Sting spoke about the pros and cons of bands reuniting. When pressed as to whether it's a good idea for splintered bands to come together again, Sting told Music Week, “Once (laughs). You should do it once and the timing should be right. When the Police reunited it had been long enough and it was the right time to do it. And I'm taking credit for that because that was my decision. Doing it again would just be gratuitous and that won't happen. But we did it, and everyone was happy that mum and dad got back together again and had one last fling.”
Sting went on to explain that band's reuniting means a lot more to do than just rehearsing and booking concert venues: “It's an intense relationship. You start out in a band together and you live together; you sleep in the van together; you share hotel rooms. Your life is completely welded with the other guys in the band, and that's intense. We still love each other and respect each other, but I'm happy not to be in a band. . . There comes a point where it just gets in the way of the creative process and you're dealing with ego as opposed to actual musical ideas or the currency of musical ideas. When the flow stops, that's when a band has to break up.”
We recently asked Sting point blank if the Police's 2007-2008 reunion concerts were in fact the band's last: “Yeah, I think so. I think in an exercise in nostalgia it was very successful. It was certainly a successful tour commercially. But is there a need to do it again? I don't think so. I don't think so. I mean, it wasn't the easiest tour I've ever done. Y'know, it was a bit like going back to a dysfunctional marriage in many ways, but as I said, hugely successful. People were very happy to see us playing together again. So I think we covered all the bases there. I don't see the need to do it again.”
Sting kicks off his next North American dates on September 1st and 2nd at Vienna, Virginia's Wolf Trap.