Sting says his co-headlining dates with Billy Joel are ‘perfect’: ‘The audience really digs the bill’

On Friday, longtime pals Sting and Billy Joel will co-headline the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas — the latest in a string of joint stadium concerts they’ve been doing and will continue doing into 2025. Sting opens each show, and while he admits he usually wouldn’t do that, he and Billy worked out an arrangement that worked for them both.

“Billy asked me if I would do it. I said, ‘You know … I’m not normally in a support spot. But if you introduce me and we sing a couple of songs together, I’ll be perfectly happy,'” Sting tells ABC Audio. “So Billy comes out the first thing and he introduces me and we sing a song together. Then I come out and do one of his in his set. So it feels very collegiate, and I think the audience really digs the bill. I think it’s perfect.”

At the start of the show, Billy and Sting team up for The Police hit “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”; later, Sting joins Billy for the deep cut “Big Man on Mulberry Street,” from Billy’s 1986 album, The Bridge.

“Billy says that he wrote that song for me … or he had me in mind when he wrote it. So it’s come full circle,” Sting says.

Sting and Billy met back in 1980 when, Sting says, Billy dropped by the venue where he and The Police were performing and said he was a fan. Sting says he admires Billy so much because of his deep musical knowledge.

“I remember spending an evening with him around a piano and he played everything from Beethoven to Gilbert and Sullivan, standards, Ray Charles songs. He could play everything,” says Sting. “He’s a real muso. And I like that.” 

Billy and Sting have shows booked through May 2025.