Angeline wrote:

It's great that Sting's managed to relax a bit with the control freak thing, but I wonder a bit when he says "why change a setlist, it's not broken, so..." - it seems at odds with his role as a musical experimenter, someone who's always happy to fiddle with individual songs and even re-use bits of them in creative ways. We don't necessarily change things only because they're broken - we change things to revitalise them and have new experiences.

I think there is a subtext here.  Actually two.  The first is that the songs do change nightly via improvisational jamming (particularly by Andy).  The second goes back to something Stewart said last summer in regard to the non-changing setlist and the absence of new or non-hit songs:  “We were advised to stick to the hits.”  And I think that translates into “play what the fans want to hear.”  It further translates into strong ticket sales.

Of course, that contradicts what String says in BRING ON THE NIGHT about giving the audience half of what they expect and half of what they’ve never heard before.  But so be it.  This is a tour of contradictions.  Another example:  once upon a time Stewart bemoaned the “support the Police” bumper stickers that he saw around London.  “As if we need jockstraps!” he sniped.  Now that same phrase is the motto of the official Police website.

Mitch