Acoustic Live in Newcastle is the second live album released by Sting. It was recorded and released shortly after the studio album The Soul Cages

The Soul Cages

The Soul Cages is the third full length studio album released by Sting. Released in 1991, it became his second No. 1 album in the United Kingdom. It spawned four singles: "All This Time", "Mad About You", "Why Should I Cry For You" and "The Soul Cages"...

, at the Buddle Arts Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, on April 20, 1991. The album includes four tracks from The Soul Cages, as well as a cover of the Bill Withers

Bill Withers

William Harrison "Bill" Withers, Jr. is an American singer-songwriter and musician who performed and recorded from 1970 until 1985. Some of his best-known songs are "Lean on Me", "Ain't No Sunshine", "Use Me", "Just the Two of Us", "Lovely Day", and "Grandma's Hands"...

 song "Ain't No Sunshine".

Background

Acoustic Live in Newcastle was only released as a limited edition box set in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan, and is therefore much sought-after by fans. The venue where the album was recorded is near Sting's birthplace, and the show was an intimate, closed performance for friends, family, and other invited guests. The sound quality is excellent as is typical of Sting recordings. Sting used select musicians from the Soul Cages tour, including Northumbrian smallpipe artist Kathryn Tickell

Kathryn Tickell

Kathryn Tickell is an English player of the Northumbrian smallpipes and fiddle. She has recorded over a dozen albums, and toured widely.-Life and career:...

.

Box set features

The box set of Acoustic Live in Newcastle includes an 89-page book entitled The Illustrated Lyrics that features visual interpretations of several Sting songs by artist Roberto Gligorov. The art is in different styles, including comic book art.

Track listing

1. "Mad About You" (Sting)
2. "Ain't No Sunshine
   Ain't No Sunshine
   "Ain't No Sunshine" is a song by Bill Withers from his 1971 album Just as I Am, produced by Booker T. Jones. The record featured musicians Donald "Duck" Dunn on bass guitar and Al Jackson, Jr. on drums, as well as Withers on lead vocals and guitar. The song was released as a single in September...
   
   " (Withers
   Bill Withers
   William Harrison "Bill" Withers, Jr. is an American singer-songwriter and musician who performed and recorded from 1970 until 1985. Some of his best-known songs are "Lean on Me", "Ain't No Sunshine", "Use Me", "Just the Two of Us", "Lovely Day", and "Grandma's Hands"...
   
   )
3. "Island of Souls" (Sting)
4. "The Wild Wild Sea" (Sting)
5. "The Soul Cages" (Sting)

These recordings were also released as B-sides to the "Seven Days" CD single (tracks 1-2 on one version, tracks 3-5 on another).

Credits

• Sting – vocals, double bass
  Double bass
  The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
  
  
• Dominic Miller
  Dominic Miller
  Dominic Miller is an Argentine-English guitarist who toured and recorded with World Party and King Swamp, worked on Phil Collins' solo album ...But Seriously and played guitar on every Sting album and tour since 1990...
  
   – guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  
• Vinnie Colaiuta
  Vinnie Colaiuta
  Vincent Colaiuta is an American drummer based in Los Angeles. Originally from Republic, Pennsylvania, he began playing drums as a child and received his first full drum kit from his parents at the age of 14...
  
   – drum
  Drum
  The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
  
  s
• David Sancious
  David Sancious
  David Sancious is an American musician. He was an early member of Bruce Springsteen's backing group, the E Street Band, and contributed to the first three Springsteen albums, and again on the 1992 album Human Touch. Sancious is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known as a keyboard player and...
  
   – keyboards
  Keyboard instrument
  A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
  
  
• Kathryn Tickell
  Kathryn Tickell
  Kathryn Tickell is an English player of the Northumbrian smallpipes and fiddle. She has recorded over a dozen albums, and toured widely.-Life and career:...
  
   – Northumbrian smallpipe

External links

• Sting.com A review of the entire show, included unrecorded songs.
• Stingoop.com Release details at "Sting out of print"