Thanks to Dave & Wendy Dunn for the Ticket Stub
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Thanks to Dave & Wendy Dunn for the Ticket Stub |
Hi all from Dave, Wendy and Jeremy just back from Newcastle. Full reports follow but here's the edited highlights.
Dunes was great. Phil Sumner has a great host, a really nice bloke. There was a band playing in Dunes who were excellent and threw in a few Sting and Police numbers to get everyone in the mood. Fantastic to see so many of the mailing list faces, Jeremy, Benjamin (the french hunk from Paris), Sam, Martin, Guido, Tina, Luuk, Magda, Iris, Stina etc etc....Benjamin has taped an interview with Phil (details follow once it has been translated from the Geordie), plus several with other mailing list members (!), and Jeremy and Benjamin were (un)fortunate enough to see Phil take a leak in his beer cellar !
Ross - we enjoyed your Vancouver video. Phil put the video on and all of Dunes was up and singing along with your great performance.
Onto the Arena where Sting's Granny (Agnes) was strutting her stuff, and the Dutch got the mexican waves going. THIRD ROW TICKETS all three of us together, right in front of Kenny Kirkland (whilst Benjamin was in the nosebleeds). The DSA were all in their special commemorative tee-shirts which they had had printed. Into the show and the same set list as Aberdeen, Glasgow and Dublin in exactly the same order. Paul Carrack (ex Squeeze, Mike and The Mechanics and Ace) joined Sting on Lithium Sunset which was a great way to nearly end the show.
For us (Dave & Wendy) it was our first show of the tour and we thought the Butch and Clark were excellent, and really helped make the show more dynamic. And now a word or two from Jeremy who has been on the road now for 76 hours and there's more to come. Well hello again folks This was my fourth show of the tour, and althought the setlist hasnt changed at all, tonights show had an added surprise, we got the backing vocalists for the whole set, which was definately better than the fake backing tracks that his Royal Sting normally uses. It was a pleasure to meet Dave and Wendy (mandatory plug as they are putting me up for the night) and also wonderful to meet Benjamin, I spent most of the time talking to him (not that any of you care). And now a word from our local sponsor!!!!! (*Blatant advertising*). Drum roll please heeerrrrrrrs Wendy:
Tonights sing-a-long contestants were four in number. Two women and two men. One of the men went to the same school as Sting and had a haircut that Sting took a shine too - he had less hair then he did. Sting said - "I didn't teach you did I?," and having been given the answer "No," he said thank God for the classes I taught are aged 30 now and can't read". He had them on stage for a good 3/4 minutes worth of banter and "Little Keith" had some good crack with him. Sting asked him whether he and his girlfriend were intimate. "Yes," says Keith. "How long have your been intimate?," says Sting. "Usually about 5 or 6 minutes," said Keith, and so on...
Well thats all for now - we need sleep....
We were the first to arrive at Dunes about 12 noon just as Phil's resident band "Revolver" were doing their sound check. They sounded good playing Roxanne so that was a promising start. Next up, Jeremy and Sam arrived in Jeremy's rather cool Toyota MR2 and parked right on the seafront outside the bar (Poser !). The wind was blowing hard, and sleet and snow continued to fall. Dunes is right on the seafront and we were treated to the rather bleak sight of the wild wild sea smashing onto the beach as we sat and nursed our drinks. Then a few Outlandos members including Stina from Spain and Iris (Hi Iris !) from Germany arrived. Meanwhile, Phil Sumner had taken a call behind the bar and was heard giving directions....
Whilst we all 'bonded', the bar started to fill with Phil's regular customers. Word got round that the DSA would be late as one of their two coaches had trouble and they decided to wait and all travel together. Revolver hung back and waited for the arrival of the DSA coaches, and once Peterlien, Luuk, Martin N, Magda, Benjamin and about 90 others (including Guido and his friends from Italy) had crammed into the bar the band started. Revolver were pretty good and very loud in the small bar. Playing covers by artists like INXS, Black Crowes, U2, Cameo, Oasis, Paul Weller, the Police and Sting -- the band were well received. Excellent versions of Roxanne, Message in a Bottle and You Still Touch Me left the crowd in an anticapatory mood for the evening.
Tina and two minibuses of Outlandos members were nowhere to be seen, having been caught in the foul weather heading south from Glasgow and the previous night's show. Eventually one minibus turned up with Stevie Welsh, Paul Carter, John Dickson and Jane Sagr arrived but Tina's bus was missing - and several people were waiting for their tickets from her. Mild panic was setting in....
Once the band had finished, Phil was given a video tape of Ross's outstanding solo effort on stage with Sting in Vancouver. If you haven't seen this - it is pretty awesome. Ross (Cool as a Cucumber Like) Viner gets on stage, engages Sting in some banter [asking him to sign a 20 square foot banner!], and then blows Sting sideways by not only singing in tune, but belting out the long notes. Sting's impressed sideways looks are caught well in the video and at one point you actually see him drop the long note on "how its all connected" and let Ross hold the note for him. As the song reaches its climax Ross loses the plot and leaps up and down like a demented madman - as well he should. "Thank you Ross, that wasn't bad" says Sting who looked genuinely impressed. (Note for Jake - if only we had had a tape of you too!]
Whilst the video played the bar was pretty quite as Phil joined in the banter, and everyone watched the screens whilst we yelled encouragement - "Go for it Ross!". Phil did the rounds posing for photos, signing things, (looking suitably embarrassed) and taking Benjamin and later Jeremy into his beer cellar to conduct a 15 minute interview. Once Benjamin has had the tape translated he'll let us know what was said (looking forward to it BJ). Phil was obviously very keen on the band and had hoped to persuade Sting to allow him to join him on stage that night for ISHICSC. This could have given Ross some competition, but as it didn't happen the legend remains intact. As for Phil he was great host, a real down to earth no bullshit type of guy, who found time to speak to everyone and anyone.
In the meantime Tina had arrived to dish out the outstanding tickets and we all started to get ready to leave for the Arena. Thanks to his unplanned interview Benjamin had missed his coach so hitched a lift with us. The Arena is fairly new venue, part financed by the late Chas Chandler (ex-Animal) and Nigel Stanger (ex Newcastle Big Band). Security was lax getting in with no frisking or searching, but once inside the security staff were keen eyed for camera flashes. Paul Carrack played a short support set including "Over my Shoulder," "Tempted" and "How Long," Miles Copeland prowled around the stage area, the press were sheparded to the front and then we were ready for Sting. It was no surprise to find that there were no surprises in the set. The setlist (like Aberdeen's and Glasgow] followed that posted by Rogier recently for the Dublin shows in exactly the same format - if anyone needs it we'll be happy to post it. The backdrops were pretty tasteful and simply done. Sting's voice was in fine form after the worries from the previous night but infact his voice seemed as good as we can ever remember hearing it.
The acoustic version of You Still Touch Me is very good. All the band comes to the front of the stage, Vinnie takes a tambourine, and Kenny his '$7 organ' as they perform this song. Sting introduces 25 to Midnight as what could have happened had he made a different, wrong decision 20 years ago when he left Newcastle and went to London to seek his fortune and fame. The very relaxed banter with the four members who got on stage to sing during ISHICSC was enjoyable and they made a pretty good job of the song too. Some of the stage moves are a little predictable - the shuffle across the stage during BOTN/WTWIRD, the leaning on the amp and looking into the audience before starting Englishman etc...but what the hell, the man rocks and we loved it. Having heard Roxanne live quite a few times now, it is nice to hear it reworked into a very lengthy, brassy version and Butch & Clark's moves were good to see. Lithium Sunset was the great penultimate show-wrapper-upper that we all knew it would be, and there was the added bonus of having Paul Carrack helping out on vocals. We think the band just gets better - watching Vinnie flailing away, losing and replacing drumsticks, all without missing a beat is quite impressive. It was also good to see Sting recognise the area of the arena where many of the Outlandos and DSA fans were, and nod in recognition in their direction.
Then having said our goodbyes to our new friends on the Mailing List, it was time to head south into the freezing fog. Hope you all get back OK. Back home, all kinds of delaying tactics are employed on Jeremy [watch this video Jeremy, another coffee Jeremy?, why not go and send another e-mail to Ross & Bill and wind them up Jeremy?, etc] in order to keep his MR2 parked on our driveway as long as possible in a pathetic attempt to obtain maximum street credit with the neighbours....
Roll on Sheffield on Wednesday, Manchester on Saturday and see some you again in London next week...
Early in the morning I left my hometown for our trip to Newcastle. At the main gate of Europe (Rotterdam) we had to take the ferry to Hull. At the terminal we met our French friend Benjamin. Unfortunately I didn’t get a second chance to sing "Every Breath You Take" for him.......or maybe I should better sing "The Bed’s (hut’s) Too Big Without You" next time? (hahaha)
After a ‘stormy’ crossing we finally arrived at in Newcastle. The luggage quickly dropped at the Grosvenor Hotel - in his student time, Sting had a room in street - and went on our way to Dunes. Thanks to "the wrong directions of some Geordie s.....s" we arrived a little late, but the pub was already filled with loads of fans, habitués and there was a brilliant atmosphere. The first people I ran into were Wendy & Dave.....very nice people and just as I imagined they would be. I was nice to see the faces of other mailing list people like: Sam (the other goatee in the Arena), Jeremy, Ana (all the way from Argentina), Guido (it’s an Norwegian flag), and meet old pals like Martin & Sandra, Iris & Bettie, Dagmar, Christopher and everybody else I forgot again.
The mood was fine, the beer was LUKEwarm and Phil Sumner organized a live Band called "Revolver" for our entertainment. A great band playing some Police covers and other rock hits with pounding waves, rain and wind as a background music.
One of the personal highlights of the meeting was when I went to the Gent’s room. I was getting ride off some superfluous liquids, when some guy came standing next to me. From my left eye corner I saw it was Phil. Cheers! I looked down and thought...gosh...just his brother (sorry Wendy, I already did look at the pics...I told you why!!!)
Another highlight was when Wendy called over Phil to make a nice "all together photo" from the "creators of this idea". She thought that since I came all the way from the continent to Whitley Bay. I couldn’t leave without a photo with Mr. Sumner. Isn’t that sweet of her?! I hope everybody will stick to the paper and should we all have red eyes. We’ll blame the ale.
As far I as could see the fanclub meeting was a big success. Everybody enjoyed it very much. Phil probably never saw so many crazy people all at once. At 6.30 p.m. it was time to leave Dunes and make our way to the Newcastle Arena.
We went from the North Shields over the Tyne Bridge to the south banks of the Tyne.
Inside the hall again many many familiar faces. A lot of the people who traveled in from Glasgow got stuck in the traffic because of snow storms in Scotland and Northern England. The Arena was the first place to meet them and have a nice chat. Our seats were great, the security sucked, but they couldn’t stop us having a great time. At 8.45 p.m. the show finally started and Sting came on stage dressed in black, a bald head and something on his chin; maybe it was dirt?! Sting played the "usual" set list, though he made some musical changes in some songs.
* Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot" started normal, but then the rolls changed and the girls take over the song part and Sting did the backing vocals.
* "25 To Midnight" was played with another beat (not an improvement in my opinion).
* "You Still Touch Me" was performed acoustically. I love this version. All the band members came in front of the stage. Kenny playing on his 8 dollar keyboard, Vinnie on the tambourine, Dom and Sting on their acoustic guitars and together with the back ground singers and the horn section they were all lined up.
* "Bring On/When The World " had a new jam in the middle. I don’t know what it is, but it seems they keep extending the song every time I see it, but I really have no problem with that.
Why don’t you put this live version on a B-side of the next single and we ask for any other B-side? Just a 2 track Mr. Copeland, would be preferred above a single with crap!!?
Bringing up the subject "Miles"...during "Every Breath You Take" Miles came into the Arena stopped next to me and enjoyed the song for a moment...yes, I know; another opportunity missed.
Of course "Fragile" meant the end of the show. Sting messed up when he tried to play it a bit more funky (didn’t he Andrew; it sounded like his big fingers got stuck between all snares like you see in a cartoon sometimes), but we’ll forgive (again), cause it was a hell of a day, so not a negative note from my tongue.
Security kicked us out of the hall pretty quickly. I could all bore you with what happened afterwards and on our way back, but I hope this gives you a little impression a the fantastic night in Newcastle.
Monsieur Vincent did some exclusive interviews with some of the gang, so you’ll be HEARING from us.
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