Sting hits out at St James’ Park renaming decision

Nov 6 2009 The Journal

Sting has recently released the album If On A Winter’s Night, which features 15 songs all on a winter theme. He came to Durham in September to record a DVD of the album’s songs with a 40-piece band that included Northumbrian piper Kathryn Tickell.

He said: “I’d not been there for a long time and to be honest I’d forgotten how incredibly beautiful it is. I mean the entire city of Durham is amazing really and now they’ve got rid of the cars you can really take it all in.

“With the cathedral it’s just incredible to look at the architecture but also when you think how old it is, it’s amazing.

“It’s like these rich lords were saying to the population with this wondrous place they’d created: ‘We don’t just own you in this world, we’ve got you in the next life too’.

“But Durham is the place, really. I mean until the Industrial Revolution took hold it was the place in the North East, you forget that Newcastle only came into its own then.

“I find I’m as impressed with the Northumberland coastline as well. I mean that walk from Craster to Dunstanburgh is just amazing.”

Speaking about the recently re-union of his band The Police – which saw them touring to packed stadiums around the world – Sting said: “It was the right time. It was a great exercise in nostalgia, a very successful one – but again, would you want to keep doing that? No, that would be boring.”