Dusseldorf

Wow, this was a show in D'dorf. We just returned, it's about 2 am in the morning and this was one hell of a concert. We arrived at 5 pm, when the doors had not been opened yet. EXITEMENT! Doors opened at 5.15 pm and we ran. Well, most of us did. ;-))

Dave Matthew Band was support, started around 8.25 and played for about 35-40 minutes. They were boring somehow, although they had a violinist, that resembled a black version of John Cale and a horn plaxer. Nothing remarkable but better than Johnny Lang in Nuremberg. Everybody got up for the support act, so we made it right into the middle of the stage, about one meter from the front gate and one meter from the side gate to the catwalk. WHAT A PLACE TO BE! :-))))) I have my doubts if we can top that tomorrow in Hannover.

The show started at 9.45 pm. Keith came out with his leopard coat and looked meaner than ever. From then on it was a hell of a show, everything seemed perfect, everything was on pitch, the only thing letting us down was the cybervote: Under My Thumb again. LIS was second and missed pole position by some votes only.

Remarks: The audience was into singing tonight: Ruby Tuesday was sung for some time after it had finished, Jagger had to direct the choir, Same with IORR and Saint of Me. He also asked us to sing Miss you as loud as possible, so that they could even hear it in Cologne. Which we did.

Keith was charming again. After his introduction, he had to admit that "It's sometimes hard to follow Charlie Watts". Because this time Charlie was the one that got standing ovations during the intros, but on other occasions as well, returning from the B-stage and during the last bows.

Ronnie could be heard really well after Miss You, before he was very low in the mix. The sound on the B-Stage was perfect, you could hear every lick. Before LARS Mick asked Ronnie, which song to play now, Mick even asked Charlie at some time, from which year Under My Thumb was.

Security: not very tight at all, we weren't searched that much, Nico was not searched at all. But: they look into every bag, so do not take any drinks with you. When you are in the front area, security does give you drinks of pure water when you ask them. They do anything to make you comfortable in the front, but you have to behave well. The girl that came onstage during Start me up ran from the ramp on the right side (Keith) and made well over 50 m, before security even noticed. She tried to cuddle Mick, but he just shook her hand before she was taken away.

Jumbotron: Somebody had a t-shirt saying sex & drugs & rock & roll which was shown very often during the show. Others had banners saying Ronnie or Keith, which got onto the screen as well. A Japanese couple just in front of us had cardboards saying "Ronnie" and "Keith - Sexy". Ronnie tried to throw them a guitar pick and seemed to like the cardboard. Keith saw his message and struck out his tongue, nodding.

During Miss you, Lisa was all over the place teasing everyone on stage. Mick did lick her toes and kissed her shoe, which she seemed to like very much. Lisa did look better than she did in Nuernberg, coming out in a long black dress, changing into the glimmer - mini for Miss you and ending in some kind of pantyhose with black leather torselet. We think she didn't wear any underwear under the black dress. ;-)))

Ronnie did play the Korg keyboard on You don't have to mean it, Blondie played guitar. Mick introduced Blondie as "being in germany for the first time", but that's not true. Nico has seen Blondie in Berlin in 1990 as second guitarist with Mick Taylor's band.

UMT ended with Mick singing "Everybody Needs somebody to love" twice, at least the ending did fit now (better than in Nuernberg). You could not see the exact figures on the Jumbotron, but LIS seemed to be very close to UMT in the vote. Every other song was far behind these two.

Beware: When you are in the front area, try to get back into the audience as soon as the Stones have left the stage. the fireworks will go off about 4-5 minutes later. We got the fallout from the fireworks all over us, some of it even a bit hot. We were covered with the remains of the ash etc., nothing to really look forward to. Also the explosives starting JJF can be dangerous. Nico got a very hard piece of something thrown onto his lips in Nuernberg. It could easily have hit his eyes. When the explosive effects are used on stage, you can really feel the heat coming from the stage in the first rows. I wonder how that feels on stage. There's also a lot of smoke on the stage during the explosions, which must be very disgusting to inhale. I wonder how Mick can sing under these conditions.

Mick threw a mug of water into the audience; the guitar picks did not reach the audience most of the times. Keith was bare-breasted for the encore and we couldn't spot any leftovers from his accident. He seems to be ok. He even did smoke some fags on stage, so this seems to be right as well.

Dusseldorf was a completely different show to Nuremberg. It was an arena, a very good arena for a rock show. Next to the motorway and easy to rush in and out. It was not that far to drive home it was just perfect. The weather was really hot in the afternoon and mild in the evening, in the arena no wind at all. When it came to singing, you could actually hear the sound of the audience singing ringing back to the stage, something you do not have in a field. The Stones were much tighter, much better than a lot of times I had seen them before. Ronnie was working on his guitar. The problem with his guitar playing is partly his sound. He can play and he can play really good. But most of the time he has to play the high tin sounds in the mix and they get lost, when they are compared to Keith' beefy solid distorted sounds. Ronnie does not use distortion a lot, I am not even sure if he uses it at all. So there's not a lot of sustain to his sounds, they just fill up some part of the spectrum, but a part you most of the times do not actually notice. Maybe that's why a lot of people think he plays worse than Taylor did. He doesn't play worse, he just plays a totally different style and a totally different role in the Stones.

I really, really enjoyed that show. I was exited to hear Ruby Tuesday and Little Red Rooster, the audience was pretty loose, no pushing or fighting in the front row. The only hard bit was to run to the front, as the actual gate was about 1.5 km away from the arena. It seemed like a marathon run. When I was reaching the arena, a white cadillac with darkened windows crossed my path. Of course I did stop to let it go. I still do not know if it was the Stones or if it wasn't (I'd say it was somebody else), but I like the idea that it might have been the Stones. :-)