Some impressions ...

These were some impressions posted to the Undercover Mailing List after I returned back home:

Hi all!

What can I say? Still speachless, but I'll try to find some words :-)

That Stones trip to Pittsburgh and Philly really was unbelievable for me! Never had so much fun before.

I didn't catch up with my >1000 Undercover mails yet, but I guess the shows were already reviewed pretty well by all of you who were there (might add some bits and pieces later..).

I'm especially blown away by the awesome setlists we had at these shows... Gimme Shelter, Bitch, Fool To Cry and Moonlight Mile, Keith's Silver, Thief, You Don't Have To Mean It, and finally Get Off Of My Cloud at the B-Stage at Philly2, which made a dream come true for me (and Tiger, I guess)!

The boys were so incredibly great, how can they ever stop? I had the pleasure to be at the B-Stage fence twice (Keith's mic stand in Pittsburgh and Ronnie's at Philly2), which really blew me away. It's so near - you can touch the stage!

Keith, the old rocker, oh my god!!!! I can't find any words for his Midnight Rambler performance, this guy is unbelievable. Tight interaction with Charlie during the slow part. All the other guys were in great shape also, I even liked Ronnie this time ;-))

For me it was the first time to see shows in the USA, so I had to deal with the "seating" rule ;-). Fortunately, I didn't have to sit at all because the crowd around me was standing all the time.

Great audience, except for the Saint Of Me chorus, which really doesn't work like in Europe, dunno why ;-)). Funny to see some people getting drinks and food, running around or talking all the time during the show...

What a great fun to see all you Undercover people around the B-Stage in Philly2! Lots of waving to each other and big smiles on everybody's faces :-))

Once again, I'd like to send a big Thank You to Alyson, Katherine and Tony for helping with great tickets and making this possible at all for us EuroGlimmers! Also Thanks for those I might have forgotten...ticket trades were a little bit confusing sometimes :-).

Also thanks to Sharon arranging the hotel in Pittsburgh for us!

Many thanks again to CrazyKen for organizing everything so perfectly in Philly! So much fun to stay together with so many Glimmers at the DoubleTree hotel :-).

Pre- and Aftershow gatherings at Penny's were a perfect place to share anticipation and joy for all of us. I didn't know some of you are so good in singing Stones Karaoke ;-))).

And - I never thought I would ride in an American school bus in my life. That was really fun and made getting to and from the shows quite easy. Yep, another highlight of Ken's work!

Besides many of you, there are two persons I'd like to point out separately:
First, the french guy Nicolas hosted us for two days at his place in Philly downtown. He and his wife were very nice and tolerant to us crazy Stones people ;-). Great european cooking (nothing against Hot Dogs ;-))! If you ever come to Philly, don't miss Nicolas' Tirami su! He was very patient guiding us stupid tourists to many nice places in Philly we wouldn't have found without him. I saw you subscibed to the list, so welcome to Undercover, Nicolas!

And then there's Shoiley...oh man, what a nice, worldclass Glimmer girl!
Because of the snowy weather, we first cancelled or trip to her party on Sunday afternoon, but luckily changed our minds towards the evening - how can you miss such an invitation :-).

After a 3 hours trip it was like entering a white winter fairytale when we arrived at her place - thick snow on the trees and a beautiful, illuminated house with Stones music sounding out. Wow, great to finally see her for the first time! I immediately had the feeling to meet an old pal when we hugged at the door, a moment I won't forget. That's what's so great about Glimmers!

She and her husband Jerry prepared a wonderful party where we met again with old friends Mayumi and Greg and made new friends like Pacvoodoo, Liz, Dianne, Stefan and many others, whose faces I remember well, but unfortunately not sure about all the names, sorry :-). Upcoming photos will help...

It was fun when the power went off in the night, leaving us in complete darkness :-). So, we nightowls helped ourselves with a small candellight gathering by the glimmering fireside, which was a gas, gas, gas :-)))

Shoiley, thank you so much! Meeting you was my personal highlight of that week!

I met so many nice, friendly people and it's so good to be able to link a lot of names to real faces now. Everybody was helping each other in any possible way, which is a great experience.

Has anybody found a way to get off of the Philly cloud? Glimmers are the best!

Love and Peace, enjoy the shows and say Hi! to Keith from me,

Thomas <see you all in London :-) >