Sting’s new group, which includes guitarist Dominic Miller and drummer Chris Maas, played their first show in North America on Tuesday at the Fillmore in Detroit. Check out the full set list and fan-shot video below.
The format clearly influenced Sting’s choice of songs, which were mostly from the Police collection. Half of the 20 songs on the set list were first recorded by his old band.
In earlier shows, Sting also went deeper into his interesting past. For example, he started the Sting 3.0 tour in May in Dresden, Germany, with “Voices Inside My Head,” a song from Zenyatta Mondatta that hadn’t been played since 2006. “Synchronicity II” by The Police had not been on set lists since 2018.
The Fillmore Detroit show on Tuesday was the first in a string of two-day runs that will include shows in Toronto (Sept. 20-21), Philadelphia (Sept. 30-Oct. 1), Chicago (Oct. 28-29), San Francisco (Nov. 6-7), and Los Angeles (Nov. 12-13). Sting is playing three nights in Brooklyn on October 7–9 and 10th, among other places.
At 72, the busy Sting has also booked a few arena shows with Billy Joel, and the two of them plan to stay on the road for a while. “Why not?” “I’m not wearing a corset or anything,” Sting said not long ago. “As long as I can get into my rock star pants, I’ll be fine.”
How Sting’s New Single Was Made
This month, “I Wrote Your Name (Upon My Heart),” which also has Miller and Maas on it, came out earlier. Sting told the Democrat and Chronicle, “I wanted to make something with simple chords, and that’s what I came up with.” “There were almost no overdubs or production thoughts.” The band’s sound made it clear—that rough, primitive sound is what I wanted to surprise people with this time.”
Synchronicity, The Police’s last record, which came out in 1983, was recently reissued as a bigger six-CD box set. Sting’s first new music since 2021’s The Bridge, “I Wrote Your Name (Upon My Heart),” but no full-length solo album has been released yet to go with it.
Sting’s Fillmore Detroit Set List, Sept. 17, 2024
“Message in a Bottle”
“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”
“Why Should I Cry for You?”
“All This Time”
“Driven to Tears”
“Can’t Stand Losing You”
“I Wrote Your Name”
“Shape of My Heart”
“Walking on the Moon”
“So Lonely”
“Desert Rose”
“King of Pain”
“Every Breath You Take”
Encore:
“Roxanne”
“Fragile”
