LIVE REVIEW: Sting, Alison Moyet, Sophie Grey, Summer Sessions, Bellahouston Park, Glasgow, 25/06/2025
Photo Credit: Carter B. Smith
Organisers DF Concerts have hit the nail on the head with the mix of artists for the 2025 Glasgow Summer Sessions. With Frank Carter & The Sex Pistols opening proceedings the previous Saturday it was now time for Sting to entertain the masses followed by Simple Minds and Stereophonics over the weekend, all three of these shows will be covered by Bring The Noise. The organisation of the Summer Sessions was first class, no queues to gain entry and ample stewards to keep things ticking along nicely.
We were lucky enough to get a perfect spot at the barrier just behind the golden circle as Sophie Grey took to the stage just after at 6.15pm, describing herself as ‘retro electro’ which is also the name of her latest album release. Sophie studied piano at The University of Southern California, she swaggers onto the stage with a portable keyboard on her back while carrying a flagpole bearing her name, bearing in mind that this is Sophie’s Glasgow debut she shows great confidence already wearing an outfit reminiscent of Madonna back in the day. Before playing second track Mr Right (is It You?) she asks the crowd, “I am looking for my Mr right, is he here tonight?” and this is quickly followed by a cover of Wham song Everything She Wants with some good crowd involvement in singing the chorus back to the stage. We really enjoyed the set, especially Dirty Thoughts and last song On Hold, we are sure to be hearing more from this talented ‘one woman band’ especially having been given the opportunity to tour with Sting across Europe. 8/10
Alison Moyet has been on the music bucket list for years so today is the day. She immediately tells the audience that it won’t be a greatest hits show as such but more of a celebration of forty years in the music industry, with such a back catalogue to choose from this will be interesting. Moyet of course was part of Yazoo back in the day alongside Vince Clarke, we were glad to hear Nobody’s Diary, Only You as well as Don’t Go that was played as the last song of the set. All the Yazoo tracks had a great crowd reaction as did the better known solo ones such as Love Resurrection and All Cried Out. Overall it was a great performance but we would have liked to hear more from the Alf album. 9/10
Sting has been all across the planet touring already this year taking in an exhaustive list of countries including USA, across South America, South Africa as well as Europe and he now brings the Sting 3.0 entourage to the ‘dear green place’ that is Glasgow’s Bellahouston Park, that nickname coming from the fact that Glasgow has so many parks. Touring as a three-piece band Sting is joined on stage by guitarist and long-time friend Dominic Miller and drummer Chris Maas and the crowd are delighted to hear The Police classic Message In A Bottle as the first song of what would be an impressive twenty-one track set. He is strutting around the stage with his trademark worn bass acting more like a twenty-three year old defying his seventy-three years! Next up is a new song released in September 2024, I Wrote Your Name (Upon My Heart) that is maybe not too familiar to most tonight but it’s not long until the more recognisable tracks hit hard with the solo material being prominent throughout the night with If I Ever Lose My Faith In You and the always excellent Englishman In New York that has plenty of crowd participation.
Sting hops back and forth between The Police tracks and the solo ones, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic takes us way back to the 1981 album Ghost In The Machine from which album we would have loved to also hear Invisible Sun and Spirits In The Material World but sadly not tonight, maybe next time? We then get a solo section that includes the melodic Fields Of Gold, Never Coming Home, Mad About You, Why Should I Cry For You and All This Time quickly followed by another Police song Driven To Tears, the third one of an impressive nine in the set. A chance for guitarist Dominic Miller to pick two songs to play at random was a touching moment, A Thousand Years is played beautifully tonight as the crowd falls silent taking in the lyrics “I may have lived a thousand lives, a thousand times/An endless turning stairway climbs to a tower of souls” while Can’t Stand Losing You and Walking On The Moon provides an opportunity for the fans to get involved, which they do.
Other than Desert Rose it is almost The Police all the way to the end now with So Lonely, King Of Pain and the instantly recognisable Every Breath You Take … well after the set so far we all needed to take a breath or two. They are soon back on the stage for the timeless Roxanne as the crowd give everything they have left before ending with solo track Fragile. Sting has played to literally millions of people across the planet this year and is still as relevant now as he was way back in the 1970s. 10/10
Written by: Alan Brown
