Sting wows ‘Lollapalooza India’ festival audience with electrifying performance

Mumbai, Jan 28 (PTI) Music legend Sting wowed audience members across ages and genders with his electrifying performance at the finale of the two-day Lollapalooza India festival on Sunday here.

Held at the open area of the Mahalaxmi Racecourse in the heart of South Mumbai, the show was a treat for music aficionados, many of them who had flown in from across the country for this very day.

As Sting took to the stage at 8.25 pm, he greeted the waiting crowd of thousands in Marathi with "Kai Zhala Mumbai?", which roughly translates to "What's up Mumbai?" The 72-year-old English musician -- whose real name is Gordon Matthew Sumner -- belted out about 16 songs, each comprising over three minutes, in his one-and-half-hour-long performance.

Sting strummed his guitar throughout the show to the tunes of his old classics, including "Every Breath You Take”, “Desert Rose”, "So Lonely", "Shape of My Heart", and "A Thousand Years", and took Mumbai down the memory lane.

Singing and grooving along the crowd were quite a few celebrities such as Aditya Roy Kapur, Ananya Panday, Kunal Kapur, and Malaika Arora, among others.

Maliaka, who came along with her friends, told PTI, "The show was superb, outstanding. He is a legend." A group of five friends from Goa and Pune attended the musical event only for Sting.

"He has done this for decades and he knows what the people expect and like. It was a superbly crafted show," one of them said.

A Russian couple, who learnt about the second edition of Lollapalooza India through Instagram, said it was the "most memorable evening in India" for them.

While Sting didn't interact much with the crowd during his performance, he piqued their curiosity by teasing them about his next song and often asked them to clap and sing along.

The frequent rousing response from the crowd was an only indication that they were having a good time.

Mithika Patil, a fan in her late 40s, said she is "just happy" to be able to see the former 'Police' frontman perform all her favourite tracks.

"Every Breath You Take", one of Sting's most popular songs, elicited a tremendous applause from the crowd who also sang along with the singer.

After he finished singing the iconic track, Sting along with his band members stepped forward and bowed down to thank the audience.

But, it wasn't over yet.

As the crowd cheered for an encore, Sting asked, "Tell me what do you want?". He honoured their demand by singing another one of his classics, "Roxanne".

In his closing remarks, the multiple Grammy Award winner thanked the audience for their love and bid them adieu with "Namaste Mumbai".

This wasn't Sting's first visit to India. His maiden trip to the country was back in the 1980s for a performance in Mumbai as the lead singer of The Police. It marked the beginning of his many visits to India also in personal capacity.

The second and final day of Lollapalooza India saw performances by Anoushka Shankar, Komorebi, Parvaaz, K-pop band The Rose, French DJ Malaa, Caribou, Eric Nam, Parekh & Singh, and Italian electronic dance music artist Meduza, among others.

BookMyShow Live spearheaded Lollapalooza India as the promoter and co-producer for the festival's Indian edition along with global producers, Perry Farrell and C3 Presents. PTI