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The Rolling Stones
Wembley Arena
London, Great Britain
Friday August 29, 2003

The set list

Street Fighting Man
Start Me Up
If You Can't Rock Me
Don't Stop
Bitch
Love In Vain
Monkey Man
Midnight Rambler
Tumbling Dice
--- Introductions
Slipping Away (Keith)
Happy (Keith)
Love Train
Can't You Hear Me Knocking
Honky Tonk Women
Satisfaction
Respectable (B-stage)
It's Only Rock'n Roll (B-stage)
Brown Sugar (B-stage)
Jumping Jack Flash (Encore)

Feeder (warmup)    :        -  8:05pm       
The Rolling Stones : 8:55pm - 10:55pm

Review by Tom Burton

Friday's show at Wembley Arena was the first time in 5 years I'd seen the Stones in an arena versus the usual stadium show so I was looking forward to it (I unfortunately couldn't get tix to the Astoria club gig short of remortgaging the flat!).

The Stones materialised in full-pelt mode with a blistering Street Fighting Man (welcome back to sleepy London town!) and Start Me Up, followed by Don't Stop. Then the set got more interesting, with a Let It Bleed mini-set of Love In Vain, Monkey Man and a great Midnight Rambler. We also got If You Can't Rock Me and, for a treat, an extended jam on Can You Hear Me Knocking - excellent sax solo from Bobby Keys and then an awesome tour-de-force by Ronnie Wood - he really was on fire tonight, playing some excellent slide and lead guitar (he's not usually known for his stand-out solos!), running around with loads of interaction with the other band members.

Next up was the Keef slot with Slipping Away from Steel Wheels, plus Happy on his faithful 5-string telecaster. Mick came out and they covered an upbeat Love Train - Lisa accidentally missed the cue to end the song and carried on singing for a few seconds which made Mick smile so they had to pretend to do another chorus to finish it properly. With HTW, Tumbling Dice and Satisfaction they were back to full-on stadium mode.

Then it was over to the mini-stage for Respectable, IORR and Brown Sugar before disappearing from view and reappearing for the JJF encore on the main stage, red confetti showering from the rafters to the cheering crowd. All in all, another great show from the boys!

Review by Sjouke Hoving

This was my fourth (and probably last) show of the European tour. And it was probably the best one I have seen so far. Although there were no real surprises in the setlist, the show rocked really hard from the beginning. They started with the typical arena opener Street Fighting Man followed by Start Me Up and If You Can't Rock Me. The version of Don't Stop was short, much shorter than in the stadium shows but very nice. Bitch was next with horns. Everybody on stage was playing very well, the sound was really good and Mick's voice was strong as ever, also until the end of the show. Then the album theme, as in Munich it was the Let It Bleed theme with a beautiful played Love In Vain followed by Monkey Man and the highlight of the evening, a rocking hard Midnight Rambler. The next song Tumbling Dice I have heard too much and was a good occasion to get some beers, especially my companion needed some. The Band Introductions were followed by the Keith songs Slipping Away and Happy. Surprise song to hear was Love Train, very nice done. It was great to hear Can't You Hear Me Knocking again with a very long jam session in the middle. This was, together with Midnight Rambler the absolute highlight of the show. Honky Tonk Women got a great perception as well as Satisfaction. The crowd loved it. The B-stage gave us Respectable, It's Only Rock'n Roll and Brown Sugar. The sound quality at the B-stage was lousy compared to the really great sound from the main stage. We got one encore Jumping Jack Flash and then it was over. Probably the best show I ever have attended and it could be the last, although Zurich could be the last chance to see them this year.

Review by Olaf Boehme, Germany

After the club show the first indoor concert in England followed. The Wembley arena should experience thereby an outstanding energy achievement of all band members. Days before this, there was a huge run down the band's condition at the World Wide Web. There was a speech from a Ronnie who forgets the chords, particularly fail with Can't You Hear Me Knockin' and a singer who can't sing anymore. The appearance on 29 August seemed to have been the answer to all the criticism of the past days. By possible problems with Mick's voice there was not to be noticed at all. And Ronnie, principal purpose disk of the criticism was knocked on his shoulder before Can't You Hear Me Knockin' and pushed strongly on the edge of stage by Keith. The gesture of Keith reminded of a coach, who send its favourite in a auspicious boxing contest. �Boy, it cannot go to anything inclined, make your thing�, thereby his animating words could have been. That was Teamwork in the sense of mutual stimulus. Can't You Hear Me Knockin' and Midnight Rambler both titles seemed to be endless in this evening. With Can't You Hear Me Knockin' Mick pushed a harmonica-solo that continuous approx. 5 mins. Even with Charlie there were remarkableness. He play so hard on Midnight Rambler and Tumbling Dice, as if it wants to flog someone (and he smiled thereby). Summa sumarum, the Rolling Stones presented themselves in the Wembley arena as belonging together and mutually respecting work collective.

Review by Steven Kelly

This was my first trip to see the band on this tour and having waited so long for this moment I felt strangely nervous sitting waiting on the show to start. Could the Stones live up to all the hype surrounding the UK leg of the tour? Could they impress the ultra critical sceptics who were desperate to write them off?

Shortly before 9 o'clock the lights dropped and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. The opening chords to Street Fighting Man rung out and Keith rushed forward on to the stage, head down, looking at his guitar, could he have been nervous too? Then Mick ran forward, waving and jumping around like a man possesed. Keith looked up at Mick and the crowd and his faced streched to the biggest smile I've ever seen. At that moment I new they were out to impress their home crowd, and boy did they do it in style.

Without pausing for breath they then launched into Start Me Up and a fantastic rendition of If You Can't Rock Me. The band seem fully relaxed now and after Dont Stop and Bitch, came the highlight of my night, Love In Vain, Monkey Man and Midnight Rambler. Ronnie's solo on Love In Vain was as good as it gets and Keith and Mick had the audience spellbound during Midnight Rambler. Tumbling Dice followed before Mick introduced the band, with Ronnie hogging as much of the limelight as possible, egged on by the rest of the band.

Keith took lead vocals for Slipping Away and Happy, the latter of the two I thought was a bit disapointing, as if Keith had lost where the song was going and had to improvise, with the backing vocalists struggling to keep up.

Then came an excellent version of Love Train. On the way home from the gig someone commented to me that Love Train was "a bit inappropriate". Not true! Just as Like A Rolling Stone on the previous tour, you could have sworn this song was written for the band. CYHMK followed, the first time I've heard this live, and it was fantastic. Again someone commented to me that it dragged on too long. Not to me, I was awestruck, and Ronnie and Bobby Keys shone out.

Honky Tonk Woman and Satisfaction followed before a walk onto the B-Stage. Respectable was great, IORR was excellent and Brown Sugar was as out of this world, outstanding! Then the encore, Jumping Jack Flash, sounded as though the band had just come on stage, ready to start again. They blew the roof off the arena. The best gig I've ever seen, without a doubt, and I'm going to see them again in Glasgow this Wednesday. I can't wait!

News links

Rolling Stones At Wembley Picture gallery by Getty Images

Thanks to Iris N�lle-Hornkamp for news links!

This page will change over the next few days, as you and other fans send reviews, set lists and reports. Please send your e-mail to IORR. Thanks! For details and great photos from the Rolling Stones and their World Tour get the IORR magazines.