Sting at Burg Clam: A Trio That Reminds of The Police

Sting performed at Burg Clam (Upper Austria) for the third time on Tuesday evening, this time under the new trademark "Sting 3.0" - mainly because the Brit is once again touring with a trio formation à la "Police." And it was the expected hit revue from both Sting worlds, with the very old Police classics and the also older solo successes. Because there is no new song material so far - but that didn't matter at Clam: The fans were thrilled.

Music Legend Sting Rocked Burg Clam

"One, two, three," counted Sting in German at the start of the concert - and it kicked off briskly with "Message in a Bottle." But the start phase wasn't entirely flawless, as his voice wavered quite often during "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You." Immediately after, a first real risk followed: the epic "Englishman in New York," musically completely reduced in the trio lineup. But it worked surprisingly well. "Fields of Gold" was then very atmospheric, and with "Never Coming Home," the agile 73-year-old finally arrived on stage, with the fans, and especially with himself.

What followed was a cascade of hits with a lot of Police elements. "Driven to Tears" was truly pure Police. This was not only due to the frontman himself but also to the "successors" of Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland: Sting's long-time companion Dominic Miller on guitar and the drummer Chris Maas "borrowed" from Mumford & Sons - really not the worst loan. The three of them almost played themselves into a "Police trance" with the live-extended classic "Can't Stand Losing You."

Police Classics in a New Guise

From "Walking on the Moon," it went rapidly into the finale with the highlight "King of Pain" (you guessed it: Police...). Before that, Sting served up a musical treat: "Desert Rose," like "Englishman in New York," hardly imaginable in a trio, yet grand, now also vocally. This also shows that many Sting compositions, which are quite complexly produced in the studio versions, also work as totally reduced versions - and that is an extraordinary songwriting quality.

As encores, "Roxanne" in XXL version and the fine "Fragile" at the end were, of course, indispensable. And to all this, Sting also predicted the weather situation in Clam with a Police song: "Heavy Cloud No Rain" - in the afternoon, a brief but intense storm had passed over the region, and afterwards, dark clouds threatened over the castle the whole time; but it remained dry throughout the evening, and the Sting fan delight was thus unclouded.

(By Werner Müllner/APA)

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