Sting Plays Early Career Gem ‘I Burn for You’ for First Time in 34 Years

Sting dug out one of his deepest cuts, “I Burn for You,” for the first time in 34 years during his concert in Toronto over the weekend.

Sting casually slotted the song — which he first recorded with his pre-Police band, Last Exit — into the middle of his set list at Toronto’s Massey Hall on Saturday, Sept. 21. Based on a fan-shot video, there may have been a couple of fans in the crowd who picked up on what was happening during the song’s opening guitar arpeggios, but everyone seemed to erupt once Sting began singing the first verse (before quickly hushing up to take in the moment).

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The one caveat to this rare occurrence is that Sting did technically play “I Burn for You” at a pair of special soundcheck performances for fan club members in Paris and Budapest in 2022. But the last time he performed the song at a full-fledged concert was all the way back in 1990 in Montevideo, Uruguay (per Setlist.fm).

Last Exit first recorded “I Burn for You” in the Seventies, and the Police re-recorded it in 1981. That version appeared on the soundtrack for the 1982 film, Brimstone & Treacle (in which Sting also had a co-starring role), but never on an actual Police album. In 2022, a longer version of the song was included on the picture disc reissue of the Police’s 1981 album Ghost in the Machine; and the track also appears on the massive new Synchronicity box set.

Sting and his band Sting 3.0 — featuring drummer Chris Maas and guitarist Dominic Miller — just kicked off their headlining North American tour. The run continues with two more shows in Toronto, Sept. 24 and 25, and extends all the way through October, wrapping with four nights in Los Angeles in November.

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