Mercury Falling

The penultimate entry in my occasional series of concert brochures. It was eleven years ago today that I went to see Sting perform the Mercury Falling concert at Osaka-jo Hall. It was ...... O.K. However, of the rock concerts I've seen, this was the worst. I found Mercury Falling to be something of a meh album, and nothing he released after that has excited me in the least. I love his earlier albums, like Ten Summoners' Tales, Nothing Like The Sun, Dream of the Blue Turtles and Bring On The Night. Musically, the Mercury Falling concert was faultless. What spoiled it was Sting's insistence upon introducing every single song with a  short thesis. Perhaps he forgot, or didn't care, that he was in Japan and that at least half the audience wouldn't have a clue what he was saying. He should have got a reminder when, half way through the concert, he had a fifteen minute intermission where he invited an audience member onto the stage for a friendly chat. More talk!? Unfortunately, the lucky audience member had only a minimal grasp of what Sting was saying which made for an even less entertaining conversation than it might have been.

Anyway, let's not end on a low note. Here is my favourite track from Mercury Falling and a cover version by a rock god which blows Sting's original out of the stadium. To be fair, one could almost believe that Sting wrote this track as an homage to the mighty Johnny Cash.

I Hung My Head - Sting version

I Hung My Head - Johnny Cash version 

This will be my last blip until Tuesday as I am off to Mount Nikko tomorrow to do my 100 kilometers ultramarathon. I'll be back on Monday but probably won't get round to putting my back blips on until Tuesday. Wish me luck, please.