The Rhythm Kings Live at ,,The Anvil", Basingstoke, UK, 10th June 1999

Diary of ,,Six days in Stones- heaven" - Report / Review by Arno Kluenter -

The 23rd week of the year 1999 was ,,heaven on earth" as someone is a fan of the Rolling Stones and Bill Wyman & The Rhythm Kings.

As we knew out of the Internet there was a Stones club gig announced at the ,,Shephard`s Bush" on Tuesday, 8th June. We took one flight earlier, but although, when we arrived, we had been too late. The tickets had been sold at Tower records, London, already one day before. Anyway, there was a black market for this ,,gig of the year", and finally we got in. Do not ask me about the price we paid for it; it was crazy - although it was worth every pound of it as no one of us (5 friends travelling together) had seen the Stones in a small club before. For me, it was the 73rd Stones show and it was just phantastic to see Mick, Keith, Ron and Charlie - Bill`s old mates - while standing at the bar, drinkin`a few beers and having fun. Shortly: it was a brilliant night, and some others to follow...

The next day, Wednesday 9th , we went to the ,,Sticky Fingers" Restaurant in Kensington, met some other friends and had a wonderful night there with lots of Stones-music, brilliant food and beer until we couldn`t drink anything more. There were - of course - a lot of Stones fans in the ,,Sticky" `cause of the Wembley gigs on June 11 and June 12; and we also met lots of friends we knew from former Stones shows. It was kind of a ,,family atmosphere" and we all enjoyed ourselves very much. It was about 2 in the morning when we left out of the ,,Sticky"....

As this article is - most of all - a review of The Rhythm Kings Concert we visited on Thursday, June 10th, it logically takes a bit more space in this ,,diary".

We started the day going to the ,,Brixton Academy", the place where the Stones did one of their club gigs during the `95 ,,Voodoo Lounge-Tour". The Rolling Stones ,,Shattered" fan-club organized a so called ,,Rolling Stones Convention" there. Videos had been shown, live-bands played and people sold Stones-Memorabila for absolute crazy prices. Some people said it was a great convention and party, for me it was just disappointing. But the day should come to a good end ! At 5 p.m., we went to the Waterloo Station to leave for the Rhythm Kings Concert at Basingstoke. This town (or is it a village?) is somewhere in the middle of nowhere, about one and a half hour away from Central London. Arriving there, we had a date to meet Toni Panico again; Bill`s Tour manager - we already met him during the 1998-tour of the Rhythm Kings. Unfortunately, we missed each other so we couldn`t meet the band before the show as we had planned it. We had first row seats, right in the middle of the stage. Five minutes before the concert started Toni came out of the backstage area, saw us and immediately came down to us saying hello. He told us that we could meet Bill and the band after the concert. Shortly after that the lights went out and the band came onto the stage. Although I was not allowed to I could make some nice shots during the gig with my pocket camera and Bill - who obviously recognized us in the front row - really gave us some good possibilities and ,,smilies" to do so. Thanks for that Bill - in the name of all the club members, who can see the photos now and participate here in this fanzine on the phantastic show that followed the next two hours.

The Rhythm Kings played a mix of their ,,Struttin.." and ,,Anyway..." albums; for details please see the set list below. The band was in a great mood and the sold out crowd seemed to enjoy the show very much; although there were all seats they clapped their hands alot and sang along the better known songs like ,,Melody" (only Stones song in the gig), ,,Green River" and ,,Anyway The Wind Blows". During the ,,Encores" everybody stood up for dancing and when the show was finnished the guys got a five-minutes standing ovation from the crowd. Great concert; although me personally I do prefer the ,,no-seated" venues like last years show at my hometown, Cologne. And there was just one other thing I was a bit (but only a bit) disappointed about: this was that Bill himself didn`t do the vocals on one song. I know what it is about; he thinks he can`t sing and others can do it better. But Bill, what I think is: Maybe others can do it better, but your singing is not bad as well. You can do it! Think about it for the next tour, o.k.?

After the concert we waited in the hall for Toni to pick us up. It was all empty already when a guy came and said that only two of us could come to greet Bill and the band. As Bill already knows Alwin and me we two went to the

dressing room where Bill and the other band members were changing. They friendly welcomed us and we had a 15 minutes ,,small talk" with Bill, who told us that he will propably do another tour next year as the Rhythm Kings third album of their ,,Trilogy" will be out soon. Meanwhile, it was 11.15 pm and we had to leave and say goodbye `cause

the last train to London was going 11.35 p.m. When we mentioned this to Bill he said we could travel ,,home to London" together with the band on the tour bus. This was really great. When do you get such a possibility? This could have been the climax! But we had our friends waiting outside the hall and - as Toni checked - there was not enough space in the bus for five of us. So Alwin and me, we decided not to leave our (younger) friends alone in the ,,desert of Basingstoke". We made a few last photos and then: ,,Till the next time we said goodbye.." Maybe we missed some great moments on the bus, but ,,Friends Will Be Friends" (God bless you, Freddy)....

Friday, 11th was the day of the first Stones Wembley gig. A Stones concert at Wembley Stadium is always something very special cause of the phantastic atmosphere there. We wanted to be there very early, to make it front row, but the last days had been very hard so we finally decided to relax a bit during the day. When we came to the stadium the doors were already opened and the field crowded. As we had general admnission tickets we could go to the seats and had a great view (but not a so good sound) from there. This was the most relaxed Stones concert I`ve ever seen cause it was the first time on a seat. The show was alright, but I still prefer the gigs of the ,,Steel Wheels Tour 1990"; but anyway, it is a question of taste. One climax of the concert was Mick and Sheryl Crow singing ,,Honky Tonk Women" together; besides that they did the usual (sometimes boaring) set list. During ,,Ruby Tuesday" the crowd sang along and it is still sounding in my ear like a great karaoke show. In my opinion these two songs were the only highlights of the first Wembley gig.

On Saturday, 12 June we have been early enough to the stadium and made it to front row. You can imagine that it was totally different to the day before, when we had been on the seats. It was one of the uncountable rain-concerts of the ,,Bridges To Babylon Tour". The set list was nearly the same again, not so interesting for hardcore-fans like me. The only time they really changed the set list was at the Shephards Bush Club gig (see above), when they played wonderful songs like ,,I got the blues", ,,Shattered" , ,,Moon is up" and - yes - ,,Melody", which was the first time they ever played this live as far as I know. ( You cannot compare their version of ,,Melody" to the one by the Rhythm Kings; it is totally different ! Hard to say which is better! Again, a question of taste!). Around midnight, it was time to say ,,Goodbye, good old Wembley", thanks for the great moments with you (and the Stones), and next morning, Sunday, June 13, we also said goodbye to London and England. It was a great and unforgetable trip.

Cologne, 06-09-99 Arno Klünter.