Sting at the Tollwood Festival: "Thank you Munich"...

After two pandemic-related postponements, Sting is giving a concert at Tollwood in Munich – and impresses with phenomenally good musical craftsmanship without gimmicks.

The Sting concert at Tollwood was postponed twice due to the pandemic. This year, it could have been the festival's central event if guitar veteran Jeff Beck hadn't recently shown up with actor Johnny Depp as his musical sidekick, whose media appeal is currently hard to top. But in this tasteful Sting concert, Depp plays no role. There are no gimmicks. Instead, there is phenomenally good musical craftsmanship.

One can't say Sting is a particularly charming communicator with his audience. There's hardly any fraternization. But that's irrelevant, because firstly, Sting - "Thank you Munich" - does tell the story of how he once came up with the riff for the Police number "Walking on the Moon" in a Munich hotel (which, while completely irrelevant to the song, somehow warms the heart), and secondly, the audience in the sold-out music arena didn't need a warm invitation to sing along almost soulfully to many of the songs. Sting's son, Joe Sumner, began by playing a semi-acoustic guitar, sending beautiful songwriting sounds and graceful head voice tones into the main tent. As soon as Sting himself - appearing more wiry than his son - entered the stage, the atmosphere of a musical high mass prevailed. And the Brit, the only one in the band, dressed entirely in black and wearing a bright red T-shirt, read the mass.

What immediately strikes you is the band's wonderfully transparent sound. All too often, the mixes at major rock concerts are so bass-heavy that even the most distinctive songs lose their impact. Not here. Sometimes you see Sting playing bass more than you consciously hear him—which, given his gracefully aged Fender bass guitar, is a beautiful sight, and due to the fact that Sting is not only a delicate songwriter and singer, but also a very sensitive bassist. Thus, the "Englishman in New York" strolls along with an elegant, springy step. This gives the arrangements breathing room. This leaves room for the pretty melodies of harmonica player Shane Sager, for a vocal duet with backup singer Gene Noble, and for the silky guitar solos of Dominic Miller, who has played alongside Sting for decades.

This is by no means to suggest that this is a celebration of gentleness for almost two hours. There is certainly some power, too. Take "Roxanne," for example, the first encore. But sheer volume is never the deciding factor. Expressive intensity arises from Sting's delight in creating contrasts through sonic compression and relaxation, thus making music lively. This is also in keeping with the creative joy with which he and his band interweave "So Lonely" with Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry," seamlessly weaving together many other songs, thus conjuring up a wonderful concert of grand narratives.

(c) Sueddeutsche Zeitung by Andreas Pernpeintner