Superstar on Germany tour: Sting is looking for the challenge: “It’s like a drug”

At 73, Sting has nothing to prove. As a solo artist and front man of The Police, he sold an estimated 155 million records and won 17 Grammys. To rest on his successes to make yourself comfortable – that is still out of the question for the British singer and songwriter. He is looking for a new challenge on his “Sting 3.0” tour, which leads him to Germany in June and October.

“I don’t want to get into a comfort zone. I think this is death for creativity,” says Sting in the interview of the German Press Agency in London. “You have to feel a little uncomfortable so that you can learn something, develop and improve in something. It’s like an athlete. He is constantly pushing his muscles to the limit.”

Smaller band, greater challenge

With the “Sting 3.0” tour, the British musician wanted to test its own limits. So after many years he shrank his live band on a trio – including himself. “At the moment it is more interesting for me to reduce things, to break them down on their scaffolding and to hope that the songs can withstand this shrinking,” explains Sting. “We tried it out last year and found that it works.”

For comparison: On his “My Songs” World Tourt, Sting stood on stage every evening with up to eight musicians. One of them was guitarist Dominic Miller, who is now part of the new power trio. Chris Maas is new to the drums, who is otherwise drumming for Mumford & Sons.

“I don’t really like the expression power trio, but boy has power,” enthuses Sting noticeably euphoric. “We all enjoy it, although we have to work much harder than in a larger band.”

Memories of The Police

Of course, the brit that looks young, with 73 outrageously young, is not really new territory. The three-person constellation inevitably commemorates its former band The Police. “Sure, that’s very close,” admits Sting. “And we play a lot of songs that I wrote for The Police.”

With his former bandmates Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland, Sting is known best if the three do not make music together. As a successor, he does not want his new trio to be understood. “We don’t try to be The Police,” he emphasizes. “I am the common ground, so people will of course make a comparison. But for me it is not an issue.”

Live album for the current tour

A foretaste of the upcoming concerts gives its new live album, which will be released on April 25th. However, “3.0 live” contains only a small selection – nine songs (CD and LP) or ten (digital) – from the “Sting 3.0” tour, which started last year. Here, too, the shrinking was shrunk – a limited double LP with 17 tracks recently appeared in the United States for the “Record Store Day”.

In fact, the trio plays 20 songs or more every evening, about half of them are songs by The Police. On the live album, classics such as “Message in a Bottle”, “Synchronicity II” or “Roxanne” have lost none of their strength and quality despite a slight deceleration and the age-related voice of Sting. There are also solo hits like “Englishman in New York”, “Fields of Gold” or “All This Time”.

Anticipation for the German audience

Sting has been on stage for almost 50 years – and wants to continue doing this in the future. “It’s like an incredibly strong drug when you appear in front of 20,000 people every evening and everyone is happy to see you,” he admits without false modesty. “At the end of the evening, most of them don’t want to go back their money. I have to say that every time fills me with great gratitude. I love it. I wouldn’t give it up.”

The man who, with a bourgeois name Gordon Sumner, is that he and his music understand his German audience. “They listen very carefully and that’s really fun. I enjoy playing for this audience.”

In which city he likes best in Germany does not want to reveal Sting in the dpa interview. He laughs. “I don’t say that, because then the others may be insulted because I don’t call their city.”