Sting is 63? He must have a magical portrait in his attic, because performing a two-hour two in Dubai on Thursday, he looked and sounded much like he did 20 years ago. And he barely broke a sweat.
That’s not to say the English singer and bass guitarist didn’t give it his all — it was a brilliant show by a seasoned player.
Sporting his usual tight T-shirt (all the better to showcase his yoga-honed biceps) and with a full beard and grown-out hair (no greys?) he was athletic and energetic, even if he didn’t banter much with the audience.
I’ve seen plenty of shows by singers who were great in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, but today struggle to deliver the vocals on their hits. Sting’s voice is incredible; his tones as rich, warm as ever, especially on a highlight, Message In A Bottle.
The set was a run through his greatest hits, all the songs the massive crowd had come expecting to hear (the show was sold out weeks ago).
Sting and his band took the stage around 10pm, following an astonishing set by violinist Lindsey Stirling.
Performance-wise, she is a love child of Bjork and a Powerpuff Girl, bouncing energetically around the stage while playing vivid music on her violin. The festival organisers have so far done a great job of choosing revalatory support artists that the crowd may not be familiar with but deliver thumping sets. I doubt Esperanza Spalding on Friday will be any different.
Sting and his band kicked off with the 1993 hit If I Ever Lose My Faith In You but it was the 1979 expat anthem Englishman In New York that had the crowd shouting along, to I’m a legal alien.
Then it was a set list of Sting and Police classics — Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”, Fields of Gold, a thrumming Walking on the Moon. All the songs were his own, with the exception of Bill Withers’ Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone, slyly inserted into “Roxanne.
