Sting came to Cork on 18th June as part of his 3.0 European tour . . . naturally, it was sold out.

. . . but the man still found time to help me out . . .

I was at the wedding of my lovely niece in the UK in May and in the course of conversation I mentioned my guitar painting and fundraising activities for the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s research, and that I had a Sting guitar done and would love to get it signed. The grooms Uncle, told me, in a very understated fashion, that he might be able to help . . .

. . . well blow me down if i didn’t receive an email from the Sting man himself . . . saying he would be delighted to sign the six string on his visit to Cork and he’d see me there!

So Off We Went . . .

Sting had arranged with his people that I be smoothly ushered into the backstage area, so offwe went, my son Joey drove the two of us up to Cork, we even got parked in the backstage area with all the tour people . . . fantastic . . . and meeting the man was a real treat because I first saw him performing live in 1975 in Newcastle upon Tyne, where we both grew up . . . we also went to the same school, St Cuthbert’s Grammar School in the west end of the city, (a two bus trip every morning . .. on the top deck . . . inhaling everyone’s cigarettes . . . including my own) . . . but he was three or four years ahead of me. He used to play with a group called Last Exit and they played a pub called ‘The Gosforth’ on a Wednesday night and the University Theatre, downtown, on a Sunday Lunchtime. I always remember his voice, cutting through all the traffic outside, I could hear him way before we entered the building.

Remember . . .

. . . if you like any of the content on my site please give a little tip to the Michael J Fox Foundation and help out with Parkinson’s Research. You can donate here: https://give.michaeljfox.org/juddotheguitartist