U.S. Rehearsals Begin

The London rehearsals went well, but now it’s both bands together, Sting’s and Peter’s - and things are more complex.

Having identified Peter’s band members on the previous diary page, I should let you know who’s onstage with Sting, since you’ll be seeing their pictures from here on.

Dominic Miller on guitar, Vinnie Colaiuta on drums, David Sancious on keyboards (yes, David, who’s played with Peter many times through the years, is here.) Jo Lawry is singing backup vocals, Peter Tickell is playing violin and mandolin, and Rhani Krija is playing percussion.

It’s really fun seeing the players intermingle

Two sets of crew, also. So, lots of old friends to greet, lots of new people to meet.

We’ve still got a lot of sorting out of what songs will be played, and who will play what, but one thing for sure - there’s a huge amount of talent on the stage!

And, speaking of Sting (!) … I had the chance not only to see his old Fender Precision up close, but to play it too. It’s quite a bass.

Let’s call this little section: The Battle of the Battered Basses

Or, The Incident of Injured Instruments… or The Adjacence of Aged Axes…

Well, anyway, here’s his bass:

You gotta love when an instrument holds the battle scars and weathering from all the music that’s been played on it, the club dates and tours done with it.

Not even counting the great music Sting has played on it, this bass, for sure, is a unique and very special instrument.

But, hold on a minute… I also have a bass on the tour that’s been through a lot.

Let’s compare battle scars!

I don’t usually take this bass out on the road because it’s a tad fragile, but it’ll be worth having it when we play some of the old pieces. The bass is a MusicMan StingRay which had a custom outline of my face on it that seemed like a good idea to me, back in the 80’s(!)

Then it was in a fire in 1996. It survived, but the heat turned it’s white finish amber in color… and much of the body turned to charcoal. Some injections of epoxy made it strong enough to play again - but it had dried out, become lighter weight and hence a tad… tubbier sounding, which I like a lot. The pock marks on the right are from when I first started playing with Funk Fingers… they weren’t wrapped in rubber as they now are, and my aim was.. very poor!

So I submit the Toast Bass as my ‘battered bass’ of the tour.

Speaking of basses… (Well, you have to grant me, I don’t often write about basses here on the road diary).. A bit of a red theme has been mentioned for Peter’s band - I don’t know in what regard, but Michele has been tweaking some of the basses…