Sting Proves Every Little Thing He Does Is Still Magic

By Joanie Cox-Henry

Photo By Larry Marano © Sept. 12, 2023 at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Fla.

Superstar Sting might have closed his Sept. 12 show at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Fla., with the song "Fragile," but the 71-year-old icon is still an unbreakable powerhouse on stage. With 12 Grammy Awards under his belt and more than 100 million albums sold, the lead singer of The Police has gone on to have a wildly successful solo career. It's also mind-boggling to fathom it's been 40 years since Synchronicity was released. His current tour: "Sting: My Songs" has taken him across the U.S. selling out shows. He will spend the latter part of this year performing in Europe.

He opened the show with a smile and an inspiring rendition of the 1979 smash single by The Police "Message In A Bottle." More than 6,000 people jumped out of their seats to sing along. Influenced by punk, reggae, and jazz, Sting still nails the signature sound that catapulted him to fame five decades ago.

Thumping out bold beats in Sting's unique reggae-fused fashion of bass playing, he's still harnessing ghost notes to create an almost tantric performing style that seamlessly flows together in a rhythmic ecstasy that lasted over two hours.

Sting proceeded to set hit after hit free with some of the top tracks from his days with The Police and his solo career such as "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic," "Walking On The Moon," "Englishman In New York," "Mad About You," "Shape of My Heart," "Brand New Day," "Fields of Gold" and the hauntingly beautiful and exotic masterpiece "Desert Rose."

The ever-evolving artist also treated the audience to "If It's Love" and "Rushing Water," which are tracks off his 2021 album The Bridge. In between songs, the saucy singer was also not afraid to get personal with his audience. He shared stories from his youth and even some of the tales behind how several of his hit songs came to fruition. Did you know Sting is a country music fan and was influenced as a child by the songs of Hank Williams and Buck Owens?

"I've had my heart broken," Sting said at the show before breaking into the bittersweet ballad "Loving You." "Sadly, I've broken a few hearts myself. So I'm not some callow youth singing of what he knows not of. I have real estate there. But you know the least interesting love song is 'I love you and you love me.' It's very nice, it's just not interesting for a songwriter whereas 'I love you but you have somebody else,' now that's interesting. It's painful, but it's interesting."

Sting's touring band is an equally powerful force on stage. Shane Sager wowed on harmonica and even engaged in a cheeky exchange with the mega talent before performing "Brand New Day." While Stevie Wonder originally performed the famous harmonica part on the tune, Sting wanted to be sure Sager was up for the challenge. He was and he delivered. Sager also shined brightly on multiple songs including "Shape of My Heart" and "If I Ever Lose My Faith In You."

"The great thing about Sting is there are harmonica-centric songs, which is not a very common occurrence with popular artists," Sager told learntheharmonica.com. "It's such a great crowd and we have had so much fun [at Sting's shows].

Sting's backup singers blew me away Melissa Musique and Gene Noble. Melissa Musique dueted with the British legend for a soul-satisfying rendition of "Heavy Cloud No Rain." Noble's solo singing on "Shape of My Heart" was another showstopping rendition that just leveled up this classic song.

The other members of the band dazzled with Kevon Webster on keyboards, Zach Jones on drums, and Dominic Miller on guitar.

Of course, Sting's encore was The Police's "Roxanne." However, just prior to that, the entertainer delivered flawless renditions of "King of Pain" and the anthemic "Every Breath You Take."

Sting went on to play a second show at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Fla., on Sept.13 before heading to Atlanta and Austin. If you get a chance to catch Sting on his current tour, do it. After all, Sting is still hitting audiences in all the right places.

Here are some images from the Sept. 12 show at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Fla: