Stones Main Page / My Stones shows / Werchter main page
(Posted to Undercover on June 24, 1998)
Took me a long time to continue my Werchter1 review, but here is the Part2.
Before they played it, Mick went his usual routine, asking in Dutch if people wanted to sing along. He laughed at himself and said in english his dutch was really terrible and he had to practice more before tomorrow night. Good version. Great voice. My kids had lots of fun at the cigarette routine between Ronnie, Bernard and Keith, and were amazed at my knowledge... How could I guess they'd do that ?
Once again, the crowd didn't respond much... Ronnie took his usual clown routine during Bobby's solo part, and made a very good solo himself.
Usual polite applause for the additional musicians. Bobby got a good applause, Lisa made her usual star crap.
When it was time to introduce Ronnie, the crowd behind the reserved section started to shout CHAR-LIE ! CHAR-LIE ! quite loud, and Mick had to wait a little to present Ronnie, and then Ronnie got a big applause, but nothing comparable to Charlie or Keith.
Keith looked great, and sang really great too ! The band was on, specially the horn section. Nobody sat down or went to take a pee or a beer, as it always happens when there are seats ;-) Best version I heard of this song, and it's my Keith's favorite, with Happy of course.
Good rocker, nice version, maybe not as exceptional as YDHTMI. After this song, Keith got a huge applause, even from the sleepy front section, and banged with both fists his head, then his chest, his balls and ankles. Didn't make it to the floor this time ;-)
When all lights went off, there was a little moment with no sound at all, and a few people around me said "it was a good show. Let's go home quickly before the roads are packed" !!! Then the sound came, and the "head" of the bridge came out, with its 2 red "eyes" shining... These red lights went out quickly, before the bridge advanced. Plenty of "ho !" and "ha !" when the B-stage rose. Then they crossed the bridge and my kids were away ! Chrissss went after them, but none of them came back before SFTD was well underway ;-)
Chrissss told me later his kid spent all the B-stage set on the shoulders of a huge Belgian (some of these guys are real big !), and mine were sitting on the fence all the time... It's good to be a kid !
Great version, great sound... Keith was on, and Ronnie was great too. From where I was, I could see very well Keith's interaction with Charlie. Quite impressive. No delay problem, as I experienced in chicago and mostly in Toronto (such a terrible sound then !), but I was too far from the B-stage to hear the amps directly.
Great fun ! During the whole last verse, Ronnie played one fret too high on his neck, so his tone was 1 half-step too low. I'm not sure he didn't hear himself or didn't care... That was not too boring though...
I love this song by the Stones (more than by Bobbie, but don't want to start another thread on this ;-) ), and I was glad to see them playing it here in europe again, as they played it most of the VL dates here, and not in the US then. This is really a Stones song to me, now. Mick introduced it as usual as a song Bob Dylan wrote for them, which I seriously doubt (anybody can confirm this to me ?).
The crowd was very active then, big sing-along, much more than during Miss You or any other song.
Very good version, like many other songs tonight, cool, quiet, and mastered.
After that song, they crossed the catwalk again to the main stage, but the distance between the catwalk itself and the fences was way too large to allow any handshakes. My kids were very disappointed at this, as they really hoped to shake hands with Keith or Ronnie or Charlie. They're no big Mickonites !
Great version too, certainly better than Chicago UC or even MSG1, but not the magic of Toronto or Paris2 1995. I was feeling they were getting tired of that unresponding crowd, who apparently turned back to take a nap after the B-stage excitement.
My kids know this song perfectly, and it's one of their favorites, as their dad's... Another great song, in a very good version, but as for SFTD, the pace was a little slowing down.
Right after the first note, my kids asked if the crowd will shout a big roar when Mick would say "in New York City" as it did in MSG ;-)))
This song was IMO the only under-average version we had that night. As for many others, it was a little slower than usual, but this doesn't fit well HTW. The only better than usual point was at the end of the piano solo, Keith hit the keyboard with his foot, then Chuck, then Keith again, and these 3 kicks were in tune ! First time I heard them doing this perfectly, musically speaking :-)
Keith started the song directly, not doing his "pre-intro riff" I heard him doing every time since he fucked up in MSG1. Tired of using the same gag ? Or hurrying to finish ? Anyway, great version, fast, rocking and rolling at its very best. Great great voice for Mick. He's now obviously quite confident in his voice, and I'm wondering if he's ever had any laryngitis...
Wow ! Best version live for me... Keith was incredible, and Mick and Ronnie great !!!! After the end, Keith apparently wanted to start it all over again, and played the full riff 4 or 5 times, turned to Charlie who shook his head saying a big and amused NO, hit his cymbals and toms in a final crash, so Keith gave up and nodded at Charlie, smiling and saying (that's my interpretation, but I'm pretty sure I'm right) "OK, too bad, but you're the boss here" ;-)))
After a short while when very few people did applause in the front section (my kids were about the loudest shouting their lungs out), they were back for the final song. I was disappointed not to hear YCAGWYW, and supposed they dropped it because of the sleepy audience (worst audience I ever saw at a Stones concert, but Peter told me later it's always like that in Belgium, and he's Belgian), but I found out later it was not printed on the setlist.
Good version, better than average, but not what I would call great.
The highlight was when Mayumi's face was all over the big screen ! My kids spotted her first (they only saw pictures of her before). Mayumi, I'm so late on email now, did you make it again in Werchter2 ?...
Didn't see my watch when they left the stage after the final bow, but this is when the crowd woke up (to pack, probably !), and the ovation (standing ovation, of course !) was big and long. Keith, then Charlie, and finally Mick turned back for a final individual bow before they went through the exit.
The final fireworks were late that night, and the front section was almost empty when it went off.
Then we met at the video tower, but it is another story I already told...
Keep On Rockin'...
Thierry.