Previous page Next page First page IORR home
The Rolling Stones Fan Club of Europe
It's Only Rock'n Roll

Festival Site
Werchter, Belgium
Sunday June 21, 1998

Review by Bj�rnulf Vik

Yesterday's show really was a great experience, and I could not imagine today's show could be any better. But I was wrong. May be the setlist tonight wasn't as exotic as last nights, but the band was in killer mode, and Mick was leading the show like he was doing his last show.

I was lucky to have a front row position, dead center, and was able to see everything up there, except for Charlie. Mick was really working hard tonight, making sure this was even better than yesterday. The crowd was willing, gentle and great, and it was building up to yet another great concert.

They messed up Satisfaction and Brown Sugar a bit, but it did not matter. The sound was great like yesterday. Mick was stretching it this little bit extra that makes it outstanding, and Keith was controlling it in his position back by Charlie, except for the times when he did his great solo playing.

Out Of Control! This song is the meter of the band. Is this as good as it gets? It was just amazing. Mick pulled his voice a bit further than last night. Keith was all around him like a hurricane during his solo part, when Mick did his harmonica part.

The temperature was like last night, may be a bit cooler. There were a few drops of rain, but no worry. Still they did the center stage part with the big center stage umbrella open, just in case.

Honky Tonk Women was opened up by Keith in his usual way, hammering his guitar with his right hand only, as he was smoking a cigarette.

During Jumping Jack Flash Keith made his walk from our right, in the front, and all the way to the left. On his way he realized they had forgotten to remove the ladder that connects the center stage to the main stage, so he had to climb it sideways. He did some harsh words,as I read his lips, and he just climbed it. With his bad history of ladders, this was a funny moment, but Keith didn't bother much, it seemed, as he just kept on playing.

Mick said some phrases in local langage, and had picked flamish out of the many possibilities including French etc in this multi-linguistal country. He said his Dutch would probably be much better by the 5th Amsterdam show...

Well, to make it short, it was a great show, what more can I say? As they finished Brown Sugar, Mick was standing up there, totally exhausted, having given it all. So what more can we ask for? Thank you! 

Start time:  9:25
End time  : 11:45

The set list:

  1. Satisfaction
  2. Let's Spend The Night Together
  3. Flip The Switch
  4. Gimme Shelter
  5. Sister Morphine
  6. It's Only Rock'n Roll
  7. Saint Of Me
  8. Out Of Control
  9. Under My Thumb (web choice)
  10. Miss You
    -- Introductions --
  11. Thief In the Night (Keith)
  12. Wanna Hold You (Keith)
  13. Little Queenie (center stage)
  14. I Just Wanna Make Love To You (center stage)
  15. Like A Rolling Stone (center stage)
  16. Sympathy For The Devil
  17. Tumbling Dice
  18. Honky Tonk Women
  19. Start Me Up
  20. Jumping Jack Flash
  21. Brown Sugar (encore)

Review by Dirk Snapper, Holland

What a weekend! I saw the Stones at the Werchter Festival site in Belgium. Two shows at a row for the first time in Europe this summer.

I hit my bed at 03.00 Sunday morning and got up at nine to make sure that we were in time for a front row place the second show. My wife, Anny, is a Ronnie Wood fan and she wanted a place on Ronnie's side. We arrived at noon and there weren't many people at that time (because of the temperature?) so we had a nice spot in front of one of the gates (one we knew was to be opened).

The gates opened at 4 p.m. again and we ran for that front row spot. We made it! It was great to experience the show from this side, although we couldn't see Charlie :-( On these large fields the stage is so high that you can't see the rear end of the stage!

No football today, so we just had to wait for the Simple Minds (08.00 p.m.) As far as I remembered they played the same set as the day before. Again very nice! The Stones began at 21.30 again and I must say that it didn't sound as good as the Saturday show did (IMHO). Woody seemed a bit tense the first part of the show. During the Web Choice he started to play better. Actually the band sounded much better from that point on.

The surprises: Sister Morphine (a beautiful song, but not tonight; Mick couldn't get it right). Web Choice was Under My Thumb (just like in Nuremberg) and that sounded alright. Keith did Thief In The Night (I really love that song) and Leah Wood did the backing vocals again with Lisa.

And yes, a surprise on the center stage: after the usual and very good Little Queenie they played an extremely nice and long version of I Just Wanna Make Love To You.

Just before the Stones went to the center stage it started to rain and you could see lightning in the distance, so we made ourselves up for a heavy thunderstorm. But after 2 songs it stopped and it remained dry during the rest of the show.

Again no You Can't Always Get What You Want was played :-(

We can look upon two great shows and they tasted for more... So I'll be back on Thursday after the D�sseldorf show.

Previous page Next page First page IORR home It's Only Rock'n Roll 1998 -
© The Rolling Stones Fan Club Of Europe