1988 03 03 (The "Mr.Sting" show).
Frank Zappa Tells The Tale Of The Night He Dueted With Sting
Listen to the story along with an unedited performance of FZ and Sting on a Police classic.
"Perhaps prompted by Frank’s reassurance of his always stellar band and after hearing a number of songs about “the near collapse of 1980’s television evangelical broadcasters (think Jim and Tammy Bakker, Pat Robertson and, Jimmy Swaggart),” as per TheAaronChannel, Sting does indeed take the stage.
In the style of a TV evangelist with the band expertly following his punctuations, Sting proceeds to tell about his own experience with Jimmy Swaggart. As he relates, Swaggart said that “Murder By Numbers” was “written by Satan” and performed by “the sons of Satan.” “I wrote that song,” Sting said, before the band launched into an outstanding jazzy rendition of the Synchronicity closer with Sting delivering a powerhouse vocal performance complete with an FZ guitar solo.
Frank was undoubtedly impressed by Sting’s chops as well as the Swaggart story. Sting also had a great time and wrote Frank to thank him and ask for the sheet music to “The Idiot Bastard Son,” which he would later perform on his 1988 tour."
“There’s no way you can lose because this band will always make you look good,” Frank said in an audio clip in the video."
That band included :
guitarists Ike Willis and Mike Keneally,
keyboardist Bobby Martin,
bassist Scott Thunes,
drummer Chad Wackerman,
percussionist Ed Mann,
trumpeter Walt Fowler,
trombonist Bruce Fowler,
alto saxophonist Paul Carman,
tenor saxophonist Albert Wing and
baritone saxophonist Kurt McGettrick.
Setlist:
01 Crowd, Tuning [0:49]
02 The Black Page (Intro, Voter Registration Rap) [1:23]
03 The Black Page [7:29]
04 We're Turning Again [4:47] °°° flawed portion replaced with bethke source material {3:35-3:45}
05 Alien Orifice [4:16]
06 Any Kind Of Pain [6:04]
07 Why Don't You Like Me? [parts on BTHW] [3:08]
08 Texas Motel Medley [8:52]
09 When The Lie's So Big [3:29]
10 Jesus Thinks You're A Jerk [7:20] °°° tf/bethke-pbuzby source patch {7:02-end}
11 Sofa [2:48] °°° tf/bethke-pbuzby source patch {0:00-0:03}
12 Intermission (incl. Jazz From Hell) [0:34] °°° cuts at 0:09 & 0:16
13 Preamble to Set Two [1:04] °°° cuts in
14 Stolen Moments [parts on BTHW] [2:51]
15 Murder By Numbers (featuring Mr.Sting)* (incl. Stolen Moments Reprise) [BTHW] [8:35]
16 I Ain't Got No Heart [1:55]
17 Love Of My Life [2:13]
18 City Of Tiny Lights [8:04]
19 A Pound For A Brown [10:19]
20 Stairway To Heaven [8:27] °°° drop out/skip at 7:56-57, no fill available
21 encore break [0:40] °°° cuts in
22 Whipping Post [6:28]
23 I Am The Walrus [5:05]
24 encore break #2 [0:34] °°° cuts in, no music missing
25 Catholic Girls [parts on YCDTOSA6] [4:15]
26 Crew Slut [parts on YCDTOSA6] [5:53]
27 encore break #3 [0:50] °°° cuts in, no music missing
28 Strictly Genteel [6:36]
Total time (patched version) 124.47 mins
![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Q6XcvlVe_3o/maxresdefault.jpg)