Sting bewitches Villa Manin: ten thousand sing "Message in a Bottle" and other hits...

The former Police band's performance thrilled the audience in Codroipo. The venue was sold out, with spectators arriving from all over Europe.

Ten thousand Sting fans flocked to Villa Manin for the "Sting 3.0" world tour, the only stop in the Northeast after Bassano del Grappa was canceled due to bad weather. On Monday, the former Police band performed in Rome, at the Cavea of ​​the Auditorium della Musica, which has a capacity of only 3,000.

The Friuli date was sold out long ago: seated stalls, standing room, and two raised stands. More than half of the audience in Codroipo came from outside the region: 9.4% from Slovenia, 3.6% from Austria, 3% from Croatia, 0.6% from Switzerland, and 3.4% from other countries (Romania, Germany, France, Spain, Serbia, Bosnia, Slovakia, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Bulgaria, and Greece). Thirty-six percent came from the rest of Italy (in order: Veneto, Lombardy, Sicily, Lazio, Puglia, Piedmont, Tuscany, Trentino-Alto Adige, and Emilia-Romagna).

And where did Sting come from? He landed at Trieste (Ronchi) airport on July 9th on a flight from Florence, arriving at Villa Manin around 3:00 PM. He was accompanied by his personal chef, whom the singer asked to prepare him a sea bass.

After the Rome concert, he chose to stop at his Tuscan estate, Il Palagio, a 16th-century villa in Figline Valdarno that he has owned since 1997. His love for Italy is confirmed by the recent news of his purchase of a second villa, in Massa Lubrense (Naples). And on the evening of July 9th, "Posso ingresso? An ode to Naples," a documentary directed by his wife Trudie Styler, aired on Rai1.

He will be joined by a band composed of virtuoso guitarist and longtime collaborator Dominic Miller and dynamic drummer Chris Maas. "Being a trio rather than a larger band," Sting said of the tour, "means you have to work even harder. On stage, I do the work of a 25-year-old, and I'm happy to do it."

Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, aka Sting, who is 73, has spoken about his routine on several occasions: "Whenever I can, I swim every morning, practice yoga, stretch, work out, walk. I keep my body trained, and consequently my mind."

In addition to his daily physical activity, he never stops practicing: "I sit at the piano or pick up the guitar and continue to learn, to discover. You never get to the point of saying: Now I know everything. Music is a puzzle, like life." "Sting 3.0" is also the title of the album released in April, which contains nine of his hits. Hits from his solo career and those of The Police, which are a must-see on the live setlist.

At Villa Manin, as always, we kick off with "Message in a Bottle," a great Police classic from 1979, with a universal theme: everyone's need to feel connected to others, like a castaway sending a message in a bottle, an SOS to the world, only to discover in the end that there are billions of floating bottles of equally lonely people.

"I liked the idea," the songwriter explained, "that beyond loneliness and alienation, there is the relief of finding other people in the same situation."

Another song worth listening to is “I Wrote Your Name (Upon My Heart),” released in September, three years after the album “The Bridge.”

For the rest, it's a journey into the past. "Englishman in New York" dates back to 1988, yet it's so timely, inspired by his friend, writer Quentin Crisp, who moved to the Big Apple from London in the 1970s while awaiting naturalization. "New York is an interesting place, full of 'legal aliens'—by aliens I don't mean those from Mars, but immigrants," in the words of Sting, who himself became English in New York. "The city was built by immigrants, and I'm proud to be part of that category. If we start not welcoming people who are different from us, it's the end."

Few words from the ever-present headphone microphone that allows him maximum mobility and freedom with his instrument, but plenty of music: everything flows, from "Every Breath You Take" to "Roxanne" towards the finale, a perfect close to the evening, sponsored by "GO! 2025&Friends" and organized in collaboration with FVG Music Live and VignaPR.

(c) Il Nord Est by Elisa Russo