Sting at the London Palladium - 20/04/2022

Last week I saw Sting play the penultimate date of a six-night residency at the London palladium. The concerts, which had been rescheduled multiple times due to the pandemic, were in support of his 2019 release My Songs – an album featuring reworked versions of Sting’s most popular tracks, both as a solo artist and as part of The Police.

Having followed the 2019 setlists for this tour, which mostly mirrored the album’s tracklist, I was initially expecting a similar “greatest hits” style setlist for the London dates. Then last year, Sting released a new studio album titled The Bridge, half of which is now being incorporated into the post-pandemic My Songs tour setlists.

Accompanied by Ukrainian cellist Yaroslava Trofimchuk, Sting opened the set with a hauntingly sombre acoustic rendition of his 1985 song ‘Russians’, which has recently been re-released to raise funds for Ukraine charities. His band then joined the stage to launch straight into a blazing ‘Message in a Bottle’, and it was immediately evident how amazingly powerful Sting’s vocals still are at this stage in his four-decade career. The band continued with ‘If You Love Somebody Set Them Free’, staying true to the modernised, dance version that appears on the My Songs album. Rounding up this portion of the set was the infectiously hook-heavy ‘Every Little Thing She Does is Magic’ – one of my favourite Police songs and a highlight of the night.

Next up, Sting performed four songs from latest album The Bridge. ‘Loving You’ was the strongest of this new material, and had an intense, almost hypnotic quality that conveyed well in the intimate surroundings of the Palladium. However, four songs played consecutively from the new album caused a lull in momentum, and there was a general sense of urgency amongst the audience for a return to the level of classics that had triumphantly kicked off the set.

The performance returned to form with much-loved 90’s hits ‘Fields of Gold’ and ‘Shape of My Heart’, though my favourite of the solo material was a glorious version of ‘Brand New Day’ with Shane Sage’s impressive harmonica littered throughout. The remainder of the set soared, heavily dominated with Police classics, standout moments of which were ‘So Lonely’ segueing into Bob Marley’s ‘No Woman, No Cry’, an eerily mesmerising ‘Every Breath You Take’ and of course the iconic ‘Roxanne’.

From the new wave punk and reggae of the Police catalogue to the pop/jazz and folk of his solo material, the many genres of Sting’s career were touched on during the eclectic two-hour set. Sting appeared to be in his element throughout, often engaging the audience in call-and-response style sing-alongs. My only gripe was that the hefty inclusion of The Bridge resulted in the absence of some much-loved Police/solo songs that had graced earlier My Songs tour setlists – ‘Can’t Stand Losing You’ and ‘Seven Days’ are two such examples that I would have welcomed over the new material. Aside from this however, the gig – my first in just over two years – was a thrilling return to the world of live music.

Setlist
Russians
Message in a Bottle
If You Love Somebody Set Them Free
Englishman in New York
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
If It's Love
For Her Love
Loving You
Rushing Water
I Hung My Head
Fields of Gold
Brand New Day
Shape of My Heart
Wrapped Around Your Finger
Walking on the Moon > Get Up, Stand Up
So Lonely > No Woman, No Cry
Desert Rose
King of Pain
Every Breath You Take
Roxanne
Driven to Tears
The Bridge