Berlin 2

Again: I could not be there. The rumours were confirmed at the day of the first Berlin show, and Axel & Nico got their tickets the next day, as they went on sale round 5.30/6.00 pm. I even lended Axel some money to get all the tickets he wanted. Sometimes it breaks your heart, when you see all the tickets for the show of the year, but you know, you cannot be there. One of my collegues was off for a vacation during that week, so I had to BE in, I could not go. OK, just don't think of it, just accept it, I said to myself and I could cope.

At the beginning of the tour we had these heavy rumours, that we get a club gig here in Berlin as a starter for the european tour, but the rib story killed this event. Now we got this arena show as an excuse, but on the other side we had to pay 200 DM to attend this show in the amphi theatre "Waldbuehne".

My third Stones concert in this place, after my very first Stones show in 1965, when this place was destroyed after the show ended and 1982, when they feared, this could happen again. Also now a heavy presence of police outside the Waldbuehne, ignoring the fact, that it is a meeting of mainly elderly people here. So it's natural that I met my old school-friend Silvio HERE after years again among all the many Stones fans I know here. In 1965 I was upper level, medium level in 1982, so what else than the middle front row can I do now. It was easy to get there, many people didn't want to stay there, they prefered to sit down this time for 200 DM. And so it happens, that I see this concert very closely, no need to have a look at the monitors at the right and left side of the stage, which was bigger, than the average Waldbuehne stage. The stage was also higher than usual, so I saw Charlie the first time at the final bows. But I had Ronnie, Keith and Mick only meters away and I could mostly see them all together, which is hardly possible from the front row at the BTB stage.

So, this concert was special, because I was able to see them more as a band than on other occasions. They did not change the set very much and did the usual communications with the audience, but bigger audiences and bigger fields to play cannot be the solution for the future of the Stones, so like the concerts in New York's Madison Square Garden this was also a test for the possibilities of future Rolling Stones tours.

The web choice was a joke, because it was only possible to vote for the nect concert in Mannheim. There was no B-stage, but Respectable and Live With Me were still ringing in my ears when I left the arena in a very good mood. After the 1982 concert here the once famous Stones bar HONKY TONK was founded. The Stones survived also this bar, which is sadly closed since two years now, so we had a little meeting in the Cafe Chaos after the show also with some fans I knew before only by e-mails.