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Berlin memories

Report by Martin

©Martin
Great evening last night at the Waldebuhne, Berlin. Over 30 degrees in an extraordinary amphitheatre somewhere in the woods. Reminiscent of the Hollywood Bowl. Even though they have played there three times before, Mick clearly beamed when he entered the stage. And that bonhomie was evidenced throughout the show.
Highlights were Waiting On A Friend, a ramshackle Out Of Control (Keith facing off Mick), a lengthy Midnight Rambler, the woods SMOULDERING during Sympathy and YCAGWYW (unique for me). Not the tightest show but raw and endearing. Made more special by joining Axel who witnessed the 1965 20 minute riot at the same venue.

Report by Arve

©Arve
Berlin was GREAT, of course and it was HOT.
Nice to meet many old friends at the Garage du Pont, in Postdam before getting to the Ronnie & Kruger vernissage at Baake Gallery. Nice to watch inside and nice to be out side with plenty of good German beer. The last was highly needed as it was very HOT both in- and outdoor. And beer I got plenty of all night.
Next morning (show day) they told in the morning news that it gona be an even hotter day and advised everybody to drink plenty to not get dehydrated - very easy to do with all that tasty and cheap German beer.
Had Lucky Dip ticket together with Debbie W. and did not arrive 15 min before they started giving out the envelops - it was hot there. Wondering much about where we would be seated and first a little disappoint when we found 2 tickets with "Oberring Block 11" on them, but with that great Waldbühne (Woodland Stage or Forest Stage) amphitheatre , OB. Keith "It's good to be anywhere".
After 3 hours in the hot shivering sun and the air not moving at all we all was happy that it started to be not so HOT any more, but then the intro and "Start Me Up" came on - and then it was 2 hours of HOT Stones to come.
Loved it all and very happy to get "Waiting On A Friend" - not sure if I've had it live before. Must check one day. Might be it was an virgin for me like this concert was my German virgin show.
Wish to thank everybody, first Debbie of course for having a ticket for me, Johannes (w/daughter), Andee, Diane, Ellen, Nandita,, Roland, Janet, Martin, Axel, Thomas & Angie & Runa.
Hope I've not forgotten anybody - if so I do thank those forgotten also.
Thank you very much & All the Best to everybody!

Report by Johannes

©Johannes
On the day of the show the weather looked cooler at first, but got back to VERY HOT by lunchtime. Vanessa and I picked up Martin to get back to Hackescher Markt were we met Ellen, who was just trying to get her plane ticket to Paris. Deb arrived as well and the three girls went to do what three girls can do best: Shopping even more. Martin and I sat down and had some juice and beer just to prepare for the show. We had lunch there after the girls came back, went to our hotel to change to show gear and get our tickets and went back to pick up Martin to go to the Waldbuehne by S-Bahn. Axel and Roland, who had arrived the night before as well and stayed with Axel, got on the same train.
We passed by those people we know from lots of shows from the past that queue from early morning onwards to be in front row or even at the fences of the pit area as soon as the doors are opened. We did not do that, as the view 2 meters behind them is not bad at all. :-)
We met at the bell tower, the lucky dip people left pair by pair and Axel and I made our way in to get into the pit, Ronnies side. It was still hot, but there was no sun on our bit, so it was a bit cooler. We could see Werner and Helga and had met Gerd and Jacqueline before, so everyone was back to their usual places. Thomas Zott was in green with his "Mick" hat and said he wanted to give it to Mick that night. I am not sure that happened, though.
The "Temperance Movement" were supporting. They sounded like a mix of Faces and Free to me, not very interesting in 2014, not as interesting as it might have been in 1972/3. They were over quickly. I could see Steve Tyler walking around at the backside of the stage, up the ramp, where the gear had to be taken in and out, but he never reappeared again.
The show was great. Of course Keith fucked up the intro to SMU, even worse than in Hyde Park last year. Don't let him start a show with that song, it will not work. But the general feeling on stage was great. The Stones loved the atmosphere and you could see and feel that they enjoyed themselves. Lots of looks from Jagger to Chuck, to Lisa, to Bernard, you could feel that he's the real director of the show, not Chuck. Waiting on a friend was a nice surprise and I am not sure, but I guess someone on stage mumbled just before "YGMR" that it was for one Tony. Hey, I even loved that song. It rocked. And what more Do I ask for? I liked GOOMY, the web choice, OOC was great, I loved the interplay between Jagger and Richards on the ramp when they played towards each other. A very long Rambler, Miss You not too nervewrecking, Sympathy having the stage and the area smouldering and a perfect YCAGWYW. You might have seen the videos by now, so you can judge by yourself. Can't be seen was pretty good and good to hear again. The only thing I did not like was that Taylor only played on the Rambler and even for Satisfaction was handed his acoustic guitar well into the song, i. e. when all the people from the choirs had left the stage. They should really use him some more. (I met Marlies before the show, but did not talk with her about that). The band made fun of Jagger, when he introduced Charlie instead of Ronnie. Charlie refused to come out and Jagger was puzzled with Ronnie running around him, although he wasn't introduced yet. Seems they all took it in good spirit.
I have to say that I shed a tear or two during the show, it was a highly emotional experience for me, always keeping in mind that I might only see it again one more time in Duesseldorf and then it might be all it. Keith talked a lot to the audience, Jagger made a couple of jokes about the Berlin airport and England vs. Germany in the world cup, mentioning penalties (He knows his football!). What shall I say, I just loved it....
After the show we met Bjornulf, who said that the crowd was tired from the sun and not with the show as it would have been if it was cooler. I couldn't say that, from what I could see (and I could see most of the Waldbuehne until the very last song), the crowd was with it, even on the lesser known songs. The crowd was great for the night. Very special...
After the show we met at the Bell Tower again. The girls took the S-Bahn with Vanessa leading them through a glitch here and there. Arve, Martin and I took the wrong turn and then took a cab. We had to say goodbye to Roland and Axel before, as Roland had to fly to Copenhagen early in the morning to get to work. We all arrived at the Hackescher Markt again at the same time, so it wasn't too bad. We had something to eat and drink again and shared bits and pieces about the show. The musician playing there told everyone that his brother had come from London (!) to see the show, which made us laugh out loud.
By 2 am it was time for goodbyes. Vanessa, Martin and I took a cab to Martins hotel and we were in bed by 3, getting up by 9:30 again. Vanessa did some more shopping in the Alexa in the morning, where it eventually started to rain and had another ice cream at the Hackescher Markt. We were out of Berlin by 5 pm, arriving home at around 9:15 pm. Of course we were late in the offices the next morning.
Thanks everybody for such a nice and lovely weekend. I hope it wasn't the last one that we had together.

Report by Roland

©Roland
Thanks for the reports, JDel.
It was really great to see so many glimmers again. Fantastic to drink, eat and chat again. It had been quite many years (with the exception of Nandita who I met in Copenhagen two days earlier - and Arve who I met in Oslo two weeks earlier). Thank you to the glimmers who let me eat some of their food, I really could not get satisfied eating what I got on my plate. The beers were quite alright - and so was the food, the plate was just too small, I suppose :-)
It was really nice for the gallery. Potsdam was very nice, too.
> Thanks Albert, for your hospitality and for generally being very nice to us. It was appreciated!
I second that! Thanks.
> After that we returned to Berlin for the official pre-show gathering at Rumpelkiste near Deutsche Oper.
Great to see more Stones fans here. And a nice bar, a real bar, not one of these "very beautiful bars". Luckily a few of us could stay outside when the Police had left. It was very hot inside. Axel and I had the last beer outside when they closed the bar. Still very nice weather after midnight.
The Stones show was really good. YGMR was great, the first sign that it would be a great concert. I really enjoyed it. Mick Taylor did a great solo during MR. The choir was divided into two. The guy directing at the left side got really carried away by being on stage and nearly danced at the end of YCAGWYW, great :-)
Thanks to everyone or making the stay so pleasant. Special thanks to Axel and his lovely wife, Silvia.
Hope to meet all of you again, some day. Next show for me: Roskilde Festival.

Report by me (Thomas)

©Thomas
Thanks Johannes and everybody else for your reviews and memories!
So - there are no details I could add, except maybe this little bit:
On Monday on our drive to Potsdam, Axel had an extra surprise for us - he stopped near the backside of the Waldbuehne and we walked a narrow road through the wood to the stage entrance. Now and then small vans with dark window panes passed by - no glimmer of the Stones of course, but still a little exciting. We joked we could kidnap the band there after the show and only release them after they gave us a private show ;-)
Not much going on at the gate - some vans and trucks, stage workers walking around. The security guy was so kind to take some photos of us after he was sure we were'nt dangerous ;-)
It was a phantastic show in a great venue and I enjoyed it very much. I got GOOMC, one of my favourites! WOAF was a big surprise for me and played just beautifully. Rambler was awesome - I never saw MT with the Stones, only solo once in '98. To me it felt like he inspired the band with a special bluesy touch. Nice to get OOC again after so many years! Lisa's performance in GS was almost as magic as Mary Clayton. I even liked JJF this time, just because of the way Keith hammered the riffs ;-). Taylor on acoustic guitar doing Satisfaction is somehow funny, does that make any sense?
And I loved watching Keith. Well ... I always love (to watch) Keith :-)
Thanks to all glimmer friends who came to Berlin and made this trip very memorable for Angie & me. Seeing all that familiar faces again was really fun. It's good to be anywhere, but it was especially good to be in Berlin!