Artist.......: Sting
Album........: 57th & 9th Tour (Olympia - Paris)
Label........: n/a
Genre........: Rock
Catnr........: n/a
Source.......: DVBS
Rip.date.....: 2017-08-19
Str.date.....: 2017-04-00
Quality......: 219kbps/48.0kHz/Joint Stereo
Url..........: http://www.sting.com/
track title time
1. 57th & 9th Tour (Olympia - Paris) 89:39
* Where Do You Go?
* Synchronicity II
* Spirits in the Material World
* Englishman in New York
* I Can't Stop Thinking About You
* One Fine Day
* She's Too Good for Me
* I Hung My Head
* Shape of My Heart
* Message in a Bottle
* Ashes to Ashes
* 50,000
* Walking on the Moon
* So Lonely
* Desert Rose
* Roxanne / Ain't No Sunshine
* Every Breath You Take
* Fragile
Runtime 89:39
Size 140.87
Release Notes:
Born 2 October 1951, in Wallsend, north-east England, Gordon Sumner's life
started to change the evening a fellow musician in the Phoenix Jazzmen caught
sight of his black and yellow striped sweater and decided to re-christen him
Sting. Sting paid his early dues playing bass with local outfits The Newcastle
Big Band, The Phoenix Jazzmen, Earthrise and Last Exit, the latter of which
featured his first efforts at song writing. Last Exit were big in the North
East, but their jazz fusion was doomed to fail when punk rock exploded onto the
music scene in 1976. Stewart Copeland, drummer with Curved Air, saw Last Exit on
a visit to Newcastle and while the music did nothing for him he did recognise
the potential and charisma of the bass player. The two hooked up shortly
afterwards and within months, Sting had left his teaching job and moved to
London.
Seeing punk as flag of convenience, Copeland and Sting - together with Corsican
guitarist Henri Padovani - started rehearsing and looking for gigs. Ever the
businessman, Copeland took the name The Police figuring it would be good
publicity, and the three started gigging round landmark punk venues like The
Roxy, Marquee, Vortex and Nashville in London. Replacing Padovani with the
virtuoso talents of Andy Summers the band also enrolled Stewart's elder brother
Miles as manager, wowing him with a Sting song called 'Roxanne'. Within days
Copeland Senior had them a record deal. But the hip London music press saw
through The Police's punk camouflage and did little to disguise their contempt,
and the band's early releases had no chart success. So The Police did the
unthinkable - they went to America.
The early tours are the stuff of legend - bargain flights to the USA courtesy of
Freddie Laker's pioneering Skytrain; driving their own van and humping their own
equipment from gig to gig; and playing to miniscule audiences at the likes of
CBGB's in New York and The Rat Club in Boston. Their tenacity paid off though as
they slowly built a loyal following, got some all important air-play, and won
over their audiences with a combination of new wave toughness and reggae
rhythms.
They certainly made an odd trio: guitarist Summers had a career dating back to
the mid-60s, the hyper-kinetic Copeland was a former prog-rocker, and Sting's
background was in trad jazz and fusion. The sound the trio made was unique
though, and Sting's pin-up looks did them no harm at all. The band returned to
the UK to find the reissued 'Roxanne' single charting, and played a sell-out
tour of mid-size venues. The momentum had started. The debut album 'Outlandos
d'Amour' (Oct 78) delivered three sizeable hits with 'Roxanne', 'Can't Stand
Losing You' and 'So Lonely' which in turn led to a headlining slot at the '79
Reading Festival which won the band some fine reviews, but it was with 'Reggatta
de Blanc' (Oct 79) that the band stepped up a gear.
Reggatta's first single, 'Message In A Bottle', streaked to number one and the
album's success was consolidated further when 'Walking On The Moon' also hit the
top slot. The band was big, but about to get even bigger. 1980 saw them
undertake a world tour with stops on all continents - including the first rock
concerts in Bombay - and the band eventually returned to the UK exhausted, for
two final shows in Sting's hometown of Newcastle. Much of this groundbreaking
tour was captured on the 'Police Around The World' video and a BBC documentary
entitled 'The Police in the East'.
Within weeks, the band were in a Dutch studio recording new material but Sting's
stock of pre-Police songs and ideas were wearing out. When 'Zenyatta Mondatta'
was released (Oct 80) although it sold well and produced another number one
single in 'Don't Stand So Close To Me' and a top five hit with 'De Do Do Do, De
Da Da Da' a rethink was required. Sting later admitted that he felt 'Zenyatta'
was the band's weakest album but by the end of 1980 the band were undoubtedly
the biggest-selling band in the country selling out two shows in a huge marquee
on Tooting Bec Common in London.
Changes materialised on 1981's 'Ghost In The Machine', a rich, multilayered
album which was augmented not only by Jean Roussel's keyboards and Sting's self
taught saxophone playing, but by particularly strong writing contributions from
both Copeland and Summers. The album still had the now expected clutch of hit
singles with 'Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic' making number one, the bleak
'Invisible Sun' reaching number two (despite a BBC ban being slapped on its
video) and 'Spirits In The Material World' also charting, but it was a much
darker and complex album than its predecessors and, to many, more satisfying.
During this period Sting took the lead role in Richard Loncraine's big-screen
version of Dennis Potter's controversial play "Brimstone and Treacle" as well as
in the BBC production "Artemis '81". In the late 70's he had appeared in a
couple of movies - a minor part in Chris Petit's "Radio On" and an excellent
cameo in Franc Roddam's "Quadrophenia" but "Brimstone and Treacle" was a major
role and Sting took up a good deal of screen time opposite Joan Plowright and
Denholm Elliot. The Police also contributed music to the movie's soundtrack and
indeed Sting had a surprise solo hit with the track 'Spread A Little Happiness'.
Also during this period he made his first solo appearances at 'The Secret
Policeman Ball' benefits in aid of Amnesty International demonstrating a
burgeoning interest in humanitarian causes.
Sting and The Police decamped to Air Studios in Montserrat to begin recording
what would be their final studio album, 'Synchronicity', at the turn of 1983.
The album was preceded by the release of a new single 'Every Breath You Take'
(May 83) which immediately went to number one on both sides of the Atlantic and
simply stayed there. Dressed up as a love song, the song was anything but - its
sinister theme being one of obsession and surveillance. More than twenty years
later, the song is one of the most played records on American radio having
clocked more than seven million plays. With such a stand-out track the album
couldn't fail and it duly took its rightful place at the top of the world's
charts as the band started a spectacular stadium tour of the States, the high
spot of which was a sell-out show in New York's Shea Stadium. Further hit
singles in the shape of 'Wrapped Around Your Finger', 'King of Pain' and
'Synchronicity II' helped maintain the album's success, but despite the album
collecting three Grammies awards, the writing was on the wall for The Police.
The band's tense relationship was slowly breaking down and after the Shea
Stadium show Sting told the others that it was time to take a break. The
'Synchronicity' tour finished in March 1984 and the three went their separate
ways. Copeland to movie scoring, Summers to guitar duets and jazz, and Sting
initially to acting. A lead role in "The Bride" and supporting parts in "Plenty"
and "Julia and Julia" followed before Sting picked up a guitar again. And when
he did, it was not a bass.
In June 1985, Sting released his first solo album 'The Dream Of The Blue
Turtles' and it was a revelation. Featuring the cream of America's young, black
jazz musicians - Branford Marsalis, Kenny Kirkland, Omar Hakim and Darryl Jones
- the album showed that Sting had lost none of his songwriting ability by being
outside of the Police camp. The new material had a more political stance - 'We
Work The Black Seam' dealt with the miner's strike, 'Children's Crusade' with
drugs, and 'Russians' with the West's demonisation of communism. He even wrote
what he termed "an antidote song" to 'Every Breath You Take' in the shape of 'If
You Love Somebody Set Them Free'. The album was premiered in a series of shows
at Paris's Mogador Theatre - a period captured in Michael Apted's rockumentary
"Bring On The Night" - and the band were magnificent. The success of the album,
a solo appearance at Live Aid, and a well received world tour were proof that
Sting had no need for the safety net of The Police - he had not only a retained
a fan base he had started to build another one.
'...Nothing Like The Sun' (Oct 1987) was another strong collection of songs,
containing perennial favourites 'Englishman In New York' and 'Fragile'. Sting
even got himself banned from Chilean radio thanks to 'They Dance Alone', a
haunting song that resulted from his meeting with some of South America's
"Mothers of the Disappeared". Released shortly afterwards was a mini-album 'Nada
Como El Sol' which featured several of the album's songs in Spanish and
Portuguese, and which strengthened his popularity further in Latin America. His
new band included Kirkland and Marsalis, Delmar Brown, Jeff Campbell and Tracey
Wormworth, with Sting content to sing, dance and play occasional guitar. In mid
tour, Sting joined the Amnesty International "Human Rights Now!" tour alongside
Bruce Springsteen and Peter Gabriel for several huge fundraising concerts.
The loss of his parents in quick succession had hit Sting hard and one of the
worldÆs most famous songwriters was suffering from writers block. Returning to
his childhood memories for inspiration, Sting produced 1991Æs 'The Soul Cages'.
Depending on your point of view it was either impenetrably dense or his
strongest work - only the listener can decide. The album still sold well, the
title track collected a Grammy, and the live shows saw a stripped down rock band
of Dominic Miller (guitar), Vinnie Colaiuta (drums) and David Sancious
(keyboards) with Sting returning to the bass. During the tour a very popular MTV
unplugged session was recorded in New York and this was followed by a small
acoustic gig at a Wallsend Arts Centre some of which was released on the
Acoustic Live In Newcastle set.
Sting and Trudie married in 1992, and bought Lake House in Wiltshire where the
writing and recording of 'Ten Summoner's Tales' took place (Mar 1993). As upbeat
as 'The Soul Cages' was downbeat, it was a remarkable album, and won universal
praise from the critics. The album contained instantly likeable tracks such as
'If I Ever Lose My Faith In You', 'Fields Of Gold', 'Seven Days' and 'Shape of
My Heart'. It also hinted at what was to come on later albums with its mix of
musical genres and styles. During the inevitable world tour he found time to
record a Stateside number one by performing with Bryan Adams and Rod Stewart on
'All For Love' from the "The Three Musketeers" soundtrack and to add another
three Grammies to his awards collection. The following year saw the release of
the retrospective 'Fields Of Gold - The Very Best of Sting 1984-1994' which
included two new tracks 'This Cowboy Song' and 'When We Dance'.
During 1995 Sting was writing and recording songs for a new album, 'Mercury
Falling' (Mar 1996) a release which showed an increasing tendency for him to
risk commercial success by writing primarily to please himself and his band.
Foregoing standard pop and rock fare, he was now writing country tunes such as
'I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying', bossa nova such as 'La Belle Dame Sans
Regrets', gospel tinged material such as 'Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot' and songs
in devilishly difficult time signatures like 'I Hung My Head'.
He was also becoming more involved in contributing songs to movie soundtracks -
there had always been a demand for Police songs, but in 1993 he had been
approached to write the theme song for "Lethal Weapon 3", and together with Eric
Clapton and Michael Kamen he duly complied with 'It's Probably Me'. A reworking
of The Police's 'Demolition Man' followed for the film of the same name, as did
the recording of several jazz standards for the "Leaving Las Vegas" and
"Sabrina" soundtracks. 'Mercury Falling' continued this trend with 'Valparaiso',
which was used in the movie "White Squall". Puff Daddy's reworking of 'Every
Breath You Take' (in the shape of 'I'll Be Missing You') brought Sting's earlier
work to the notice of a new generation, and he and Pras from the Fugees reworked
'Roxanne' in 1997. Further soundtrack contributions to "The Mighty" and the
remake of "The Thomas Crown Affair" followed, as did a cameo acting role in the
biggest British movie of 1998, "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels". During
this time he was also writing songs for Disney for the soundtrack to the 'The
Emperor's New Groove' movie which was released in 2000.
The highly anticipated 'Brand New Day' album (Sep 1999) proved to be Sting's
most popular album in terms of sales - in excess of eight million copies
world-wide. If 'Mercury Falling' mixed genres, 'Brand New Day' took it a step
further - the title track was full of optimism and renewal, a true millennium
message. The remarkable, arabesque 'Desert Rose' featured the prince of rai
music, Cheb Mami, and brought arabic flavoured music to traditionally
conservative US radio. 'Fill Her Up' crossed country with gospel, 'Perfect
Love...Gone Wrong' included French rap, and 'Big Lie Small World' was gentle
bossa nova. This was undoubtedly one of Sting's finest albums.
The subsequent tour was a staggering success with Sting playing his longest ever
tour - close to 300 shows in 45 countries to just under 3 million people. As the
tour finished in July with two celebratory show at London's Hyde Park, Sting was
already planning his next project. He would take the 'Brand New Day' songs back
to their birthplace - Italy - where he would record a live album in front of an
audience of fan club members and friends that would see the material reworked
and remodelled. Plans for a simultaneous webcast of the concert on September 11
were postponed as a mark of respect for the victims of the heinous terrorist
acts in the USA, but the show went ahead and the results can be heard on the
compelling 'All This Time' album/DVD. The powerful emotions of that evening can
be heard throughout the performance from band and audience alike. Sting not only
kept his promise to rework the songs from the 'Brand New Day' album but he also
delved deep into his back catalogue producing magical versions of solo
favourites like 'All This Time' and 'When We Dance', as well as reworkings of
Police classics like 'Roxanne' and 'Don't Stand So Close To Me'.
After the end of the mammoth 'Brand New Day' world tour Sting contributed
further songs to a number of movie soundtracks including 'Until...' (from Kate &
Leopold) and 'You Will Be My Ain True Love' (from Cold Mountain), with both
songs receiving nominations for Golden Globe and Oscar recognition. He also took
time out to write a critically acclaimed memoir entitled "Broken Music", which
was a fascinating and revealing account of his life from childhood to the first
flushes of fame with The Police.
'Sacred Love' (Sep 2003) was accompanied by a sumptuous DVD companion piece
recorded in Los Angeles. The subsequent tour which started in January 2004 was a
lavish production with backscreens and video incorporated into the show. A tour
of small theatres in the USA was followed by a visit to Europe before a return
to the US for a summer amphitheatre tour headlining with Annie Lennox. A further
visit to Europe was followed by Australasian dates including two shows in India
and a Tsunami Benefit concert in Australia which raised an estimate d£1.6m.
2004 also saw Sting recognised as Musicares' Person of the Year, made a
Commander of the British Empire (CBE) by Queen Elizabeth II, and at an emotional
event back home in Newcastle he was honoured by the Variety Club of Great
Britain. He and Mary J. Blige also collected a further Grammy award for
'Whenever I Say Your Name'.
With only a matter of weeks passing since the finish of the 'Sacred Love' tour,
Sting was ready for a change. With a new stripped down, rockier sounding four
piece band comprising bass, two guitars (Dominic Miller and Shane Fontayne) and
drums (Josh Freese) he undertook a six week tour billed as 'Broken Music'
playing a career spanning mix of tunes across the US in mainly college venues
and cities he has not previously played. Sting also took the opportunity on this
tour to visit many colleges as a guest lecturer where he spoke to English
classes about the process of writing his memoir and to music classes about
songwriting and the music business.
Spring 2006 saw Sting return to his home town where he was awarded an Honorary
Doctorate in Music by Newcastle University, and the summer months saw him take
the 'Broken Music' tour to Europe where he played in 27 countries in two months
with a slightly revised line up of Dominic Miller and Lyle Workman on guitars
and Abe Laboriel Jr. on drums. These shows proved as successful with fans and
critics alike as the previous Spring's jaunt around the States had done.
As unpredictable as ever, October 2006 saw Sting turn his attentions to a
long-standing interest in the work of acclaimed Elizabethan songwriter John
Dowland, with the release of 'Songs From The Labyrinth', an album featuring the
talents of virtuoso Bosnian lutenist Edin Karamazov. Sting explained, "I'm not a
trained singer for this repertoire, but I'm hoping that I can bring some
freshness to these songs that perhaps a more experienced singer wouldn't give.
For me they are pop songs written around 1600 and I relate to them in that way;
beautiful melodies, fantastic lyrics, and great accompaniments." The album was a
critical and commercial success topping classical charts across the world with
the album outselling all previous Dowland releases in its first week of release.
Indeed, despite its release late in the year, the album was the best selling
classical album of both 2006 and 2007 on the Billboard end of year chart.
In February 2007, Sting stunned everyone when together with Stewart Copeland and
Andy Summers The Police reformed for a performance at the annual Grammy awards,
where he announced, "We're The Police and we're back!" At a press conference in
Los Angeles' Whisky A Go-Go club the following day the band performed again and
confirmed what was now the world's worst kept secret: that they would be
starting a world tour. After rehearsals in Italy and Canada the band opened
their tour with a final rehearsal performance for fan club members and two
further shows at Vancouver's GM Place in May 2007. A heady combination of
nostalgia from older fans who saw the band first time round and intrigue from
younger ones who only knew the band from their recordings was supported by
ecstatic press reviews and shows sold out around the world in record time as
more than 2.5 million tickets were sold.
The reformed band proved even more popular than on their 'Synchronicity' tour
with sold out shows at many of the most historic and renowned stadiums around
the world including: Fenway Park (Boston); Wrigley Field (Chicago); Dodger
Stadium (Los Angeles); Twickenham Stadium (London); Stade de France (Paris);
Croke Park (Dublin) and River Plate Stadium (Buenos Aires). The Dublin show
alone saw the band play to more than 81,000 fans - their largest ever audience.
Among the accolades garnered by the tour were "Major Tour of The Year"
(Pollstar), as well as "Tour of the Year" and "Top Selling Tour of 2007"
(Billboard Magazine). In February 2008 the band announced a third tour swing
through North America supported by Elvis Costello and the Imposters, which in
addition to their summer tour of festivals and stadiums in Europe would see the
band on the road until August 2008.
A handful of concert appearances in mid 2009 disguised the fact that Sting was
also recording a new solo album, and naturally, it was not what was expected.
Taking the winter as it's over-arching theme, Sting instead recorded a selection
of ancient hymns, carols, folk songs and re-recorded a small selection of his
own songs with a hugely talented group of musicians including Dominic Miller and
Kathryn Tickell. The resulting album 'If On A Winter's Night...' was release in
Autumn 2009, and the songs on the album received a world premiere in the
magnificent setting of Durham cathedral, in Sting's native northeast England
where the two performances were also filmed for a feature length DVD/TV
programme. Further shows in New York, Paris and Baden Baden followed before
Christmas 2009.
2010 found Sting performing occasional live shows in places like Dubai,
Venezuela and Colombia with a core band of Dominic Miller and David Sancious and
one of a selection of drummers - Vinnie Colauita, Abe Laboriel Jr and Josh
Freese - depending on their respective availability. The main live activity of
the year though was the 'Symphonicity' tour with the Royal Philaharmonic Concert
Orchestra and a quintet consisting of Dominic Miller, David Cossin, Jo Lawry,
Rhai Krija and Ira Coleman. The tour found him performing his most celebrated
songs re-imagined for symphonic arrangement, conducted by Steven Mercurio
(Pavarotti, Bocelli). The tour played across North America in June and July,
arriving in Europe in the autumn and continues in Australasia in 2011. An album
of studio recorded tracks, 'Symphonicities', was released in July 2010 with a
live CD/DVD recorded at Berlin's O2 World released in late November before the
tour headed back to Europe in the summer of 2011 with dates conducted by Sarah
Hicks.
The autumn of 2011 saw Sting celebrate his 60th birthday with a star studded
concert at New York's Beacon Theatre where artists including Bruce Springsteen,
Stevie Wonder and Lady Gaga all performed. An innovative iPad app also
accompanied a lavish boxed set retrospective collection entitled 'Sting: 25
Years'. In October 2011 Sting was on tour once again, this time in a stripped
down format under the banner of 'Back To Bass'. The string of North American
dates were performed with Dominic Miller, his son Rufus Miller, Vinnie Colaiuta,
violinist Peter Tickell and vocalist Jo Lawry. In early 2012, Sting held some
development performances of his work-in-progress, the musicial play 'The Last
Ship' in Newcastle. These were read throughs with local actors and new material
was played publicly for the first time. The Back To Bass tour then continued
throughout 2012 across Europe and parts of Asia with the addition of keyboardist
David Sancious, and revisited North America and Europe through the summer of
2013.
September 2013 saw the release of 'The Last Ship', the first album of original
material since 2003's 'Sacred Love'. Inspired by the play of the same name the
album explores the central themes of homecoming and self-discovery, drawing upon
his memories of growing up in the shadow of the Swan Hunters Shipyard in
Wallsend. To coincide with the release Sting performed ten benefit shows
featuring the new material at New York's Public Theatre in September/October
2013. 'The Last Ship' had a well-received off-Broadway run in Chicago during
summer 2014 and opened on Broadway in late September that year running for over
100 performances. In between these bouts of activity on 'The Last Ship', Sting
and Paul Simon found time to undertake an arena tour together across North
America in February and March 2014 that saw them performing solo sets and
together. These shows were extremely well received critically, and led to
further dates in Australia, New Zealand and Europe in 2015. Immediately the tour
with Paul Simon finished Sting then performed three sold out Last Ship benefit
shows on Tyneside to benefit the Sage GatesheadÆs 10th birthday appeal, and
performed at a string of outdoor dates and festivals in Europe during summer
2015.
In Summer 2016, Sting and Peter Gabriel undertook the critically acclaimed
"Rock, Paper, Scissors" tour - a short 21 date summer tour of North America. The
dates saw Sting and Gabriel performing an intriguing set with both bands on
stage throughout the performances even performing each other's songs. After a
few solo summer European shows took place, Sting announced a new "rock" album
'57th & 9th' (named after the location in NYC of the studio where the album was
recorded) would be released in November 2016.
As ever, Sting continues to intrigue and surprise...
RLS-Crc: 51554245:34F23BC24222