He's f'ing great live, though.

We saw him a couple of years ago when he was co-headlining with Paul Simon. They would sort of take turns and occasionally swap songs. Paul Simon, as brilliant as he is at songwriting, was surprisingly dull. At one point, Sting played "America" absolutely beautifully as a solo acoustic performance, and then in the time you could count into the next song, swapped with a roadie for an electric guitar and launched into "Message in a Bottle. " It was brilliant. Whether you are a fan or not, he completely outclassed Paul f'ing Simon on the stage...and it's Paul f'ing Simon.