Written by Dave Clements

Sting 3.0

I woke up the morning of the show with my brain firing off questions about the Sting 3.0 Tour I’d be photographing & reviewing later that night.
Where were the other two members of The Police? Who exactly was sharing the stage with Sting? Why “3.0”? Why no opener? And could the man still sing? Does he play an instrument or just sing? Where does he live?By the time I got to The Woodlands Pavilion, I had answers to none of it — and I also had 20 extra minutes to kill, because the show didn’t start until 8:20 instead of the printed 8:00. Not a crime, but it does train audiences to stroll in whenever they feel like it.

Skipping an opener and not selling lawn seats is rare for an artist of Sting’s stature. But this wasn’t a typical tour stop. This was Sting stripping everything down to the essentials.

Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner — Sting — walked out with a bass guitar and launched straight into “Message in a Bottle.”

His entire band:
• Dominic Miller — Sting’s longtime guitarist and musical shadow
• Chris Maas — drummer with credits including Mumford & Sons and Maggie Rogers
That’s it. No Copeland. No Summers.

Andy Summers, now 83, is in Santa Monica making music and photos. Stewart Copeland is touring a spoken word show. And both are suing Sting in the U.K. for more than eight million pounds in alleged unpaid streaming royalties. Rock history is messy.

Let’s get this out of the way: Sting can still sing.
At 73, his voice is shockingly intact — warm, sharp, unmistakable. The man hasn’t lost a step.

The “3.0” branding makes sense once you see it. Three musicians. No filler. No distractions. A tight, intimate setup that forces you to listen. And the sold out crowd did exactly that… well, except for the handful of talkers around us who apparently bought tickets to socialize instead of hear a legend.

The Police era songs hit hardest:

• Shape of My Heart
• Walking on the Moon
• Fields of Gold
• Wrapped Around Your Finger
• King of Pain
• Every Breath You Take
• Roxanne

“Message in a Bottle” would be on my list too, but I was busy shooting photos — occupational hazard.

Before “Fields of Gold,” Sting casually mentioned he wrote it while looking out from his “modest home” — a castle — near Stonehenge.
He even invited a woman near the front row to stop by for tea next time she’s in the neighborhood. His abode is just down the hill.
Given his net worth, he could fly her and 100 of her closest friends there without noticing the expense.

I woke up the next morning realizing I’d gotten answers to every question that had been bouncing around my head.

Sting, Dominic Miller, and Chris Maas delivered a tight, elegant, beautifully strippeddown show.
A trio with the power of a full band — and a frontman whose voice remains one of the most distinctive in music.

Help keep live music alive. Houston has plenty of venues. Go fill them.