I have great memories of the final three shows at the O2 in London which wrapped up the two-year A Bigger Bang tour. The final show was August 26 2007. And everything else connected with those shows, especially the IORR gatherings at the Pilot Inn just a "Stones" throw from the O2 where I met a number of IORRians and spilled a beer on Rockman's lap. Went to the Tim Ries/Rolling Stones Project show one night between the Stones shows and hung around outside the Savoy after the last O2 show where the band was having its end of the tour party. Got Mick on videotape when he arrived at the party. What else, staying at the St. Giles Hotel where many IORRians (and Stones Vikings) stayed.

Trying to remember who all I met at these events: Gazza, BV, Little Queenie, Wilhelm of Stones Vikings, Rockman, Beast, Paulywaul, Mister Jimmy, MOWAT (Man of Wealth and Taste), and from Stonestreff: Iris, Dande, Steffi. I know I am leaving some out, can't remember after ten years.

The second show on the 23rd was the best Stones show I had ever seen (going back to '75) and still is to date.

Hoping to see a lot of these same people and others I have never met at the three shows in Paris in October. Hope someone will be organizing the gatherings.

What are your memories of these shows and the events surrounding them??


Plexi/The Plexiglass

Wow, time flies

AHHHHH yeah Tim I remember those times ... great memories

L-R Back row -- Pauly Wauly ... Beast ... Some Australian Guy ... Eric Snow ... Timbernardis ( white cap) ... others unknown .... Pilot Inn



Beast's hand .... Some Australian Guy before you poured a beer on him .......Pilot Inn



ROCKMAN

I think I'm still trying to catch up on the sleep I missed that week. My first trip to London and without a clue, I booked a hotel across from the Savoy just by dumb luck. I remember going to the Tim Ries show my first night after not sleeping on the flight, not sleeping after the first gig due to excessive partying, paying £27 for a whisky at the Savoy and immediately switching to rum and coke, Mr Jimmy playing piano for us after 3am, and all the many incredible folks that I met. I remember having to drag my butt back to the O2 the night after the 3rd show (and post-show festivities) for Prince and nearly sleeping through the whole thing.

I remember writing this [ [iorr.org] ] and reading it again now, wonder what happened to some of those folks. There are more great people on IORR than you can count!

That week did it for me - I've been travelling to gigs ever since and look forward to 4 this summer - Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Paris 2/3. Hoping to see many of you - I'll sleep on the flight home!

Lovely memories and pics! Thanks! xxoo
My first trip to Europe coming up! Hope we can laugh and say hi in Paris

Went to the three O2 shows.. I think the second was the best...
The first show on August 21,... To me, I felt all the hell broke loose...
I had plan to travel around the globe with my 8 year son.. Had a Skyteam ticket... Penultimate segment was Beijing-Amsterdam-London on August 21... I was messed up with the agenda, I thought we were landing on August 20.
In Amsterdam, I had to take the luggage, and the luggage belt just broke after the first luggage from Beijing arrived.. Lucky me, I had loyalty card so my things were among the first, before the belt went out of order.
From Heathrow which is totally on the opposite side, we had to fight our way to the London docks area.. We had 7-hours jet lag, and flew 10 000 miles. Son was totally exhausted... I had booked a nanny from Beijing, and she was right on time at the hotel... Ordered some pizza, took a shower, and took a cab to the O2.. Et voilà... Another one for the road at the Pilot Inn... Et voilà... The O2 and the Stones in all their majesty.

A big thumbs up to timbernardis, STG and Rockman for the reminders of those great times before, during and after those three O2 shows. Many feared that the last show on 26 August was truly their last and that they'd never perform again. Hahahaha....

Oh - and I well remember the beer-spilling incident, Tim...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-08-28 00:04 by Beast.

Was there for the second show and last show, briefly met Rockman and had a good chat with Eric.

Really miss Eric on this forum, but it was a real pleasure to meet every one that day.

I was actually talking about this concert with friends a couple of hours ago.

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Beast
A big thumbs up to timbernardis, STG and Rockman for the reminders of those great times before, during and after those three O2 shows. Many feared that the last show on 26 August was truly their last and that they'd never perform again. Hahahaha....

We've thought that to a greater or lesser degree at the end of every tour since 1982. Snigger snigger My first was 1990 and the press at the time thought it ridiculous for a bunch of guys in their late 40s to be playing rock gigs. I was 23 then and savoured what I believed would be my one lifetime gig

4 months ago I was 50 and I look forward to 5 No Filter shows, including the 1st and last.

Only went to one ABB show that tour, and that was the second show in the O2, glad I went as apparently that was one of the best ABB shows, at least from 2007, but please do correct me if I am wrong as that was my only ABB show.

Before that tour and after that tour I went to see more concerts again.

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barbabang
Only went to one ABB show that tour, and that was the second show in the O2, glad I went as apparently that was one of the best ABB shows, at least from 2007, but please do correct me if I am wrong as that was my only ABB show.

Before that tour and after that tour I went to see more concerts again.

I only saw 2 shows on ABB - Cardiff 2006 and Paris 2007. Paris was a pleasant but wobbly show and the whole upper tier was tarpaulined off. Keith was below par but thankfully Ronnie stepped up to the plate that night and carried him. I'm told the ABB Summer leg got better after a month or so.

I did 5 BtB shows5 Licks then 3 50 & Counting and 3 14OF.

To me ABB often felt like 'a tour too far', beginning less than 2.years after Licks ended with many shows not sold out. I think the post 2012 model of short 14-15 show tours is absolutely spot on. Simple stage with the emphasis on the music.

In 2014 I did see three shows, and it was really good, performance wise, and great sound too on the field(s)

Pinkpop, Werchter and Rome.

I only went to the Nijmegen show in the Netherlands for that final European leg, but went to quite a few shows in the States prior to that.
Probably the best were both Hollywood Bowl shows at the beginning of the tour (Nov. '05), but there were several other memorable ones over that two year span...L.A. Forum,Vegas, San Diego, Anaheim, Dodger stadium...all within driving distance. Those were the days of multiple cities and multiple legs - if you missed them here you could see them there, and vice versa.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

Honestly it kind of feels longer to me. A Bigger Bang feels like an eternity ago, and WAY longer than 10 years ago. More like 15 at least. I can't tell whether I think they look damn good for having essentially barely aged much in 20 years, or whether in the late 90s they just aged to what they'll basically look like the rest of their lives. Probably a bit of both.

A great week.
3 Stones shows.
In between: Seeing Germany beating England
at the new Wembley Stadium and Prince at one of his 27 or so shows.
Unfortunately we didn't get tix for Westham United on Saturday.

Greetings to Salar and Thomas
See you on the 8th... I hope you remember the week as well.

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barbabang
In 2014 I did see three shows, and it was really good, performance wise, and great sound too on the field(s)

Pinkpop, Werchter and Rome.

Good choices, especially Rome. Rock Werchter's fine if you don't mind the height of the stage or the aggro of getting there and back. I loved 14OF Europe and did Oslo, Paris, Stockholm. Their 2014 performances were generally thought to be far better than 2007's. Slowing down to 2 shows a week certainly helped. I did Paris on both tours and the performances were day and night

I swaqw all 3 shows, and I'll agree - the second show was best.

The band was on fire that evening!

Per Arne

One of the greatest weekends' ever; one I shall never forget and unfortunately the last time I saw the Stones - am kicking myself I did not come to Hyde Park 2013 or the O2 in 2012.

Seeing Prince on the 25th August, the Stones 26th for the final ABB show - great seats near the front side thanks to Annie, it was amazing! I had met Ronnie jsut the week before also - the Stones played Slane on the 18th and we were all up the front on Keith's side - I met Ronnie the evening before the Slane gig on the way to a Stones' fans' meet up in Dublin.

The pub before the 26th August concert was wonderful; lots of friends old and new. I have the DVD of that show and come back to it often; still love the ABB album and tour

The best of times



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-09-05 18:39 by IrelandCalling4.

One point of further elaboration on spilling the beer onto Rockman's lap: I believe the beer was actually Gazza's and I had stood up from my seat quickly for some reason when I hit the glass of beer and across the table it flowed to Rockman.

Rocky, r u seeing any shows on this tour?

You know, I kept an audio diary (on cassette) of my trips in 2006, 2007 (twice that summer) and 2008, but have yet to transcribe them. I am sure there will be a lot more rich detail that I have forgotten on those tapes about the shows and everything else. I do want to transcribe them.


plexi

I was at the sunday show, tried to do it on the cheap so didnt book hotel, flew down from glasgow to stansted in morning, got into central london about 12.30. then got tube to pimlico, entered pub and had pint pf beer. Then to baker street for another pint, ate sandwiches i had made up. Then some sightseeing at science museum and natural history museum.

Then i tried to find pilot inn, which i couldnt, so tried to have meal at 02, which was too busy, so back on the tube to london bridge where i found a nice chinese place, had a curry and a pint of stella. then back to o2 to the bar for a quick drink, then took my seat inside arena, camera on one hand, drink on another.

After concert, back to victoria bus station via tube, then onto stansted, where i spent 6 hours till my 8.10 flight in morning. got home at around 11.30.

great day, away from the wife and weans, but if i had to do it again would go away for longer with hotel rooms, and would have time to find the pilot inn.

....always get a tear when I watch that Last Show clip ...^^^^^^^



ROCKMAN

The best thing with this show for me was meeting Rockman for the first time, immediately after the last note of Brown Sugar! I think you were in the 6th row and I in the 7th, Keith side, next to the rail. Happy Days!!

Are you coming to Stockholm for the 12th october show Rockman? If so, let me buy ya a couple of large ones..

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Rockman


L-R Back row -- Pauly Wauly ... Beast ... Some Australian Guy ... Eric Snow ... Timbernardis ( white cap) ... others unknown .... Pilot Inn



Beast's hand .... Some Australian Guy before you poured a beer on him .......Pilot Inn

Some Australian Guy - some understatement!! This is an extremely rare picture of The Pilot himself - pilot of the High Seas just before he washed his hands, and sealed his fate!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-09-07 09:23 by Silver Dagger.

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Rockman
....always get a tear when I watch that Last Show clip ...^^^^^^^

Rockee -- what video and what clip r u referring to?


plexi

and r u coming to any shows on No Filter?


plexi

2006 i saw Cologne, Paris and Amsterdam.
2007 i saw Nijmegen, Paris, Madrid, Dusseldorf and Slane

2007 started not so good (music and moustache wise) but dusseldorf en slane where fantastic. 2006 was very good.

Also heard the London shows where great.

Yeah, Keith had that ridiculous mustache for a while in '07.


plexi

Well Werchter opening was great beacuse everybody was nervous except for Keith.. ;-)

God bless, he had just lost his mother a couple of months before so it was a bit wonky that first month in 2007. But it still only the second time in the 2000's we got Sympathy as the closer and ya can't go wrong with a setlist that includes Shattered, Rocks Off, Heartbreaker, Some Gals, Can't Ya Hear Me Knocking, Waitin' On A Friend, It's All Over Now and Wanna Hold You. During Sympathy it seemed like one was back in Altamont with all the people in the field dancing like voodoo dolls. Happy Days!