In a recent interview with Rick Beato, Stewart Copeland shared the unusual reason he ended up breaking Sting’s ribs.
When Beato asked if Copeland and Sting ever had fistfights, the drummer responded, “Oh, no no we did have fights but not in anger, only when we’re laughing.” He then explained the incident, “I broke his rib one time when we were laughing so hard. This is on stage at Shea Stadium. We do our soundcheck and we are having a great time.”
Copeland continued, recalling the situation: “Sting grabs my New York Times, I’m like, ‘F*ck, gimme my…’ So we end up in a tug-of-war with my New York Times. I finally had to apply a knee to his chest to get my f*cking newspaper back. And we’re both laughing hysterically by the way. And then, ‘Oh, f*ck. F*ck, Copeland! God Dammit! You always overdo it.'”
He added, “Okay, and I got my paper back and we played one of the best shows we ever played that night. It was just a magic night. Just building to a crescendo. Next day, he’s still feeling a little something like that and he gets an X-ray and he’s got a hairline crack in his rib. But no, we never fought in earnest. We had psychological weapons that were much more devastating [laughs].”
Earlier this year, Copeland spoke about his relationship with the other members of The Police, saying, “We had a great bond, which wasn’t strong enough to make recording together very easy.”
He also shared, “We tore each other’s throats out in the studio but those two motherf*ckers came up with incredible stuff and we got on really well on stage, in the van, on the plane. To this day we still send each other dumb Instagram clips. It’s a myth that Sting and I fought all the time. I broke his rib once, but we were play-fighting.”
The Police disbanded in 1984 due to various reasons, including internal conflicts and age differences. However, the band reunited for a tour in 2007–2008 to celebrate their 30th anniversary. The tour became one of the highest-grossing tours of all time, earning over $360 million.
