It's Only Rock'n Roll
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It's Only Rock'n Roll |
There was a slight rain during the first five songs - the rest was dry. Saint Of Me had very little singing after it's finish - cannot be compated with Amsterdam.
Mick laughed a lot during the introductions, where Keith got most applause (there were no Charlie shouts). She's A Rainbow sounded much better than "the rehearsal version" in Amsterdam.
The best three songs of the whole show:
Little Queenie - hot and wild
The Last Time - took off like a rocket - great!
Like A Rolling Stone
After Queenie Mick asked: "Ronnie, what's the next one?" Ronnie: "It's called The Last - The Bloody Last Time".
From Sympathy onwards there was a lot more power coming off the main stage than in the beginning of the show.
The set list:
Great moment after Saint Of Me when the audience sing "yeah oh yeah oh yeah" about half minute, After Mick speak in Dutch "YOU'RE SUPER".
Keith was not so good on It's Only Rock 'N' Roll but excellent on Sympathy For The Devil.
The intro of "Start Me Up" was restarted" ( i don't know exactly why ). The version of Jumping Jack Flash was very long and very good.
All in all the show was excellent and the 70,000 people very hot.
Only one little problem ; The sound was only very good but not perfect.
The Festival was well organized (that's the good thing about the swiss people), they even had an internet cafe on the site ! We got Dave Mathews Band as opener, who was a bit of a bore, but we all know it's hard to open a show for the STONES ! They played from 20 p.m. until 20.30 the the stage was cleared and we were all excited about what was to come... My fellow Glimmer Juergen Sabo and an American fan, whom we met there, we were standing at the B-stage, Keith's side, in front of Darryl and Keith's Microphone stands. The disadvantage about that is that you are far away from the main stage and you are tempted to follow the show on the Video screen, but hey, you get the Stones live and rocking in front of you for three songs !!!
The Stones came on at 21.40 p.m. It was almost dark, because of the cold and windy weather. It was always about to start to rain so they took off and put on the covers and umbrellas on the B-stage a couple of times... They started as usually with the four songs and by the time Gimme Shelter was on, it started to rain.... Ronnie looked up to the sky and raised his hands and so did Lisa as if they wanted to say: Yes, give me shelter please.... Lisa took off her shoes while she was dancing with Mick and for her singing part. The stage hands were pretty busy to dry the stage after every song.
The swiss audience was very quiet. Almost no dancing or singing along. So Mick tried hard to work the audience. We got Anybody seen my baby and IORR, but by the time Saint Of Me and Out Of Control came on, he had succeeded in bringing the audience to live. From that part of the show on, they played fantastically.
Ronnie was brilliant. The sound was fantastic so you could clearly distinguish Ronnie and Keith. And Ronnie played some superb solos. The cybervote was "She's a Rainbow" and they did a beautiful version of that one. Miss You was the best version I ever heard live. They were so cool and relaxed, that they extended the song. Keith was sitting back near the drum chatting with Darryl, but now and then he played fills, so inspired and loose, he was really concentrated on his playing that night. As it is Mick's song, he got the audience sing whenever he wanted to... and he played his red Fender giutar himself and the same here, you could tell his playing in the mix ! This guy really plays well !!!
After that Keith was on with a brilliant version of You Don't have to mean it and Wanna Hold You. He just said "It's good to be back" as always. We were excited about the B-stage part and then they came over the bridge....
It is amazing to have these guys rocking right in front of you. During that three songs the audience around us really went wild ! They were throwing toys and bras on the stage and Mick was everywhere on that little stage to get the people rocking. One time Ronnie was looking at me and doing a "funny face". I tried to do the same and he nodded to me, said something like "yeah" and grinned... They are always trying to get in touch with the people front row at the small stage... So it was Little Queenie, Last Time and Like A Rolling Stone on the B-stage and you could see and feel that they really enjoyed playing up there...
From Sympathy on we had the usual ending of the show, as they play only 21 songs on most of the European gigs so far. I noticed that Keith was playing some new licks on JJF, which I never heard before but some Glimmers have already reported something like this from other Babylon shows. He extended the song and after every bar, Charlie wanted to close the song with the final chord, but Keith was adding another solo and another one.....He didn't want to stop. It was great ! At last he turned around to Charlie, hold up his guitar and gave him a sign and then they finished the song....
All in all we saw a great show, not the wildest audience as the swiss are very polite, calm and friendly, but the Stones played very well and you could see that they had fun. And so did we....
In the afternoon the sky was cloudy(and even rained for a few minutes),so it was not too hot and the afternoon passed fast drinking and talking to some friends... At 9.35 p.m. the Stones were on stage...And it was a great show! The crowd was not too hot, to say the truth, but it was not important for us in the first rows;we jumped and sang all the concert, tryng to catch Mick's or Keith's eyes in every moment.
I was not very happy last year when I knew that the show opening was Satisfaction,but I had to change my mind...This song sounds great as usual and it's a great emotion as opener.
Let's spend the night together moved all our hearts,with nice black & white images on the screen. I love the way they play Flip the switch live,mostly that tempo a little slower than in studio. Gimmie shelter was the first song which made my eyes wet...one of my favourites ever and a better version than in 1989-90 and 1994-95.
Anybody seen my baby was to me the weakest moment of the show...Though I love this song I always thought that the live version lacks some magic. It's only rock'n'roll was great,much better than on MSG first night. Saint of me is a great number for a live show,the crowd sang the refrain until the start of...
Out of control;I hope the Stones will keep on playing this one until they will exsist as a band!!! Absolutely wonderful.
She's a rainbow...I never heard this one live before (except on tape) and it threated my heart and my mind...I'll never forget those 4 minutes.
Miss you was good as usual,though maybe the most of us would prefer they to play... let it loose or torn and frayed at that point :-)
Keith's set:I LOVE THE WAY HE SINGS...
Little queenie...Everytime I hear this one it's like if I am at MSG in 1969. The last time...Introduced by Ronnie as "the last bloody time" it surprised me for the sound of the guitars, really incredible! Like a rolling stone...Are we all really sure that Bobby wrote this one???
Sympathy for the devil was good a s usual with usual indecision on the final :-) Tumbling dice was another highlight...a wonderful version with a long,long final.
Honky tonk women...I could listen at this one for 10.000 times and it would always be my favourite...pure rock! Start me up...great!it's funny how Keith plays the first two chords at least a couple of times before the band start to play.
Jumpin' Jack flash and Brown sugar...What else could I say about them? At the end it was a great show, and I think nowadays the Stones are only able to play great shows!!! I hope I'll be in Praha on august 22, another arena show is waht I need
Till the next time...
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It's Only Rock'n Roll 1998 -
© The Rolling Stones Fan Club Of Europe |