Sting in Dublin: ‘Let’s see what you’re made of. You’re a beautiful audience’

Sting, with special guests BlondieMalahide Castle★★★★☆

Malahide should be well used to hosting big outdoor gigs by now and thankfully, Irish people didn’t have to suffer another rain soaked outing on Wednesday night.

An overcast sky loomed over the Malahide Castle grounds for this stop on Sting’s My Songs tour. Joe Sumner, the headliner’s son, began the evening with a light but well received acoustic set. He sampled Crazy World during the last song, an unexpected but warm tribute to the late Christy Dignam.

Bandon’s own Lyra popped on stage next for a good humoured set of radio friendly pop belters. After supporting Pink in Hyde Park over the weekend, she quickly won over the crowd with her down-to-earth interactions before wrapping up with her hit Falling – featured on Love Island and Grey’s Anatomy – and her remix of Edge of Seventeen that brought some movement into the crowd.

Screens of static and broken TV transmissions saw Debbie Harry and Blondie step out to One Way Or Another.

“That’s how it’s done ladies and gentlemen,” the 77-year-old Debbie Harry tells the crowd. Her bright red suit kept the focus on her but her immensely talented band mates took their moments in the spotlight, complete with a keytar solo in Call Me. A cover of The Tide Is High further invigorated the crowd of some 20,000 before Blondie tore into the highlight of their set, Heart of Glass, with Harry donning a glass covered poncho.

Even after decades in the industry, Blondie are showing no signs of slowing down. Harry’s stage presence can only be seen as a physical illustration of her experience in working an audience.

She mentions the group are working on new material: “I like our old stuff but it’s always exciting … something new.”

After a brief interlude, the man of the hour arrived. Message In a Bottle and a harmonica-led version of Englishman in New York opened his set.

“I’m delighted to be back in Dublin,” he said, adding it was an “honour and a privilege” to share a stage with Blondie.

After a fast-paced start to his set, the slower songs towards the middle seemed to lose the crowd’s attention. Fields of Gold fixed this before a whiplash turnaround to Walking on the Moon and So Lonely jolted the crowd back into life.

A double tempo version of Every Breath You Take followed by King of Pain, with son Joe joining on vocals, kept the momentum going before the encore.

“Let’s see what you’re made of Dublin,” Sting calls, toying with the crowd. “The only problem I have is I’ve no idea what you want to hear.”

There was only one choice really. Roxanne topped out the night’s high-energy section.

Sting then handed his well-worn 1954 Fender bass over for a modern acoustic to finish the night on something “quiet and thoughtful”. Tears From the Stars was a gentle closing song on a night of solo and The Police hits.

“You’ve been a beautiful audience … we’ll see you again.”