Check out his new trio, Billy Joel, and why he’ll never wear spandex

Sting is sitting in a trailer at the Ohana Festival in Dana Point in September with two important questions before him: what songs to perform during tonight’s headlining set, and what pair of underwear to do it in.

“I’m not sure what color to wear,” he says, nodding toward a rainbow of Calvin Klein boxer briefs lined up on a table top. Dressed in tight black jeans and a fitted white T-shirt, the 73-year-old musician has a set list he expects to keep tinkering with until just before he goes on. “We always front it with hits and end with hits,” he says. “But the middle is a little runny. Keeps it fresh.”

One of the reasons it’s easy to do is because after years of Sting juggling orchestral concerts and a Broadway musical and a stint in Las Vegas, the singer and bassist is on the road with just two other musicians — the guitarist Dominic Miller and drummer Chris Maas. The trio’s tour, called Sting 3.0, draws on Sting’s decades of songs as a solo artist and as frontman for the Police, the wildly popular three-piece he formed in London in 1977 after a stint teaching English. This week the tour heads back to Southern California for five shows at the Wiltern starting Tuesday night.

Sting – who shares homes in Europe, New York and Malibu with wife Trudie Styler – spoke before his Ohana performance about the new combination, his first trip to LA and whether he would ever consider cosmetic surgery. This is an excerpt from our conversation.

When you left the police –
I never left the police.

OK?
I didn’t do that.

When you stepped away from the police –
I didn’t walk away from the police.

Took a break from the police? What would you call it?
I’m not sure what I did. I just made a record – like the others had done – and enjoyed it more than I did being in a band.

One of the ways you framed that shift back then was that you wanted to expand your music beyond the confines of a three-piece band.
And here I am again.

Explain it.
My whole mode is surprise. I don’t want people to be absolutely sure what I’m going to do next. That is the essence of music for me. And no one expected a trio at this point.

Unlike 15 years ago, right after police reunion tour.
That would have been stupid. And I’m far from stupid (laughing).

What do you like about the trio format?
I’ve enjoyed stripping the songs down to the bare bones and enjoyed that they’re still sturdy enough to withstand that kind of stripping away. This makes them harder and also clearer. There is air between the instruments, which allows the ear to relax a little. But you can turn a dime.

What’s a Sting song that wouldn’t work this way?
It all seems surprising. You’d think something like “Every little thing she does is magic” wouldn’t work with a three-piece.

It’s a police song. Of course it works. I’m thinking of something more elaborate from one of your solo records – “I Hung My Head,” let’s say.
It’s a guitar riff with a counterpoint bass line. It’s easy.

You did a residency at Caesars Palace a few years ago, and I was wondering if that setting allowed you to get into your songs like you like to do.
I’d never had a residency in Vegas before, so I thought I’d just do hits, ring-a-ding. In fact, the audiences that turned out were quite sophisticated. I spoke to them more than I would in a normal concert, gave some context to a lot of the songs – where they were written, why they were written, what they were about. And it allowed me to pick some songs that were maybe a little esoteric because I could explain them. I could invite the audience into my problems.

Is there a danger in staying in Vegas too long as a performer? It looks like it might dull your knife.
Doing a residency in Vegas today is not the same as it was for Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck. They were sentenced for months and months and months. We did four shows a week for two weeks, then a few months off, then the same thing again. They were chewable bites. Nothing too difficult.

Have you been to Sphere?
I saw U2 there early on. I loved the show, but I thought it was hard for the band to really come out of all that. There was so much to see. I don’t want to be overpowered by pictures so I’m not sure this is the place for me.

Do you remember your first visits to LA?
I do. We were in the Midwest and we drove from all over the country – through Omaha and over the Grand Canyon. We got to LA late one night in the van. We were on Sunset going to Sunset Marquis and I said, “Stop the van.” The driver said, “Why do you want to stop the van?” I said, “There is a palm tree – I want to hug that palm tree.”

And?
I hugged the palm. The other guys thought I was crazy. But I came from the north of England. I had never seen a palm tree.

The internet tells me the first police appearance in LA was March 1, 1979.
We played Whiskey a Go Go, then we drove by A&M Records on La Brea and there was a huge billboard with our faces on it. We met Jerry Moss and Herb Alpert and sat around the pool with all kinds of stars. I thought, “Wow, that’s great.”

By the end of that year you were at the Palladium.
We played everywhere from Madame Wong’s Chinese Restaurant to the Greek Theater to the Forum to the Hollywood Bowl to the Wiltern, which we’re going back to with this project.

Why five nights in a theater instead of one or two in an arena?
I think this format suits the theater more than anything else. The intimacy, the feeling that the audience is part of the puzzle — you can’t do that in a bigger place. A bigger venue is all about making big gestures: you wave your arm, the audience waves their arm. The theater is more refined.

Between these theater dates, you play stadiums with Billy Joel.
Billy and I have been friends for a long time – since 1980. He came to see us at the Nassau Coliseum – came on his own, walked into the dressing room and said, “Hi, my name is Billy Joel. I’m a big fan.” Then I spent an evening with him around a piano, and Billy started playing Gilbert and Sullivan. He can play anything. He always, always loved him. Do you want to come and open for my big tour?” I said, “Well, I don’t actually do that kind of thing. But I will do so with two caveats: One, you must introduce me. And two, you gotta sing a song with me.” So we open the set with him singing with me—we do “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.” Then I come in with him and we do “Big Man on Mulberry Street,” which is very jazzy. He says he wrote it with me in mind. I don’t know if that’s true. But it’s a good story, so let’s not get in the way of that.

In 2014 you toured with Paul Simon. What did you learn from that experience?
Paul is one of my teachers – one of my mentors. If I had an ambition to be a literate songwriter, he would be the man at whose feet I would sit. Songs like “America” ​​are masterpieces. It’s a pretty big topic, looking for America (laughing). In less sure hands it would have been a disaster. But he starts with pies and leaves and cigarettes, and then suddenly the epic nature of the song is revealed – it’s brilliant.

I caught that trip on the forum. You two did your “Brand New Day” and his “The Boxer”.
For him to sing any of my songs was a great privilege. We are similar in many ways. He is more meticulous than I am, but I recognize his desire for perfection. I loved his new album: “Seven Psalms.”

I might be too stupid for that record. I didn’t understand it.
Maybe you’re not old enough. It’s an album about death.

If you say so.
Next year.

Pink and Marshmello teamed up last year to re-record your song “Fields of Gold” – the latest in a long line of covers or samples of your work. Why do you think your music continues to attract younger musicians?
I have no idea, but when someone wants to interpolate or whatever it’s called, I never object because I always learn something about the song that I didn’t know or expect. And I get paid, so why not? It keeps them updated. Songs are living organisms – you have to keep breathing life into them or give them new bedfellows.

It’s probably fair to say that a large number of Marshmello fans —
Don’t know it’s me. It’s okay. But if they do some archeological research, they’ll find me there.

Sean “Diddy” Combs famously sampled “Every Breath You Take” for his “I’ll Be Missing You.” Are the latest allegations against him hurting the way you think about “Every Breath You Take”?
No. I mean, I don’t know what happened (with Diddy). But it doesn’t tarnish the song at all for me. It’s still my song.

And people still love to hear it.
Absolutely.

What is your fitness routine these days?
I swim every morning when I can. I studied yoga for 35 years, so everything ties into that. I stretch, I exercise, I walk. I am physically very fit and that keeps me mentally fit.

How much of it is wellness and how much of it is vanity?
Fifty percent vanity – maybe 55 – and 45% discipline. I do the job like a 25 year old.

Tell more about the vanity. You see a picture of yourself on stage and –
I don’t see pictures of myself. But you need enough professional vanity to go on stage in the first place. I wouldn’t go on if I was overweight or wearing spandex. If that happens to me, I won’t go on stage. So the vanity is something essential and it is not very harmful. I don’t spend hours of the day looking in the mirror or putting on makeup or going to the hairdresser every day or wearing a wig or corset.

Have you ever felt pressured to get some work done? Any lifting or tightening?
Look at me – I’m perfect. What’s the matter with you?

Is your wife the one trusted to tell you if things start to go soft?
Oh, she’s constantly looking for a younger man (laughing). And she looks hot.

What is your attitude to drinks and drugs at this stage of your life?
I like a glass or two of wine at the end of the show, or a glass of mezcal. I will never say that I stop drinking. I’ve never smoked anything legal in my life, which I’m happy to say.

Something legal?
I have never smoked tobacco. I used to smoke marijuana, but it’s not that interesting to me anymore.

It’s kind of amazing you didn’t smoke cigarettes like a rock star in the 80s.
I was an athlete when I was young, and smoking wasn’t the thing to do. I don’t think it’s healthy. My father smoked as long as he lived and I always knew there was something wrong with it even before the research was there. I threw his cigarettes on the fire, which made me very popular in the house.

Did you feel at home in the 80s rock environment?
Not really. I was a school teacher. I’ve always prided myself on being unique – not really being part of an environment. And that environment kind of died out.