“A bridge too far”: the tour Sting said he would never play again

Posted On April 19, 2025April 19, 2025

The idea of touring is always a big gamble for anyone who’s been in the game for too long. Many kids can’t wait to get out on the road and prove to everyone why they should be heralded as one of the greatest working artists in their field, but there are also a handful that tire of touring the minute theey realise the commitment and how much time they’re going to be spending away from their family. Although Sting was more than happy to play to anyone within earshot, he did know that there were a handful of shows that were best left in the past.

Then again, the frontman’s biggest mantra had always been about forward motion. Anyone can claim to have a signature sound and stick with it, but from his start with The Police to the present day, Sting has never tried to create the same album twice. He knew what he needed to know had to push himself along with his listeners, and some of his greatest solo works come from flying outside his comfort zone.

While The Soul Cages is far from his finest record, hearing him get open and honest about losing his father has some of his strongest lyrics, and Ten Summoner’s Tales does include some pieces that are a lot more sophisticated than anything you’d find in traditional pop music, like the strange upward chord progression found in the middle of ‘Nothing ‘Bout Me’.

But The Police weren’t exactly slouches by comparison, either. Even though Sting was dabbling in genres like jazz, Stewart Copeland was already a virtuoso behind the drums, and it wasn’t out of the question for Andy Summers to add something different to the mix whenever he kicked on his effects pedals on ‘Walking on the Moon’. Everyone could still play together, but it all came down to the fact that none of them were getting any easier to work with.

The responsibilities of any band are difficult to manage, but the power trio may be one of the strangest beasts to tackle. Each member has to hold up their end so everything doesn’t fall apart, and given the fact that everyone was ripping their hair out trying to work with each other on Synchronicity, them getting together for a reunion tour in the 2000s may as well have been a miracle to capture.

Sting got to unpack some of his old memories, and the shows themselves showed that none of them had lost a step in the last few years, but he said that he has absolutely no desire to go back and play more shows with them, saying, “I said no on numerous occasions but I thought my timing was impeccable. Any later, I think, would have been wrong. Any sooner would have been wrong. It was cashing that asset in, saying, ‘Let’s do it one more time and see what happens.’ It was hugely successful, but I wouldn’t do it again. That would be a bridge too far.”

Old habits do die hard on the road, and Sting couldn’t help but be reminded of those early days on tour as well. While they were easier to work off each other after years apart, there was always room for them to fly off the rails, like the now-infamous clip where Copeland goes off on the frontman because he insinuated that he couldn’t play an odd number of beats within the timeframe that was given to him.

Even though Sting is leaving a lot of money on the table by not going back, it’s actually a much more respectable way of looking at his craft. He knows that he has to play what satisfies him, and the last thing he wants to do is sleepwalk his way through songs like ‘Message in A Bottle’ or ‘Every Breath You Take’ for an audience.

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