Forty years of pop history in a 100-minute continuous run...

The Englishman let us watch him at work in the Wörthersee Stadium by daylight – musically so excellent that one would have liked to have listened to him longer.

Is it actually a depressing moment when you, a star of pop music, take the stage and the stadium is only a third full? Are the upper slopes even covered with black cloths so that it's not noticeable who's missing? If so, Sting didn't let it show on Sunday in Klagenfurt. From the very first minute, over 40 years of pop history were celebrated. And for the first hour, all without the visual overload that has come to characterize stadium concerts. The remaining daylight was enough to watch a well-rehearsed ensemble at work. At least the view from the arena onto the stage was rich in detail, intense, impressive – and not at all depressing.

And musically? The loops and samples typical of Police songs were excluded, replaced at best by Shane Sager's harmonica playing. The complex, frequently changing rhythms, however, ranging from tango ("Roxanne") to reggae ("Walking on the Moon"), retained their finesse even when translated into the stage interpretation. And Sting himself dampened the vibrations of his Fender bass to a minimum. Thus, well-known songs became distinctive individual pieces. Even if they are reproduced night after night—on Monday, incidentally, in Vienna, which, along with ticket prices of a good 150 euros, may have been one reason for the many empty seats.

Sting's tendency to remain coolly British when addressing the audience is something we've come to expect. After all, he gave his son Joe Sumner (46) – his voice replaces any paternity test – a moment in the front row for "King of Pain," the song that deals with Joe's separation from his mother. And more in demand than any other address from the fans is the 71-year-old's singing voice, which never wavered even in the upper registers and was able to unfold its dynamics despite the headset. Interplayed with the evening's dramaturgy – after 15 minutes at the latest, another classic came on, recognizable from the first notes – the chairs from the previous evening's Bocelli concert remained superfluous props.

"A gentleman will walk but never run," as the saying goes in "Englishman in New York." Admittedly, getting through a life's work in 100 minutes wasn't exactly a walk in the park.

(c) Kleine Zeitung by Thomas Cik