are the greatest successes of his oeuvre, yet somewhere this is exactly what makes a Sting concert predictable, if you like, a bit of a household name. That we can hear the biggest, but almost boring radio hits live and no matter how much I consider Shape Of My Heart to be one of the most beautiful songs in the world, and no matter how much Englishman in New York or Message in a Bottle, somehow it doesn't mean that much anymore, it doesn't surprise me anymore that the concert starts with a song of such calibre, or that we go from one song to that Puff Daddy song without a break when he falls off his motorcycle, because hearing these is no longer a celebration, but a kind of security. We can know for sure that it will be good this year too, that Sting still sings well, that every little thing he does on his bass guitar is magic. Only the essence of real magic is surprise, unexpectedness, unrepeatability.

So yesterday's Sting party could have been a fantastic concert. The MVM Dome was full, and it will be full next time too. They love it so much that they can't fit in all at once anyway. There will always be someone for whom this is their first time, there will always be someone who would like to see it again and again. Sting has just arrived with his 3.0 tour, which means that he performed his well-established show in a trio, in a polished way. Sting is joined by his loyal partner, Dominic Miller, on guitar, who has accompanied him since 1990 and whose playing is at least as important an element of the songs released since then as the protagonist's voice itself. On this tour, Chris Maas, who previously supported Mumford and Sons, is behind them on drums.

Sting actually comes from this trio sound, his first hits were written that way and became known that way. Then he started to outgrow it, on the last Police album the framework was already tight, not to mention his first solo albums. He has a lot of songs that were already made with keyboards, vocals or even big band instrumentation as an important part of them. Now he has taken a bold step, going back to the trio line-up, which could also mean that he is now mainly focusing on the early years of the parent band, but this is only partly true. Every era is on the table, everything is a little simplified, a little rethought. The fact that only three musicians are on stage could also mean that the sound image is empty, but these musicians are such masters of their instruments that they easily fill the void that the absence of the other instruments would create. There is room for sounds that would otherwise be lost or seem overplayed.

Sting has been using a microphone attached to his head for a long time. It's a bit musical, but this way he can walk up and down the stage and sing perfectly even when he's looking at the neck of his bass guitar, so that he can often play his virtuoso runs perfectly. So the puritanical sounding didn't leave a feeling of deprivation. What happened on stage was like a band rehearsal, a jam session, a club party. I kept dreaming about how I wish I could see this trio in a small smoky jazz club, or even in the Hungarian Music House, up close, loudly, seeing the sweat dripping down their foreheads, the little smiles and the joy that playing music together brings them. I think they were dreaming about this themselves somewhere. They also intended this concert to be in a small smoky jazz club and would have jammed more, just like that, for their own entertainment. I loved that the musicians never changed instruments once. There was no guitar change every two songs, typical of these arena shows. They played the entire show with the same worn-out old instruments they started with. It was as if they hadn't brought any replacements.

But what was the blessing of the trio sound was also its curse. After a while, it started to get boring, and less is not more, but less in such a large space, supported by so few projectors and spectacle. Arena shows have become such a genre today that just playing good music almost doesn't seem enough anymore. And at one or two points, the band itself could feel that there were few of them, as they resorted to help that completely overturned and called into question the concept of the production. Already in the middle of the first half of the show, Englishman in New York, drums suddenly started playing that weren't even present on stage, but the real hackneyed thing was Desert Rose. During the song, the synths, percussion and strings sounded so loud in the background that I felt ashamed. This not only confirmed that the drum-guitar-bass line-up was insufficient, but also that Sting is incapable of skipping a song like this and taking on something deeper in its place, or of re-arranging it so boldly that it doesn't sound hackneyed. What would have happened to the Hungarians without Desert Rose? Will they go home feeling melancholy? Will they not come next time?

So yesterday's Sting party could have been a fantastic concert. If we weren't getting a "best of" played until we were bored, if there was still some weight to the fact that this artist is visiting here, if he doesn't just want to seem bold, but really is. If the former human rights activist actually says something and doesn't just make the audience sing along, but makes them think, and if the goal isn't just to do the same thing next year, in the same place, for the same people. But the truth is, yesterday's Sting party was a fantastic concert.

(c) Langolo.hu by Miklós Jacsó

Sting came, saw and won the hearts of the Hungarians again in Budapest...

On June 18, Sting gave a sold-out concert at the MVM Dome in Budapest, joining guitarist Dominic Miller and drummer Chris Maas on stage, performing classics such as Englishman In New York, Shape Of My Heart and Every Breath You Take.

Sting, whose birth name is Gordon Sumner, is already a returning guest in our country, as his concert at the MVM Dome on the evening of June 18 was his third in Budapest in four years. As is known, the 74-year-old performer first visited the Hungarian capital in 1988 during the Amnesty International tour, when he shared the stage with Peter Gabriel, Bruce Springsteen and Tracy Chapman at the Népstadion. In 2004, he performed in front of 250,000 people at the free Kapcsolt concert at the capital's Felvonulási tér, and his last performance in Hungary was in May 2024.

The Sting 3.0 tour series, of which Thursday night's concert was one of the stops, presents selected pieces from the musician's vast repertoire through the lens of a three-piece formation. Sting, the former frontman of The Police, returned with his long-time musical partner, guitarist Dominic Miller, and drummer Chris Maas, and they performed rarely heard songs in addition to the big hits. The 17-time Grammy Award-winning British singer-songwriter has released fifteen studio albums so far, the most recent of which was released in 2021, entitled The Bridge, and in the spring of 2025, he also debuted a live album, entitled 3.0 Live.

When you hear the name of Sting, who split from The Police and has been playing solo since 1984, you usually think of classics like Englishman In New York, Shape Of My Heart, Desert Rose or Every Breath You Take – the latter is also associated with The Police, and many may be familiar with it from American rapper P. Diddy's song I'll Be Missing You, for which the melody of Every Breath You Take was used. And it was expected that these classics would also be played in the MVM Dome. Shortly before the official start, when we arrived at the stadium, we had to slalom through the people in the corridor, so many people arrived at once, which also foreshadowed how large the crowd might be waiting in the seats and on the field.

Before Sting, the Belfast band called Dea Matrona, led by Orláith Forsythe and Mollie McGinn, warmed up for half an hour. You could barely hear what they were singing – and not because of the Irish accent – because the distortion and the inadequate sound system made it sound like the band was speaking from a box. They tried to communicate with the crowd, with more or less success, but it was noticeable that everyone was already waiting for the British singer – especially the hardcore fans, who fought their way to the front rows. The stadium was dark during Dea Matrona’s concert, but while they were preparing the stage for Sting, the lights were turned on, and then it became obvious that there were people hanging almost from the chandelier, it is rare to see such a large crowd.

There were some side sectors with limited visibility that were opened shortly before the concert, so they obviously weren’t all full, but almost all the seats were occupied, and the arena was also filled quickly – as is known, the MVM Dome can accommodate up to 20,000 people. It is also worth mentioning, as I have experienced many times, that the age groups represented at the concerts are moving on an increasingly wider scale. As a result, many of them are not yet experienced, so they did not find their place, and they preferred to camp out between two sectors at the exit to watch the concert from there, standing.

Those who are attending a concert of a foreign artist for the first or second time know various tricks, including the fact that in the case of such tours, you can check in advance what setlist the given artist is preparing. For example, Sting's repertoire in Budapest was almost one hundred percent the same as his concert in Zagreb on June 17. He started with the song Message In The Bottle, and although some distortion was still present in the sound system, this problem was corrected later. The band didn't overthink the visuals either, there were the three musicians on stage, a large projector behind them, mostly showing animations, and two screens on each side, showing sequences of images depicting the band members, and they could also play with the lights during the songs.

And it's also interesting to note that Sting is not one of those singers who sings into a microphone held in his hand or placed on a stand, but wears a headset microphone that fits over his ears, which gives him extra room to move around with his guitar. He wasn't particularly communicative during the concert, the trio delivered the audience's favourite hits on a conveyor belt, linking from one song to the next, but it was very noticeable that even he was surprised that so many people were interested in him. There is no complaint about Sting's performance or the energy of the audience, the musician didn't even have to tell the crowd to chant along with him, they did it on their own. However, the fun was sometimes overshadowed by the fact that some of the domestic audience went to the concert as if they were just sitting in a movie theatre. Although eating popcorn in itself wouldn't be a problem if they didn't walk in and out, forming a whole line of spectators, thereby tearing them out of the musical experience.

The 22-song setlist included a mix of The Police and Sting compositions, specifically the following: I Wrote Your Name (Upon My Heart), If I Ever Lose My Faith in You, Englishman in New York, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, Fields of Gold, Never Coming Home, Mad About You, Wrapped Around Your Finger, You Still Touch Me, Driven to Tears, When We Dance, Fortress Around Your Heart, Can't Stand Losing You, Shape of My Heart, Walking on the Moon, So Lonely, Desert Rose, King of Pain, Every Breath You Take, Roxanne and Fragile – without a doubt, Englishman in New York, Shape of My Heart, Desert Rose and Every Breath You Take took the laurels.

If you closed your eyes, you could imagine yourself in a smoky English pub, which in itself created a kind of idyllic atmosphere. This was coupled with the joyous music that Sting and his two colleagues performed on stage, which made it easy to forget to blink so as not to miss anything. Although Sting turns 75 this year, the fire burning within him could deny at least a decade of this, so he is perhaps one of the best examples of how age is really just a number.

(c) Index by Harnisch Kitti

Now Budapest has arrived for Sting...

After two years, Sting returned to the MVM Dome with the same trio and the same unmissable hits. The 74-year-old musician's voice was no longer flawless at every moment, but this time the power of the concert was not given by this, but by the fact that the Budapest audience lived with the songs from the first note to the last.

Almost exactly two years ago to the day, Sting gave a perfect concert in Budapest. Everything was in place then: the voice, the band, the songs, the measured, elegant professionalism that makes Sting unforgettable even when he only plays his obligatory hits. At least that's how I remember it. Maybe the magic of novelty was also at work in me: that unrepeatable experience when you hear a true icon live for the first time. Only the audience was painfully lukewarm about it then.

On Thursday night at the MVM Dome, things seemed to have turned around. The singing of the British musician, who has won multiple Grammy, Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy awards, did not seem as immaculate as it did two years ago, but Budapest still welcomed him with a fervent atmosphere.

You could already feel the excitement as you walked towards the MVM Dome: in front of the arena, a man was selling fridge magnets he had made himself, costing a thousand forints, and a few steps away, a middle-aged, self-proclaimed DJ was remixing Englishman in New York with a loud speaker. Inside, the Northern Irish Dea Matrona warmed up the audience, although many only made it to the last one or two songs. During the transition, the familiar, dim migration of arenas began: lost spectators wandered between the rows, diplomatic summits of the “but this is our place” type took place, and of course, self-forgetful selfies.

Then, without any special introduction, Sting launched into Message in a Bottle, and the space changed in a few seconds.

The three-piece formation of the STING 3.0 tour continues to be based on simplicity. Sting plays bass, next to him is Dominic Miller, who has played with him since 1990, on guitar, and behind them is Chris Maas, the former touring drummer of Mumford & Sons, on drums.

There is no over-explained spectacle, no grand arena magic, no nostalgia circus filled with show elements. Just three musicians, a few worn-out instruments, and fifty years of his life’s work.

And perhaps this is Sting’s strange trap: although the accompaniment changes from time to time, the essence somehow always remains the same. The big hits follow one another predictably – Englishman in New York, Fields of Gold, Shape of My Heart, Every Breath You Take, Roxanne, Desert Rose – and finally Fragile. There are no big surprises, no new directions, just precise, measured surefire points. It’s hard to be angry about that when an entire arena starts smiling at the same tunes at the same time.

The only real novelty of the evening was that Sting’s voice no longer always opened up in the way we remember it from old recordings or even from his Budapest concert two years ago. At seventy-four, this is hardly surprising, but it is still strange to encounter it with a performer we tend to consider timeless.

However, as the concert progressed, this mattered less and less. What remained in the overall picture was not the more uncertain sounds, but the fact that Sting still knows exactly how to hold such a large space. This time, the audience also played a big role in this: from the first song to the last, they sang, danced, clapped, and pulsed along with the music.

The concert closed with Fragile, with a single guitar, with that annoyingly simple beauty that can calm you down even after many listens in the heightened atmosphere after Every Breath You Take.

“You’re not saying it’s over? That was fantastic, I sang the whole last song,” someone said on the way out.

Outside, in place of the self-proclaimed DJ with the big speakers, an instant karaoke duo was already performing Sting’s hits – terribly, but all the more entertaining. It was as if no one wanted the evening to end: what Sting had delicately concluded inside, Budapest continued singing out of tune and loudly outside.

(c) Nepszava by Orsolya Kardos