Near the BeatlesThe Police had one of the biggest band breakups in rock history.
Actually, singer-bassist Sting, guitarist Andy Summers and drummer stewart copeland They were on top of the music world after their brilliant “Synchronicity” album and tour – when they broke up in 1986.
Absolutely, sting Pursued a successful solo career, although he eventually returned to the police. Blockbuster Reunion Tour in 2007.
And now, at the age of 73, the artist born Gordon Sumner is going back to where he started in another trio. He’s leading a threesome round with guitarist Dominic Miller and drummer Chris Maas on the Sting 3.0 Tour, which comes to the Brooklyn Paramount this week.
It felt familiar to Sting to be back in a trio, with whom he also released the jagged, bluesy rocker “I Wrote Your Name (Upon My Heart)” last month. They played the new single on Wednesday night – and it was probably the only time most of the crowd didn’t know one of the songs.
The rest of the night was a non-stop nostalgia trip from the early 70s Police Sting’s golden solo years in the mid/late 80s and 90s. From “Message in a Bottle” to “Fragile,” it was a fan-friendly trip through Sting’s classic catalog, spanning decades now.
The show was pretty evenly split between Sting’s solo songs and Police tunes, although he never stopped playing them, but he appeared to be re-embracing them with his new power trio.
There was a sophistry-pop charm “All the little things she does are magic,” Still captivating after all this time. “Driven to Tears” had the driving reggae-rock that changed gears and tempo. There was the funky-string groove of “Walking on the Moon.”
And it had the punk-edged feeling of “Can’t Stand Losing You” and “So Lonely” – both from The Police’s 1978 debut album “Outlandos D’Amor”.
It seemed as if Sting was re-energized to perform these songs, which he did with this new incarnation. He found new ways to play with them and rejuvenate them.
In fact, when he repeated “I’ll always be the King of Pain” at the end of the hit “Synchronicity” “King of Pain,” It was as if that nickname no longer applied to him. Their sense of happiness was clear throughout the night – even on the saddest songs.
He appears to be accepting of this fact “every Breath You Take,” Despite its original creepy mood, it has become a sunny singalong.
Sting — who will return to the Brooklyn Paramount on Thursday night before two shows at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester, N.Y., on Saturday and Sunday — was as spunky and playful as ever in his 70s. (All that tantric sex really kept her in shape.)
And he was a strong voice everywhere, whether on the glittering “gold field” or on the tender “Shape of my heart,” which was co-written by longtime sideman Miller.
After an encore of “Roxanne” which turned into a jazzy mash-up with the “…Nothing Like the Sun” solo hit “Be My Beating Heart”, Sting treated us to “something quiet and thoughtful” in “Fragile”. Sent home. And the song’s soft, feathery beauty was as heartbreaking as ever.
