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The Rolling Stones
Feyenoord Stadium (De Kuip)
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Monday August 11, 2003

The set list

Brown Sugar
You Got Me Rocking
It's Only Rock'n Roll
Don't Stop
Wild Horses
You Can't Always Get What You Want
Paint It Black
Tumbling Dice
--- Introductions
Thru And Thru (Keith)
Happy (Keith)
Sympathy For The Devil
Star Star (B-stage)
Little Red Rooster (B-stage)
Street Fighting Man (B-stage)
Gimme Shelter
Honky Tonk Women
Start Me Up
Satisfaction
Jumping Jack Flash (encore)


Toots and the Maytals (warmup) : 7:45pm - 8:35pm       
The Rolling Stones             : 9:05pm - 11:05pm

Star Star in Rotterdam
Review by Marcel Bizarro

Tonight the Rolling Stones did their first of six shows in The Netherlands, in Rotterdam (Feyenoord Stadium). There were a lot of negative stories in the Dutch press like �They are too old�, � they only play for the money�. But tonight The Rolling Stones hit back with a great show. This was the first time I saw the Stones in the Forty Licks tour. The sound was better than in every show I�ve seen before. The Stones openened with �Brown Sugar� , followed by �You Got Me Rockin� and �It�s Only Rock �n Roll�. Holland has a special place in the heart of The Rolling Stones, because they played some special songs like �Wild Horses�, �Paint It Black� and on the small stage they played �Star Star� and �Little Red Rooster�. Keith did �Thru and Thru� and �Happy�. After the great Rolling Stones show in Rotterdam is the conclusion that the Rolling Stones still beat the Stadium Rock Stars Wannabees like Robbie Williams and Bon Jovi.

Review by Marco Peper

This concert was very special to me. I brought my 12 year old daughter Manouk to the Stones! Cause she has to know what daddy's passion is all about. We were close to the catwalk and when the Stones walked to the b-stage both Mick and Keith shook hands with her! A dream come true on her first gig. 'Their hands felt like normal hands' she told me afterwards. And that's true. The Stones are just people, but awesome great musicians.

She was sitting on my shoulders during Wild Horses and I got tears in my eyes. Sooo beautifull. It's great to experience the Stones with your child. And not only my daughter joined me, but also my 66 year old mother Kora. So there we were: three generations of Stones fans having a great time!

Thank you Kora! Thank you Manouk!! And thank you Stones!!!

STONES ROCK ROTTERDAM
Review by Pieter Balk

To be honest I wasn't really looking forward to this show as I've seen the Stones MANY times in stadiums with similar setlists. Actually this was just to get in the mood for the Rotterdam Ahoy show. But did they surprise me. The Stones Rocked!!! A great set of classics mixed with rarities. Opening up with Brown Sugar, closing with JJF and in between a tremendous Star Star, Little Red Rooster and Paint It Black, already played on the soundcheck but given its premiere here was a great surprise.

The show was awesome. It was my first Licks show and thought it would be my last one but they hit me with a surprise. The explosions at the end still ring in my ear, my eyes still "bleed" from the fire during Sympathy and my expectations are high for Ahoy.

While walking to my car I was handed a flyer with a DVD offer for a DVD of this show, Is signed in RIGHT AWAY!!! This was one of the best Stones shows I saw, in a stadium at least!

Review by Ren� Spork

One thing is for sure, Holland is a Stones-country and the people in De Kuip (Feyenoord Stadium) gattered for a Stones celebration, nothing less. It was party-time from the first note of Brown Sugar until Jumpin' Jack Flash. During Don't Stop the audience made it clear that the Stones had a serious point there: DON' STOP was shouted by some 45.000 enthusiastic fans. Because of the interaction with the audience some numbers weren't played too well, f.e. Tumbling Dice which they played too fast (was it our handclapping that did it?), but this show can't be criticized number by number. This was a Stonesexperience not easy to forget. Micks voice still isn't quite allright, which you could hear on numbers like Honky Tonk Women, but Wild Horses on the contrary was beautiful.

The small stage was used to play Star Star, Little Red Rooster and Street Fighting Man. Starfucker was great! Of course they gave us Satisfaction and I never heard an audience sing so loud and so well.

It was the location, the weather and the fact that this was their first Dutch forty licks concert that did it. Perhaps Toots and the Maytalls, which opened the show, added a little too to make this event such a nice one. Ronnie Wood and Bobby Keys could be seen on the stage during the Maytalls show, swinging, not playing.

Review by Rutger Janssen

I arrived at 12.00 and it was bloody hot. They opened the doors at 17.45. When I entered the field of the stadium I saw some people running to the left front. The fos area was open. I managed to get in and saw myself standing 10 meters in front of the stage. I felt just great, since I thought I would be standing somewhere in the middle. At 19.45 the opening band came on stage, it was a jamaican band. Let me tell you, they were far from special and I felt they played too long. I believe for almost an hour. The Stones let us wait for just another 30 minutes but then decided our time had come.

Brown Sugar: The usual opener and always good to hear.

You Got Me Rocking: Ronnie smoked the solo part and the crowd sang along. Hey Hey!

It's Only Rock N' Roll: ... but the crowd like it.

Don't Stop: some nice guitars on this one, but not one of my favourites.

Wild Horses: They played this one on acoustic guitars. It went well, but I've heard better versions.

You Can't Always Get What You Want: Mick was in the middle of the verses and he was going to sing ,, what's your favourite flavour?'' but the crowd was singing the chorus already. He seemed to be a little annoyed. The song worked out great though.

Paint It Black: I already heard this during the soundcheck and was only dreaming for it to actually happen. I just went mad when Keith played that intro. The band was all over it and played it fast and loud.

Tumbling Dice: This song is so relax. Always brings a great vibe.

Thru and Thru: One of my favourite Keith songs and it was beautiful! I love this song thru and thru.

Happy: Rock n' roll baby!

Sympathy For The Devil: Wow the crowd sang on this one more then usual. I didn't hear Keith's solo too well, but still this kicked ass.

Starfucker: Starfucker starfucker starfucker... how great can a b-stage set be? This was my favourite as Keith smoked this one. Mick belding out the lyrics like they were bullets. Just fantastic. Little Red Rooster: How sweet was this one! Especially Mick on harp was lovely.

Street Fighting Man: This one fitted just great to end the b-stage set. The crowd loved it.

Gimme Shelter: Lisa really seemed to enjoy herself on this one again, she had a smile on her face during the whole song.

Honky Tonk Woman: ...and the crowd went wild. This one worked especially well as the whole crowd sang along.

Start Me Up: ...also a crowd pleaser and a great version!

Satisfaction: I am always satisfied when they play this war horse and the crowd always seems to love it.

Jumping Jack Flash: The encore obviously, you can't miss this one.

The Stones surprised us with Paint It Black and Starfucker. The crowd appreciated and sang along great most of the time. It was a hot summer night and I can assure you there is more to come in Holland. Watch out for some more surprises.

Review by Ben Vaanholt

Yesterday was the first of 6 concerts of the Stones in the Netherlands in a warm but electric Rotterdam. The band played a fantastic concert with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. The atmosphere in the stadium was great which contributed a lot to the performance of the Stones. They were obviously happy with the warm welcome the public gave them during the concert after 4 years of absence.

The set list had some very unexpected but pleasant surprises. `Wild Horses`, `Paint it Black` and on the B-stage `Little Red Rooster` were chosen especially for the Dutch audience and made a great impression. Most unexpected was `Star Star` as first song on the B-stage. It is one of my favourites and I never heard it during one of my 14 previous concerts. For me it was one of the highlights of the evening because I also was standing very close to the B-stage.

Other highlights were `YCAGWYW`, `Sympathy for the Devil` and `Gimme Shelter` with a brilliant performance of Lisa. The only negative aspect was the sound during the first songs. You could hear barely Mick with that wall of sound. After a couple of songs they had found the right balance. So this was a very great opening of the shows in the Netherlands. Personally I hope to hear `Midnight Rambler` in one of the coming concerts and that `Star Star` will be prolonged on the set list. Only 4 concerts to go from now.

Review by Hendrik Mulder

Well, what can I say? I'm always a bit sceptic about stadium shows. They always seem to play less inspired and the setlist are mainly the well known classics. The first Rotterdam show proofed different. After having dinner at my place togeter with Mathijs we left at 18.15 with our FOS tickets. At 19.45 we were in the first section, Ronnies side, 10 metres from the stage; not too bad I would say.

Keith entered the stage at 21.10 and the show was on! The first six songs were the regular stadium songs but then the first surprise: Paint It Black; the audience went complete crazy. After Tumblig Dice it was Keith' turn and he treated us with Thru And Thru which is very rare song for a stadium. Sympathy was great with lots of fire around the stage. You could feel the heat! Then the small stage, which was far away for us. Keith did the intro for, it seemed IORR, which ofcourse couldn't be, because they already did this one, Starfucker. Also the first time this tour. After Little Red Rooster and Street Fighting Man we got Gimme Shelter which was started by Lisa; nice to hear this song way different compared to the BTB tour. The rest of the songs were the well known highlights.

This was the first dutch show and still 5 to go. More surprises to be expected...........

Comments by Lanny, Holland

I just wanted to agree with you guys that last nights concert in Rotterdam was one of the absolute best from the Rolling Stones, I seen them in 1989 in Vancouver Canada and it was fantastic, but last nights performance topped the one I seen almost 15 years ago by far, It was super!

Soundcheck in heatwave
Comments by Michael Halve, Delft

As I am working at T-Mobile Netherlands I got the opportunity to join a promotion team during the concert. I was already at 16.00 h. in the Feyenoord Stadium. After a briefing I went to the field to have a look at the stage. The horn section were playing parts of 'Happy'. Great to hear that without the other intruments. And than it happened. Charlie Watts, Ron Wood, Keith Richards and Daryl Jones suddenly were on stage and started with a sound check that was a great experience to be with. They were jamming and improvising in a kind of jazzy style. And they seem to enjoy it. So did I. With an open mouth I looked and listened. The whole stadium was empty. The sun was burning and their on stage were my heroes. After that jazzy piece Mick Jagger joined them. They played 'Saint of Me' (which they did not play during the concert!) and 'Paint it black'. By the security we were politely asked to leave the stadium. A man from T-Mobile International (who travels with the tour and haven't missed a concert in Europe) told me this was the first time they did the sound check theirselves. I don't know if that's true, the experience was great anyway.

Comment from IORR/Bjornulf: They do the rehearsals themselves. Checking out the sound and PA is something else.

Review by Martin Mulder

This was about the 16th time I was at a live-show of The Stones, but I think this was maybe the best show ever. Allthough it was very hot, the gave themselves for the full 100% (maybe even more). I never heard Mick thank the crowd so often for their enthousiasm and the warm welcome. Especially during You Can't Allways Get.... the crowd sang so loud, that it was difficult to hear the Stones.

Great surprise was Star Star. I'd only seen it once before at a liveshow (1976). Too bad they didn't play Angie, but Wild Horses was a good replacement. Lisa Fischer showed her best (vocals and body) again at Gimme Shelter. Maybe she should get a song of her own to perform on stage, like Keith does everytime. Keith was better then ever before and gave a nice "stretched" performance of Happy

Nice was Mick speaking dutch a lot, he even made fun at Ronnie in dutch. Ga zo door Mick! (keep on go�ng Mick). Hopefully the come again and hopefully I can get a ticket for a small show (Paradiso, Vredenburg?) that time. A pity the "Vredenburg-tickets" were only for business relations (T-Mobile), I surely would have bought one. Special thanks to IORR for keeping us updated on everything about the Stones.

Thanks to Marco Peper for the great band picture.
Thanks to Iris N�lle-Hornkamp, Ren� Spork, Martijn Jansen, Axel Schumacher, Roberto de Tuoni and Albert Imthorn 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.

The Rolling Stones Feyenoord Stadium (De Kuip) Rotterdam, The Netherlands Monday August 11, 2003