It's Only Rock'n Roll
|
|
It's Only Rock'n Roll |
This show was on the Costa del Sol (sun coast) of Spain. Unlike the rest of Europe, Spain is having nice and warm weather. It was +32 C at daytime, sunshine from blue sky, and the whole Costa del Sol wanted to take part of this rare and great experience - to see the Stones live!
At showtime 10 pm it was still +20 degrees or more, probably 25. Perfect for a show. The show was on the old port of Malaga, these days a parking area - just by the sea. As I was sitting in the reserved seats area at the venue, I had the stage to my right and the sea just behind the place. Beautiful.
The crowd was great, and so was the band and the sound. They did not play the web choice, which was "Star Star", but instead they did Paint It Black! The Stones knew what buttons they should push, and the crowd went absolutely wild as the song started.
The rest of the show was just great. I'm sure our Spanish friends have lots more to tell, as I am hopelessly in love with this country, the crowd, the show, and San Miguel...
See you in Vigo!
Start time: 22:00 End time : 00:25
The set list:
I went to the Malaga port at about 2pm to have a look at the stage setup and the crowds. When I first saw the stage from a distance of about 800m I was amazed. It looked like a futuristic setup in the middle of the port. With the boiling heat there weren�t many people outside the concert setup at that time so me and my friends just sat down and waited. During the day the temperature was at 35C and where we waited there was no shade what so ever. More people started arriving at about 5pm which was also the time when the soundcheck started. We waited patiently for another one and a half hours for the gates to open at 6.30pm. In my bag I had a jumper, suncream and a camera with which I wanted to take pics of the show to put them on this site. But as I was one of the first to pass the gates the security still had the patience to look through every single bag and so they found my camera. They made me go all the way back to the end of the cue to leave my bag with some other person. Well I just climbed over the barriers on my way back so that I didn�t have to cue up again.
Luckily I still got right to the front, slightly to the right from the center of the stage. Now it started to get really hot and once at the front there was no way to go back to buy something to drink. Everybody was craving for water with the sun burning down but nobody seemed to have any. Later the security passed some bottles into the audience but they were empty in no time. It really was hot with the sun and the concrete floor radiating the heat it absorbed during the day. Now I saw so many people with cameras and even massive videocameras standing right next to me and I got really annoyed because they were allowed to take them in. Obviously the security couldn�t keep up with checking 55000 bags.
At 8.30pm the support act (Hothouse Flowers) started. I had never heard of them before but the moment they started I thought they were really bad. I think hardly anybody in the audience liked them and all sorts of swear words were heard from all over the audience. During their performance the temperature luckily dropped to about 25C so started to get a bit more comfortable. I just couldn�t believe how bad the Hothouse Flowers were. The biggest applause they got was when they left the stage at 9.30pm...
The Stones themselves started at 10pm with the usual "Satisfaction". I was amazed by the light show and the massive explosion coming out of the video screen when Keith came up on stage! Then the rest of the band came on and Mick immediately started dancing around madly. From then on I was just lost in the magic of the show. Mick�s energy was surprising and he would run from one side to the other doing all sorts of movements. Every single movement of any person on stage was perfect and totally coordinated.
The light show and the video images were perfectly adjusted to every single song. Sometimes Mick would announce things in between songs and I was surprised when he said quite a few sentences in Spanish. I actually think that his Spanish sounds quite cool, with his typical snare in it. Next we had the 2 songs sung by Keith and from my point of view his voice sounded much better in the concert than on the Babylon album on which I don�t really like his voice.
The extending of the bridge from the center stage to the small field stage was another great moment. The center stage songs were perfect too and by then the whole audience was in Mick�s control. When they came back from the center stage it felt like Mick�s voice had become a bit quieter and I couldn�t make out all of the lyrics for the next couple of songs.
Even though it was cooler now we were still sweating heavily and the occasional splashes of water from somebody throwing their cup were like heaven. Well, what more can I say, except that I was/am heavily impressed by the show and the lenght of it. I don�t know where Mick gets his power from being 54 years old. From the start until the end the show was powerful and spectacular. Nearly everybody in the audience had a big smile on their face and that was the thing that mattered. I must say that the concert was the best I�ve ever seen in my life and that it will be difficult to forget for a long time.
|
|
It's Only Rock'n Roll 1998 -
© The Rolling Stones Fan Club Of Europe |