Photos: Todd Johnson

MAPLEWOOD, MINN. — The Myth Live theater is a tiny concert venue for the likes of Sting, yet the rock legend (and jazz tinkerer) brought his “57th & 9th Tour” to the club, just north of St. Paul Thursday for an incredible evening.

Sting started off the show himself with a new acoustic ballad “Heading South on the Great Northern Road.” Shortly afterward he introduced someone he “has known all my life,” vocal doppelgänger Joe Sumner, to play a few tunes of his own.

After a second opening act, Tex-Mex band The Last Bandoleros, Sting returned  to rock the packed-yet-small crowd with anti-lemming anthem “Synchronicity II.” He and his band sprinkled in songs from the new album throughout his set, there was no shortage of vintage mega-hits like “Roxanne” and “Every Breath You Take.” Others like “Desert Rose” were given a live makeover unique to the original studio versions.

Follow photographer Todd Johnson at Twitter.com/ToddJ, Instagram.com/burdell1 and Facebook.com/toddbjohnsonphotograpy.