Imst May 31

Day 3 - Monday May 31 - Imst

Review by Walter Maccari, Italy

For second venue of the Bridges To Babylon Tour 1999, The Rolling Stones played in Imst, an Austrian little town with about 8,000 inhabitants. There were more than 50,000 people at the show. In the afternoon soon after the opening of the gates, it began to rain, and Bryan Adams, who played after Zucchero, an Italian blues man, changed the verse of his song "Heaven" from "..it's hard to believe we're in Heaven" to "..it's hard to believe it's raining". Strange thing, two supporters before the Stones.

Luckily, the rain stopped before the main act, which began at 21,55: The video, showing the entrance of the guys, and then Keith on the stage, smiling and playing the first notes of "Jumpin' Jack Flash". "You Got Me Rocking" and "Bitch" followed soon after. The fourth song was surprisingly "Respectable", and then the audience, composed mostly by Austrian and Italian people went wild on "Gimme Shelter". After that we had "Honky Tonk Women" and "Ruby Tuesday". No surprises with the following "Saint Of Me" and "Some Girls". The audience went more wilder with the unexpected "Out Of Control", and with the more expected "Paint It, Black".

After the introduction of the band it was time for Keith; he sang "All About You" and "Before They Make Me Run". The guys went on the bridge, heading for the b Stage, where they played the same song as Stuttgart's night "Route 66" "Get Off Of My Cloud" and Midnight Rambler".

Maybe God intended "Get Off Of My Cloud" was for the rain, and after this song it started again to rain. As usual the last song were "Tumbling Dice" "It's Only Rock'n'Roll" "Start Me Up" and "Brown Sugar". The encore was "Sympathy For The Devil", which made me a very good impression, having heard the horns for the first time on that song. At the end it was 00:05 and the audience sang "Happy Birthday To You" dedicated To Ronnie.

What else can I say? Even if it was a Bridges To Babylon concert, the songs list was all different from the concerts of 1998. I was in the second row, and saw them very near. Last year I saw the Stones in Zagreb. I wanted the Stones to play at least one time in Italy, but this year it wasn't so. Like in Zagreb, there were many Italians, and so I think they could play one concert in our nation. Maybe for next tour....

Changes from Stuttgart: Respectable, Ruby Tuesday and All About You.

Day 4: Going to Groningen

Leaving Imst at 8am in the morning, I have a long way to go to Groningen, all through Gernany from south to north. After lots of train changes, a flight from Munich to Bremen, and more train changes, I'm finally in Groningen at 10pm or so. The Mercure hotel by the concert site seems to be the perfect place, also to meet up with friends from all over Holland. Even the crew is here!