Sting played The Police songs in Prague, dedicated to Ukrainians and women in Iran
Update: 28/10/2022 22:48
Issued by: 28/10/2022, 22:48
Prague – British singer, bassist and songwriter Sting is performing his big hits, including songs he played with his former band The Police, at today’s concert in Prague’s O2. The last song Fragile from his solo album …Nothing Like the Sun was dedicated by the artist known for his social commitment to the people in war-torn Ukraine and young women fighting for their rights in Iran. According to the organizers, the concert was visited by approximately 15,000 music fans, among them many foreigners.
Titled after his 2019 album My Songs, Sting opened the performance with backing musicians and a female vocalist behind him with Message in a Bottle from The Police and their second album Reggatta de Blanc. From the period of Sting’s work in the successful trio The Police, which played rock crossed often with reggae, there were other songs such as Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, Spirits in the Material World or their most famous song Every Breath You Take. of concertgoers in the seats. Sting then included Roxanne as the first encore. In the song King Pain, he is provided by his son, singer-songwriter Joe Sumner, who previously took on the role of frontman, towards the end of the performance.
From Sting’s solo work, enthusiastic listeners were treated to, among others, the compositions Englishman in New York, Fields of Gold, Brand New Day or Desert Rose, which he recorded years ago with the Algerian singer Cheb Mami. In some songs, Sting incorporated quotes from other songs, for example in So Lonely a part of Bob Marley’s No Woman No Cry was heard.
In the Czech Republic, Sting is a fairly frequent guest. In 2017, he played at the Metronome Festival at Výstaviště in Prague’s Holešovice, and in November, a year later, together with the Jamaican rapper Shaggy, they entertained, sang and danced to the packed Forum Karlín in Prague. In the past he also played in Ostrava and again in Prague. He last performed in the Czech Republic on July 31 this year in Slavkov, Moravia.
Seventy-one-year-old Sting, whose real name is Gordon Matthew Sumner, plays the piano, mandolin, accordion, saxophone and flute in addition to classical and bass guitar, and can also handle exotic instruments. His musical range is very wide, reaching to the lute suites of Johann Sebastian Bach, with which he exercises his fingers, or to Arabic music.
Stig’s music has its roots in jazz, which he played as an unknown teacher from Newcastle, England. He enjoyed jazz later on the solo track, when he grafted catchy melodies on it in the early albums The Dream Of The Blue Turtles or … Nothing Like The Sun.