Commuters on the Metro might have spotted one of the region's most famous faces out and about last week as Sting came back to Tyneside.
The Wallsend-born music legend took the Metro from Monument in Newcastle city centre to North Shields, where he headed to the Exchange 1856 building to receive his Freedom of North Tyneside award. Posting photos of the journey on social media on Tuesday, Sting was seen examining the Metro stations map and waiting on the platform alongside unsuspecting fellow commuters, dressed all in black with a black cap to make the journey incognito.
But Sting's close friend Simon Astaire revealed that he almost didn't make it to his award presentation on time when the journey went awry. "There was one minor hiccup, though, when we discovered we were on the wrong train going in the opposite direction!" Simon wrote in a post shared by Sting. "Quickly put right by getting off and going to another platform - it was a wonderful day."
- READ MORE: Sting hails 'world-class' Sam Fender and says he can go 'all the way'
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A spokesperson for Nexus said they were "absolutely delighted" to see 72-year-old Sting take the Metro. Huw Lewis, customer services director at Nexus, said: "It was fantastic to see that Sting chose Metro on his most recent visit back to his native North East England.
"He was here to collect the Freedom of the Borough of the North Tyneside, so hopped on the Metro in Newcastle city centre for the short journey up to North Shields. He may even have noticed he features in the Famous Faces artwork at Monument Metro station alongside other iconic figures from the region."
The Geordie icon broke out some of his most famous songs for an intimate and hand-picked audience of family and friends as he was handed North Tyneside Council's highest honour by elected mayor Dame Norma Redfearn, as he reflected on his Wallsend upbringing. Before beginning his speech of thanks, he joked: "I got the Metro here today and I got lost - I was on my way to South Shields, not North Shields!"
Sting also shared that he had taken a walk to the mouth of the Tyne and the Collingwood Monument on his trip back to Tyneside. "I had lots of memories, lots of ghosts. [It was a] very nostalgic journey to come back. I don't spend much time in the North East, but I still have a lot of friends here, my family's still here," he told ChronicleLive.
"To receive this award, this honour, in relation to all the other things I've received over the years - the honorary doctorates, Grammys and what have you - all of those are just manifestations of dreams that I had here, walking in the streets of Wallsend and walking on our beaches.
"And so in many ways this is full circle for me, a vindication [and] validation of my dreams. That my town is recognising me for that, it's hugely important."
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