Rock icon Sting plays a memorable show at the Fillmore...

Loyal fans of the legendary British singer Sting quickly filled the Fillmore Theater in Miami Beach on Feb. 25.

As the stage crew sets up, Sting unconventionally came out first, clad in casual wear.

The crowd immediately warmed to him, cheering and laughing as he complimented them and told a story about his early music days as an introduction to his first song, “Heading South on the Great North Road,” which created a cozy atmosphere in the large venue.

Sting soon left, handing the stage over to his son, Joe Summers, who impressed the audience with a powerful voice similar to his father's. He even looks like Sting. 

Summers played a quick but impressive set of three songs, one of which had guitarist Jerry Fuentes playing with him.

Summers' last song, “Jellybean,” which he said he sings to his kids, had the audience chattering and chuckling at the cute lyrics.

The second opening act, a new country group called The Last Bandoleros, joined Summers on stage for the last half of “Jellybean,” then began their own act.

The audience took an immediate liking to them, bobbing their heads and dancing to the first song. The young group gained more applause with every song and stopped to tell the story of how they wrote their song “I Don’t Wanna Know,” which was a crowd favorite.

When The Last Bandoleros wrapped up their five-song set with “Where did you go?” Sting, Summers and Sting's band came to the stage and sang with the Bandoleros, hyping the crowd up.

The Bandoleros left the crowd buzzing and thoroughly charmed.

Sting took the stage again with his whole band and Summers, Jerry Fuentes and Diego Navaria as background singers. His first three songs were popular ones from his newer albums and from his old band, The Police, and the crowd sang along.

The set kept going with “Englishman in New York,” and the intimate atmosphere and soft lighting transitioned to one shaken with heavy guitars and bright lights washing over the crowd. The group powered through about six songs, both new and old, such as “Down Down Down” and “I’m so Happy, I Can’t Stop Crying,”

The dark atmosphere returnes with “Shape of My Heart,” and the audience was bathed in blue light from all the phones raised to record this iconic song. The two guitarists even went into an impressive solo together.

Sting sang two more famous oldies and handed the stage back to his son to sing one last song. That song transitioned smoothly into another song that Sting came back to sing, and the group played nonstop for four more iconic songs, including a David Bowie cover, “Walk the Moon." The set ended with a groovy twist of the legendary song “Roxanne.”

The whole band comes back out quickly for an encore of two songs (“Next to You” and “Every Breath You Take”), then Sting took the stage by himself. “I’ll leave you with something quiet and thoughtful,” he told the crowd, speaking about a song he made after watching a movie about James Foley, a journalist murdered by ISIS in 2014, and how he would leave an empty chair for one of his children during Thanksgiving if they were ever held in captivity.

After performing “The Empty Chair,” Sting left the Fillmore audience’s hearts full and satisfied.

(c) The Sun-Sentinel by Emily Walker