Chasing The Killers’ December show run at Mt Duneed Estate, the chief of The Police will be on their tail in high pursuit; stingers at the ready.
Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, best known as Sting, will be heading to A Day On The Green on Saturday 25 February 2023. An extension of his global tour, ‘My Songs’, Sting will be stopping down under to scatter his four-decade-spanning collection of songs onto Australian red soil around our nation, with a stop in to smell the green at Mt Duneed Estate.
The ‘My Songs’ Tour sees Sting reflect on the songs that formed his colourful and highly celebrated career within The Police and as a solo artist.
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From his humble beginning as a teacher by day at St Paul’s First School in Cramlington, and a jazz player by night in bands The Newcastle Big Band, The Phoenix Jazzmen, Earthrise and Last Exit, to becoming ones of the most recognisable names and voices in the music industry, Sting’s buzz began with the Richmond Football Club colours of black and gold. Wearing a black and yellow hooped jumper became Sting’s Phoenix Jazzman uniform, sparking his bandmate, a fellow Gordon, Gordon Solomon to start his nickname and famous stage name.
Newcastle gave Sting his new name, but his new home of London gave him his new career. Joining forces with Stewart Copeland and Henry Padovani, who would soon be replaced by Andy Summers, The Police came charging through in 1977, trading jazz for punk prowess.
Their debut album the following year, Outlandos d’Amour, brought with it singles ‘Can’t Stand Losing You’ and the generational-pigeonhole defying belter turned drinking game anthem, ‘Roxanne’. Outlandos d’Amour would go on to reach number six on the UK Album Chart. This album’s success would evolve across the next six years with each successive album reaching number one in both the UK and their sister Commonwealth country, Australia.
Our Australian love affair with The Police and Sting was immediate and intensely deep. The Police toured Australian grounds three times between 1980 and 84 for Regatta de Blanc, Zenyatta Mondatta, and Synchronicity album tours, and returned in 2008 for their 30 Year The Police Reunion Tour, selling out Melbourne’s MCG and Sydney’s ANZ Stadium. They have held 11 Top 50 singles in Australia including ‘Every Breath You Take’ which reached number two and ‘Message in a Bottle’ which hit number five.
Sting’s solo career which kicked off in ‘85, following the unanimous agreement within the group to each focus on their solo efforts, saw that soaring success continue. Debut delight, Dream of the Blue Turtles shot to number one in the charts, … Nothing Like the Sun two years later sat in the third spot on the chart ladder, as did The Soul Cages in 1991.
Throughout his career Sting has celebrated ten Top 40 studio albums in Australia and eight Top 50 singles, including a chart-topper on the collaborative single, ‘All For Love’, with fellow A Day On The Green artists, Bryan Adams and Rod Stewart. He has further graced our stages on five national tours, including an appearance with Paul Simon at A Day On The Green in 2015. The following year, Sting was the guest of musical honour at the 2016 AFL Grand Final. Unfortunately, that year no black and gold jerseys were on the ground to pay homage to his humble beginnings.
Sting’s success has not been centralised to Australia and the UK. The Police have sold over 75 million records, making them one of the best-selling bands of all time and their award cabinet includes six Grammy Awards, two Brit Awards, an MTV Video Music Award, and a shiny induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003. In Rolling Stones’ list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, four of the band’s five albums were recognised, along with appearing in the same magazine’s list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. ‘Every Breath You Take’ broke records becoming the most-played song in radio history, and for good reason. The track has been widely celebrated including being sampled in Puff Daddy’s 1997 RnB hit ‘I’ll Be Missing You’, reviving it for a new generation.
Throughout Sting’s entire career he has received a mammoth 18 Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe, an Emmy and four nominations for the Academy Award for ‘Best Original Song’. He has professionally received the Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, received Billboard’s ‘Century Award’, and was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. His name is permanently etched into musical history with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for recording.
Whilst this British gem is yet to be officially inducted – which he rightfully deserves – Sting has received a CBE from Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace for services to music. Additionally, he was made a Kennedy Centre Honoree at the White House in 2014 and was also awarded the Polar Music Prize in 2017.
Sting not only soundtracked millennial youth through contributing songwriting for The Emperor’s New Groove, he unconsciously soundtracked the pandemic with social distancing resurrecting and redefining the anthem ‘Don’t Stand So Close To Me’.
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Outside of music, Sting has contributed significantly to humanitarian causes. His activism efforts have been rather public in the form of contributing to the ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ single as a member of Band Aid, along with his continued work with Amnesty. He has appeared at numerous relief concerts including Live Aid and the Leeuwin Estate Concert Series in Western Australia which raised $4 million for the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami relief effort. He is an advocate for Earth Day, a patron for the Elton John AIDS Foundation, and helps his namesake by being a patron of poverty alleviation and beekeeping charity, Bees for Development.
This is the career, these are the albums, and the songs that are being celebrated across Sting’s ‘My Songs’ Tour. With a view of releasing an album of the same title, reimagining his beloved and renowned hit, the tour, thus far, has seen the songs rejuvenated with crowds across the US and Europe.
The Australia tour will see Sting accompanied by English singer-songwriter, bassist for the rock band Fiction Plane, and his own flesh and blood, son, Joe Sumner. Additionally, Sting’s Australian counterpart, frontman for the Australian Crawl turned accomplished solo artist, James Reyne, will be joining the A Day On The Green pitstop sharing songs from his extensive catalogue.
Don’t make a beeline, swarm for tickets to this colossal event and career showcase of the one and only Sting.
Sting will take over Mt Duneed Estate in Geelong on Saturday, February 25 2023. Tickets for A Day On The Green with Sting are on sale now.
Further ticketing and festival information can be found at www.adayonthegreen.com.au
