The Police frontman turned solo superstar, Sting, released his 13th solo album, My Songs, on 24 May 2019. Four days later the My Songs tour kicked off in Paris (after 2 warm-ups in Texas). The first legs of the tour (Europe, Asia and North America) ended in Philadelphia on 17 November 2019. The tour was set to resume in 2020, but Covid intervened.
On 5 June 2019, between concerts in Ljubljana, Slovenia (4 June) and Hannover, Germany (6 June) Sting spent the day in Hamburg. There he was interviewed by Markus Lanz for ZDF talk and he appeared on the cult German TV show Inas Nacht (Ina’s Night), hosted by the singer Ina Müller. On the show, Sting performed a medley of three of his many hits.
The first song, Every Breath You Take, was a special request from the host. Cowboy Kelly commented on YouTube: “Oh my God! Every breath you Take. The way he performed it here was so deeply soulful. It hit every corner of my being and actually brought a tear to my eye.” Kurtdogs’ comment is more general, but no less apposite: “A true master at his trade. Writes the song, pulls it off live, plays the instrumental, and rocks the signature voice, at almost 70 years of age”.
Since 2007, Inas Nacht has been recorded in a tiny Hamburg harbour pub called Zum Schellfischposten. For the show, a house band squeezes between tables and the 20-odd viewers, while a shanty choir stands at the window. Ina Müller and her guest/s sit at the counter. The experimental show was a surprise hit and continues to run, with viewer numbers higher than ever. The show has won several German TV awards, including the Comedy Prize. Here is Dua Lipa as broadcast on Inas Nacht on 17 July 2016:
Dua Lipa’s Be the One has 16M views in 6 years while Sting’s Medley has 10M views in 3 years, which makes it a hard one to call in terms of popularity. What can be said is that it is a treat to see both artists in a setting as intimate as the bar that provides the setting for Inas Nacht.
The resumption of Sting’s My Songs Tour was rescheduled several times due to the Pandemic. It eventually got going on 27 September 2021 in Taormina, Italy and included an eight-show stand over two weeks at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, LA, starting on 29 October. The rescheduled My Songs Tour is due to end on 4 December 2023 in Cologne, Germany.
Interestingly, Sting released The Bridge album in November 2021 and includes songs from this LP in the sets of the shows on the My Songs Tour.
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