It's Only Rock'n Roll
|
|
It's Only Rock'n Roll |
The sound was cristal clear and very powerful (we were in the Pit), and Ronnie made a fantastic show, Keith spending more time than usual facing Charlie, and turning his back to the audience, at least during the first part of the show.
Let it bleed (web choice) was performed very well, nearly as good as at the version played at the Olympia theater in Paris 95. This was my web choice, and for the Istanbul show, I'll vote for Time is on my side (please do it too !)
During Miss you, the sexy game between Lisa - wonderful as usual ( I think I'm in love !) and Mick has not been as hot as usual, maybe because of the cold temperature.
Mick was in excellent shape. He spoke a lot in german and at the opposite of Nuremberg, he didn't lose his voice, and really seemed happy to be here. Once again, after 6 shows on this tour, we didn't have the surprise of You can't always get what you want, but this is another problem, and we hope to get the song at the European final show next saturday in Istanbul...
We could tell lots of things about this show, and it's probably the best one I've seen on this tour, a bit better than Amsterdam 2nd, and Den Haag.
Start time: 20:55 End time : 23:15
The set list:
The Maimarkt is a parking lot between lot sof motorways, but from a source in Heidelberg, that took us to that place in 1995, we knew how to get there without traffic jams and without problems getting out again. We arrived, early, before 2 pm. There were about 1000 or 1500 people there and we were led into an area right behind the front gate left. That was good, because when the doors were opened, the gates behind us were closed, until this area was emptied. So there was not much competition when we ran to the front and we made it safely into Ronnie's side. A couple of us were late, but after 3 months of touring and extensive use of mobile phones, we knew how to get anyone into the front section. :-))
The weather was cold and windy, sometimes rain came down. There were hevy dark clouds over the stage, but nothing came down during the show. One point for that. But everyone up there was freezing, so we saw a lot of new coats and jackets from the boys.
The Corrs opened. They did alright, but earned the applause rather by
looking good (in the cold
The Stones came on just before 9 pm, it was the Leipzig curtain again, so
no rockets, because the curtain did not open in time. Lots of smoke on
stage though, ecause it was windy and the dry ice worked at last this show.
Ronnie was wide awake, so he played very loud and inspired, lots of soloing
from his side. Gimme Shelter was tight, Saint of me had a long rendition of
the oh-yeahs and Out of Control was really good tonight as well. They
showed a screen for webchioce giving Mannheim on it, but I have my doubts
about that now. Let it Bleed was the choice, so Thierry got what he wanted.
:-))
We made it onto the jumbotron first time this tour during Miss You and
again during Brown Sugar, so you could see Nico, Petra, Axel, Gerd, Gerd'
wife, Dirk, Dirk's wife Petra, Birgit and me all in one spot together.
Shame we did not get a pic of that, although Axel made lots of pics during
the night.
There were great pictures to look at just in front of us: The guitar
harmonica solo during Out of control, Keith kneeling to Ronnie during Wanna
Hold you, Mick being f... from behind by Lisa (he did some pelvis movements
to her during Miss you on the other side of the stage, so that was her
revenge). Lisa gave Mick a Kiss on his cheek during the "Love, sister, is
just a kiss away" on Gimme Shelter, which seemed to be new to him as he
gave a weird look.
As I said, Ronnie soloed well and played well. I think one of the problems
with Ronnie's guitar playing is that he is responsible not for the fat
sound, but for the high clear sounds, that do not come through that good in
the mix. He DOES play a lot, but when you are listening to hear the guitar,
you wait for the fat distorted andsustained sound, and that's Keith's bit.
Ronnie did very good slide on Let it Bleed and Jagger seemed to be really
impressed. It was good to see that.
Lots of presents were thrown on stage during the catwalk bit and the last
songs. Mick got a teddy bear, there were roses and pieces of paper, a scraf
or two for Ronnie.
All in all, a good show, but nothing spectacular. Maybe I am just getting
greedy. Maybe I am not. Can`t wait to see them again next year in London.
That was 9 shows and 9 wristbands for me. I think I will do something on
the last 3 months in the next couple of days, giving it all a re-run. Just
stay tuned, meanwhile read the
The opening act, The Corrs, played their first show ever for such a big
crowd (from 19.35 untill 20.20 h.). Very sweet ;-)
The Stones opened a little before 9 p.m. and the curtains again didn't
open properly and because of that we didn't get the big opening bang!
The sound was very good tonight, though it was louder than ever.
Especially Woody played very well and very loud! He played a lot more
than before, too.
Gimme Shelter was great. And this time I am not referring to Lisa but to
Keith and Ronnie. They were working together as never before.
Great surprise tonight was the websong: Let It Bleed. It was done as
never before! Awesome!!
I noticed also Chuck was very good at the piano.
Keith did You Don't Have To Mean It and of course Wanna Hold You, which
was very special too tonight. Keith and Ronnie were kinda duelling on
guitar. Keith was playing on his knees in front of Ronnie.
Great show (not the best) and no You Can't Always Get What You Want. As
this was my last opportunity to hear it, I remembered someone once said:
"you can't always get what you want!"
Hope to see you all next year ;-)
Die Corrs waren f�r mich die erste gute Vorband seit J. Geils in M�nchen
1982.
Akustik und Sound auf der Trib�hne waren einfach galaktisch.
Leider war die Mittenb�hne �berhaupt nicht zu sehen (Eintrittspreis DM
139,-- ???).
Meine gelben Turnschuhe (PUMA, BJ 1967, sie haben schon Jimi Hendrix
live geh�rt) sind
der Meinung gestern die absolut beste Fassung von Sympathy und Jumping
Jack erlebt zu
haben. Ich wage ihnen nicht zu widersprechen. Lieber Herr Schmidt, auch
Paint IT Black
war super und Ronnie sollte doch �fters einmal Steel Guitar
spielen.Start Me Up war
phantastich; wann sagt Mick diese Song als 'Clintons Memories' an
Wir beide werden hoffentlich noch oft die Stones h�ren und sehen.
McHubsileinen und seine gelben Turnschuhe, f�r die jedes Stones Konzert
ein neues
Abenteuer darstellt.
Anyway,
we enjoyed the show being on Ronnie�s side again, second and third row
in front of the stage and the catwalk (we were four this time, Sebi,
Nina, Olli and myself).
�Paint It Black� was the song which caught most attention, I think. A
little disappointing: the web choice. �Let It Bleed� was played nicely,
but why did they play it in Berlin two days before, too?! They forgot to
set up a new page for the extra-show in Berlin, Waldb�hne, and so they
used the early Mannheim-result there... Well, the cybervote sometimes
was a mystery to me (Hamburg etc.)...
Outside the Maimarkt I heard the now familiar roar of the lion 3 minutes
before nine o'clock and I picked up my ticket and was inside before
Satisfaction was over. It was unusally catchy. The tone was set. The Rolling
Stones were in great form and the sound was very good. I was sitting in
Tribune D which was all right. It was business as usual. Anybody Seen My
Baby I had not heard since Philadelphia last October. It was masterfully
played. Ronnie Wood was exceptionel.
Paint It Black was welcome and showed
the Glimmer Twins in great shape. Saint Of Me did it for the crowd. I love
Mick being Out Of Control. But as he said it was a bit chilly outside. The
Web choice was my favorite Let It Bleed, this beutiful song from the album
of same name from 1969 was performed very country and Ronnie was the star
beside Jagger. Magnificent guitar player mr. Ronnie "Rembrandt" Wood as
Jagger later introduced him. "Wollt ihr mitsingen". And then they drove
into Miss You. This was the best version I have heard on stage. No
nonsense, no toesuckingbusiness, just plain music, great long and
professional with Charlie shining.
And then it came to the introductions. Elegante Charlie Watts "und der
veruckter Pirat" Keith Richards, the crasy pirate. This version was better
than Amsterdam ArenA in July.His voice great and Leah Wood, this beutiful
young woman not expected in this song this time. Wanna Hold You or as "the
crasy pirate" told us "I got to hold you" was perfect. And the reason quite
clear from the beginnig, they enjoyed themselves tremendously. So did the
crowd. I have to say, being a fan for 36 years and loving the Get Yer Ya
Ya's Out, Little Queenie, this is great. Those guys know how to master the
guitars, like hell they do, pardon the pun.
The rest is masterfully arranged and played history. I and thousands and
thousands of fans all over the world never get tired of hearing the devils
plea, Sympathy For The Devil, a great moment this time, like so many times
before. I noticed that the German fans liked Tumbling Dice very much, I did
to. Hearing Keith plugging the guitar into Honky Tonk Women, the only song
I myself have ever sung in public out of sheer admiration for the Rolling
Stones, is always a special treat. Start Me Up great as ever and those
middleaged ever young boys feeling the riff, getting the rythm and
delivering the goods for the rest of the show. Jumping Jack Flash with a
feeling like in 1968 and a last the only encore Brown Sugar and it was over
too soon.
No rock group can master their trade as the Rolling Stones. I
have been sure of that fact since 1964. I still am. You Can't Always Get
What You Want. But I hope to see you all in Iceland next summer. It was much
easier to driveback to Rohrbach and I was home at 2:30. Then I'll be back
home next monday in Iceland. This has been good tour.
We arrived early as usual and after a murderous sprint over about 600 meters we
reached our favorite spot at front row on Ronnie's side. Well, the pit was
packed this time like I had never experienced it before. And so was the whole
Maimarkt. In addition to the ticket holders of the rescheduled June show there
were those who just wanted to attend the last German show of this fantastic
tour.
The Corrs were accepted very well, people loved their kind of music as well as
the fact that they were grateful to be chosen to open the show for the Stones.
Then the crowd couldn't wait to see the show, they were ready to rock! And so
were the Stones!
After greeting the people from Mannheim, Frankfurt (too bad they didn't get
their own show), Stuttgart ... Mick promised us a great show. The setlist was
quite the same as usual, but this time I didn't care. I just wanted to see all
those great songs for the last time this year and keep them in my heart till
Wembley next year. We got great versions of "Saint of me", "Out of control",
"Paint it black"... Web choice was "Let it bleed", fantastic!
Ronnie (of course), Mick and Keith did a lot to please the crowd, responding to
their reactions. The guy next to me had brought a lot of different message
tables with him. The best was "STONES 2000 and on,... please let the dream come
true!" When Keith read that message he gave him a twinkle with his eye. Did that
mean: "Yes, we will!" ? I hope so. Another great moment: Mick came down to our
side and passed us clapping hands. I missed him only for 5 centimeters because I
am a little too short. On his way back he was in a hurry because Keith
had already started the riff of "Start me up" twice. So he wasn't able to react
to my shouting: "Please Mick, please!"
The sound was excellent. I think you will never have any problems with that in
the first part of the field. The weather was also quite ok., no rain!! After
those many rain shows you could easily accept that it was a little cold. And
during the Stones' performance I wasn't cold at all with all that jumping,
singing and screaming!
The only points I didn't like (if any) were: the fact that "You can't always get
what you want" was missing and the technical problems such as the curtains,
which didn't open before "Satisfaction" completely, so that there were no
fireballs. Furthermore the confetti machines on the stage didn't work, so we
couldn't have the glitter rain coming down slowly on us, giving us this magic
atmosphere.
But who cares? We got a fantastic show with the "Greatest Rock and Roll Band of
the world, the Rolling Stones" !!
See you at Wembley next year!
STONES FOREVER !!!
Review by Dirk Snapper
After a 5 hours drive in the pouring rain we arrived at 13.30 h. at the
Maimarkgel�nde in Mannheim for my last show (of 19) of the Tour.
Fortunately it stopped raining and... though it was rather chilly, it
didn't rain anymore all night. Gates opened at 15.45 and we got a nice
spot (again) at the catwalk, Ronnie's side, about 12 m. from the stage.
The front section was very crowded; I never saw them letting in so many
people!
Review by Hubert Dressler, Germany
Dies war mein 100. Konzert der Rolling Stones seit 1970 (Essen) und ich
beschloss dieses
Mal die Trib�hne zu erklimmen ,um das ganze auch einmal im �berblick zu
haben und kurz
meine Eindr�cke des Ereignisses darzulegen. Ich kam mit Herrn Schmidt
nach Mannheim,
besuchte das Konzert mit Frau Hertel, geb. Dressler (nicht verwandt und
nicht verschw�gert
und kennengelernt beim Konzert in N�rnberg) und Frau Stoll - Horn fuhr
mich am Sonntag
nach Hause.
Es hat nicht geregnet, Super, wie versprochen Herr Schmidt.
Review by Marc Oliver Rohloff, Hannover, Germany
It was the last show for us and for Germany this year and it was my
birthday-show. A strange but nice birthday-party! No big surprises in
the set, but we saw a very good show, though the crowd was not that
enthusiastic compared to some of the other German shows (btw, you can�t
compare German crowds to the Argentinian crowd, for example, not only
because there were a lot more younger visitors in Buenos Aires).
Review by Olafur Helgi Kjartansson, Iceland
I have to say despite all this was actually one of my best concerts on this
tour. I spent more than four whole hours on the Autobahn from Karlsruhe to
Mannheim. I could not pick up my ticket to the concert until after six
o'clock. I had been looking forward to this last concert in Western Europe
this year. But coming all the way from Isafjordur Iceland just to see my
5th concert in Europe this year and the sixth on BTB I was getting very
anxious and not believing any more that I would make it. I admit that I
drove on the lane furthermost to the right just to make it a few kilometers
on. And then I asked some German people in the next car where they were
going. "To the Maimarkt, but another route". I Just followed. I made it to
Seckenheim and went for a beer and a taxi in Prins Max guesthouse and pub.
Review by Irmgard Plattner, Germany
Well, I'm totally filled with great impressions of that fantastic last show in
Germany! (I hope the last show for THIS year, not forever!!)
It's Only Rock'n Roll 1998 -
© The Rolling Stones Fan Club Of Europe