December 9 - Murder By Numbers

So yesterday's challenge was related to Frank Zappa's 1988 tour again. On this tour, it seemed like he had two major agendas. One was to register people to vote. I don't know how many voter registrations his concert gathered, but he did have voter registration booths at all his US shows. The second was to rail against Jimmy Swaggart, who really embodied the hypocrisy of televangelism - which became painfully obvious to all after he was caught with a prostitute, leading to a famous confessional speech ("I have sinned"), repeatedly and mercilessly mocked by Frank Zappa and his band. And then he met Sting at a hotel in Chicago in March 1988 and was joined on stage doing a great big band version of Murder By Numbers, which originally was on The Police's 1983 album Synchronicity.

I kinda stumbled backwards into the Police after listening to some of Sting's music. I was a slow convert to Sting, but from there, Police quickly became a staple in what I was listening to. In my opinion they delivered a stellar debut and final album in Outlandos D'Amour from 1978 and Synchronicity from 1983, but the albums in between were so-so with intermittent stellar tracks (I consider Outlandos D'Amour to be one of the best debut albums ever, right up there with The Doors). Sting, of course had a solid solo career, but is currently filed under boring old fart in my book. I haven't even bothered to listen to his latest album yet - but I have listened to some live recordings from this summer's tour with Peter Gabriel, and that was pretty good stuff. The Police also reunited a few years back, and the fire they played with then was nothing short of spectacular - and it was caught on tape on Certifiable: Live In Buenos Aires.

However, it is time to move on to tomorrow's song. Sting guested on a song by a British band that became a megahit partly due to its animated music video. He also performed with this band on a massive concert event. No more hints should be necessary. What was the concert event, what was the band, song, album, and year?

And a Police live version for good measure...

And, finally, the version with Zappa...