Would anyone like to have a guess at the setlist for the European leg of the tour...? And possibly post a copy of the North American setlist up here please... as I don't have one... thanking you... x

hi jayne. here was the basic set list for the majority of gigs on the Back To Bass Tour:
All This Time
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
Seven Days
Demolition Man
I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying
I Hung My Head
Stolen Car
Driven To Tears
Fortress Around Your Heart
Fields Of Gold
Sacred Love
Ghost Story
Heavy Cloud No Rain
Inside
Love Is Stronger Than Justice
The Hounds Of Winter
End Of The Game
Never Coming Home
Desert Rose
Every Breath You Take
Next To You
Message In A Bottle (acoustic encore)

i do regret not attempting to make one of the Philadelphia shows, cuz that seems like such an intriguing set list. Sting also performed an acoustic rendition of Roxanne at one or two shows.
a member of sting.com mentioned that the musicians had now rehearsed a full-band version of Message In A Bottle. and the band performed a version of Englishman In NY quite similar to the arrangement played during the 2006 Broken Music tour. so there is a good possibility that there will be at least a few minor alterations to the show. here is my uneducated guess at a setlist:

All This Time
If I Ever Lose My Faith In You
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
Seven Days
Demolition Man
I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying
I Hung My Head
Stolen Car
Driven To Tears
Fortress Around Your Heart
Fields Of Gold
Heavy Cloud No Rain
Message In A Bottle
Inside
Love Is Stronger Than Justice
If You Love Somebody Set Them Free
Englishman In New York
Never Coming Home
Desert Rose
Next To You
Every Breath You Take
Roxanne (acoustic encore)

I like your prediction, Glarbage! Just enough tweaks to seem very likely. This reminds me of the changes the Broken Music Tour setlist underwent when Sting took that tour outside the US.

I only hope that this show doesn't become too polished by the time it heads abroad. I recall seeing Sting in Chicago during the BM Tour in 2005, and then watching, for example, the Montreux Jazz concert in '06, I was struck by the definite difference in tone. The rawness was gone - that "dirty" sound of Dominic's Les Paul was less prominent, and the show seemed way more controlled. I'm sure the fact that 2 band members were different played a part in that.

Thank you both.

I would like to see some more off the Soul Cages... which is not very well represented here strangely... his best album arguably... well no argument about it for me!

Wild Wild Sea/Soul Cages/Why Should I Cry/Mad About You and all the other stuff he used to put in to the SC shows like Ain't No Sunshine and If I Were A Carpenter surely are a massive part of Sting history and should be in this tour? That stuff is just gorgeous.

But I hear he is rehearsing Island of Souls! So maybe he has a surprise up his sleeve...

Island of Souls would be incredible on this tour! I can picture Peter Tickell doing something amazing with the fiddle in the intro.

I would like to see more obscure tracks on this tour as well. I have been saying Valparaiso and Something the Boy Said would sound great with this line up.

It would be incredible sf24!

I am wondering if there's a chance of seeing the great Kathryn Tickell at The Sage Gateshead as well, being as she is a native of Tyneside (and she practically belongs in the Soul Cages band anyway!)... She's played there before with Sting... and with Peter already in the current band anyway... maybe we might see and hear more from the Soul Cages era than has been in the set previously... if it's gonna happen anywhere... the Newcastle gig would be perfect surely...

Something The Boy Said, one of my favourite ever tracks, played it to death so much that my CD jumps, but I don't know how it would come out live, it would be interesting.

Valparaiso I'd be happy with too. I think that was a track left behind from Soul Cages...(I am joking but it sounds like it could be).? I do not have the lyrics book. What did he say about it?

Given that his play with music is set around The Soul Cages, I would think it would be a good suggestion.

I thought about seeing him in London, but I'd much rather go to the Newcastle gig so I haven't. Someday maybe.

Jayne apparently the rehearsal clip with IOS on the setlist is from the very beginning of the tour. D&W are quite sure it will not be added now - very little change to setlist if Sting follows his usual habit. Bummer. I was this close to hopping a plane and bunking with shirls.

P.

So Island of Souls never made it... hmm... not late Sting, to change your mind about it for the UK, and anything else Soul Cages...!

It's a shame you will probably not be coming over here this time Ms P... but there is still time. :-)

As you may already be aware of, so far there haven’t been any changes in the setlist on the European leg of the tour. In my view this is a little disappointing…though it does not surprise me. Hopefully Sting will make some changes for the festival tour this summer. My guess is that he will take out some rarities like Ghost Song, End of the Game and Inside and replace them with more familiar songs like Roxanne, Set Them Free, Shape of My Heart, Fragile, Englishman in NY etc. as the common festival guest probably will expect to hear these songs rather than the lesser known album tracks. That said, I definitely agree with those in this thread who wishes for more songs from the Soul Cages album! That would undoubtedly be great, but since we haven’t seen these tracks on the setlist so far, I don’t see it happening…

While I do hope for a few slight changes to the setlist, I hope they're not the kind you speak of. Honestly, Roxanne, Englishman in NY, Shape and Fragile have been played and overplayed the last few tours. Hell, when was the last tour that Englishman or Fragile or Roxanne weren't performed? If anything is to be changed, I say include more rarities, not less.

Stingfan24 - I hear you! More than anything I too would love more rarities or lesser perfomed tracks like I was brought to my senses, Brand new day, The Lazarus Heart, The Soul Cages. But then again, the summer tour is a festival tour and the audience will be a mixed crowd and you can only expect 'real' Sting fans to appreciate the rarities. Sting knows that, and that's why I'm expecting Sting to ride the same old horses once more.

Does anybody know why Sting decided to completely ignore the "Nothing Like The Sun" album on his current set list?
It seems strange that none of the songs made it to the list - too strange not to be calculated, I would say. Maybe Sting (or his management) plan some project that focuses on NLTS in the near future?
Any guesses?

As for the set list, I absolutely enjoyed the lesser-known songs, as I think any real fan does, even if some press reviews bashed Sting for not chanting out "I'm an Englishman in New York" or "You don't have to put on the red light" on this tour. ; )
My personal favourites were "Stolen Car" (Jo Lawry!) and "Inside".

Nothing like the sun got a decent representation on the Symphonicities album and the tour. I'm thinking that's Sting's reason for excluding it on this tour.