Sting to Headline NBA All-Star Game Halftime Show
Sting will headline the 2016 NBA All-Star Game halftime show, set to take place February 14th at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Fuse reports.
The former Police frontman will reportedly play a medley of his hits, while the festivities will also feature a performance by Cirque du Soleil during player introductions. The acrobatic troupe will weave together dance and technology to illustrate “the story of a basketball dream.”
The All-Star game tips off at 8:30 p.m. ET on TNT.
This year’s All-Star weekend will also feature Toronto’s very own, Drake, serving as head coach of Team Canada in the All-Star Celebrity Game, set for February 12th. Team USA will be coached by comedian (and four-time Celebrity Game MVP) Kevin Hart. While both rosters are stacked with former NBA players and other athletes and entertainers, Drake’s Team Canada boasts headband hero and Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler, who made his debut last year
“I was always treated as a post player, because I’m tall,” he told Rolling Stone in 2014. “But in my twenties, I realized that I could actually shoot. So I’m much more of a scorer now.”
As for Sting, the musician’s halftime set preempts his Rock Paper Scissor Tour with Peter Gabriel, which is set to kick off June 21st at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. In an interview with The Associated Press, Sting compared the 19-date trek to his 2014 joint tour with Paul Simon, saying, “We traded songs, we traded musicians, we sang together. And the take home that people got from that was they loved it when we did things together.”