It's Only Rock'n Roll
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It's Only Rock'n Roll |
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Support act Rowwen H�ze was absolutely strange, mostly men in their late 40s or early 50s, they did about 50 minutes (including encore) of polkas and waltzes. The dutch liked it, must have to do something with the genes, as Gary said. Right in the middle of the third song they did a short rendition of "Backstreet Girl" which is something of a no-do, imho. They also seemed to be impressed with helicopters, as Rowwen H�ze mentioned those a couple of times.
Before the Stones went on stage at around 9.20 pm, Leah had a roadie running around the stage with Ron's black Gibson and she filmed every bit of it, falling over laughing, as he did some rockstar poses.
As soon as the Stones came on, you could tell that this would be a real good show. The sound was alright, they just made a big impression running out and hammering out JJF.
The setlist had some changes as well: Memory Motel and You don't have to mean it made the show more interesting than the usual business they do. Memory Motel was really nicely done, Keith walking up to the front for his verses, sharing microphones with Mick. Mick forgot to sing "in spray" at the end of the first verse and the song stopped for half a second but went on then. At the end Mick leaned on Keith's shoulder smiling. There were odd bits, Mick not getting into Tumbling Dice, because Keith started it too early and Mick did not know where he was. Mick was still struggling to get his brown jacket on during the second verse, but then did something I had not seen for a long time: He went up the steps on stage left and went just underneath the jumbotron and stayed there dancing and singing, before he came back on the other side and finished the song right in front of the horn section. It was the longest version of Tumbling Dice I had in this tour, as they went on and on and on, because no-one knew when Mick was going to come down.
Keith wanted to play "Brown Sugar", when he was supposed to play "Start Me Up", but found out after 3 seconds and did the right song.
There was a bit of hassle on stage right at the end of Satisfaction, when Ron took off his guitar and wanted to swing it around. Keith was right behind him so Ron hit Keith's guitar very strong. You could hear the clash of the guitars. Keith seemed to be very upset and said something like Ron should look where he was and what he was doing. Before the final bows you could see that Keith called Ron "Motherf......" very clearly, but smiled wrily afterwards. So there might have been some kind of a fight on the way home.
Everybody was mostly singing and dancing during the show, Start me up, Paint it black and Sympathy were crowd pleasers. The audience loved it and Keith said that he "was going to trust" us before You don't have to mean it.
Charlie sucked his hand when returning from the b-stage, so he might have hurt it on the way back, Keith posed for a photo on the way back, everyone of them shook hands with lots of people in the audience.
During the whole show you had the feeling they liked what they did and they liked to play, a feeling I never before had on this tour. A really great show, everyone who missed that should be very miserable about it now.
See you all in Cologne for the last show. Clinton, Yelzin and Blair are in town and rumour has it, Clinton will be at the show. So let's hope for something really special then: Or maybe not. ;-))
Start time: 9:19 pm End time : 11:34 pm
The set list:
This was the first (dutch) concert I saw where the waiting before the opening of the gates was well organized. (MOJO..the dutch concert organisdator finaly learned from their mistakes in the past) There was only one entrance, when there were about 300 people waiting, barriers were placed so the people could wait with lots of space to sit. Security was there so you could walk in and out with a mark on your hand. Behind this section there was another, guarded by security with 300 people in it. (as far as I could see there were 3 of these sections.)
To understand the support act you'll have to be dutch, or better live in the south of the country. Rowen Heze is a local band and they sing in a dialect that is spoken in Limburg (south part of Holland) The music can best be compared with Los Lobos. The band is very popular in Holland and gigs are always great parties. There is no obsession with helicopters, but the band had another gig that night about 300 kilometers away. So right after the gig they left with a helicopter.
I don't think Keith made a mistake during the opening chord of start me up. He did the same in Groningen, so I think it's a joke to start with brown sugar and go on with start me up. What definitely went wrong was the start of the solo in HTW. When Keith wanted to start with his solo Mick wanted to do another verse. Keith did a very strange look and played on with his solo. In respectable there were guitars all over the place. I can't remember a better version.. it was loud, it was filthy and it rocked. Nice to see on the bridge was Mick laughing an dancing. He even walked back to Charlie to fool around. On the way back Keith gave an autograph to a guy about 3 meter away from me. After receiving it the guy went nuts and out of his mind.
The Keith section was very very crowded that night. Security closed the gates too late so there was not as much room as usual. Very strange was the Ronnie section. After the gates were closed in our section there were very very little people on the other side. The gates on that side were open for about 20 minutes!!! Maybe because the entrance was on the Keith side so everybody stayed on that side. Around nine o clock somebody appeared on stage to ask the people to move over to the left side because there were far to many people on the right side. Hopefuly they do a very special last night tomorrow (without me....bash!!) and we'll see them again after 2 or 3 years.
The Stones started at 9.20 p.m., the "No Security" promo clip was nice to see. Then the boys came on and Keith started "Jumping Jack Flash" and played it incredible. After that "You Got Me Rocking" and the crowd rocked with them. When "Live With Me" was stopped, Mick grabbed his guitar and played "Respectable".
"Gimmy Shelter" with Lisa's solo was very impressing. The giant sing along "Honky Tonk Woman" was next, the crowd sang the Honky Tonk Blues. Yes, they didn't sing it for a while but "Memory Motel" is still a great song, and with Keith sharing the microphone it was even better than all the other ones. I said yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, you'll never make a "Saint Of Me", everyone sang this one.
During "Out Of Control" the 'MMMMM' sound was heard all over Limburg. Keiths guitar playing on "Paint It Black" was great and the crowd reacted lovely on this sing along. After the introductions it was Keith?s turn, 'a little reggae' as he said it, and started "you Don't Have To Mean It", great song this one, followed by "Before They Make Me Run" incredibly singing Keef.
Then the Bridge came over and they walked to the B-stage. "Route 66" was the 1st song followed by "Like A Rolling Stone", we still have to thank Bob for it, and finally "Midnight Rambler", love this one great solo's by everyone. The way back was handshaking time, the crowd screamed and clapped. My favourite song started "Sympathy For The Devil", 'Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name', I heard all around me. The 'Oooh, ooh part was not what I expected from the audience.
The longest version of "Tumbling Dice" I've ever heard was next, Mick was running over the stage like a 19 year old. I know its "Only Rock And Roll" but I liked it. Keith didn't know what song was next so he first started Brown Sugar, stopped, looked around and then began "Start Me Up", impressing this one.
"Brown Sugar" was next, the crowd danced. After this classic they left the stage and the audience shouted 'We want more, we want more'. The Stones satisfied the crowd with "Satisfaction". At the end of the song there was a little accident between Ron and Keith, Ron was taking of his guitar and wanted to swing it around while Keith was standing behind him. Ron hit him very strong and Keith was very upset about it, and said some things to Ron you don't want to know. After a dispute they shook hands but I didn't think Keith was very happy.
The final bows were there followed by lots of fireworks. It was a show to be remembered, one of the best, and I hope not the last one I'll see. Finally I want to say hallo to Paul, Rian, Marja, Jaap and our new R.S. friends Paul and co. (wit polsbandje).
Thanks to each and every one of you for supplying links to online newspapers, and reviews, of course!
Read all about the "No Security" and "Bridges To Babylon" tours of 1999 in the It's Only Rock'n Roll magazines. New issue IORR 36 out May 18, 1999.
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It's Only Rock'n Roll 1999 -
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