Review by Tony Little
The show started at 11PM. The Stones were supposed to play for 1 hour, but they stayed out for about 1 hr 20 or so.Kickoff with SMU. What a sound!! The room was great, something real extraordinary. After all, it’s a hall in a museum. What a venue to see the Stones in! Immediately I felt like I was at a club show. The entire audience went nuts from the start. Let me say one thing about this matter (a show for bankers), as it has been discussed on all the boards. This crowd was a real Stones loving crowd. Think about this. The guy pulling it together must love them, and of all the 100.000+ employees only a handful could join, as could a limited number of clients. So even they had to network their way into this show. I tell you, everybody who was there was there for the Stones. And the Stones felt it. They gave all they got. And let me tell you another thing, at probably every Stones show there are just as many bankers in the audience, but nobody notices. Why? Nobody cares, you’re just there for the Stones.
The stage was relatively large for the hall, but we’ve seen them claim space before (Beacon, Paradiso, all extended stages). There was a long catwalk halfway into the hall, which Mick frequented a lot. Anyway, from the start you could see the band was positively influenced by the audience, which caused for a show of extraordinary high level. I may not be the most critical fan, but hardly anything went wrong, the guitars were loud and clear, solos long and tight, and best of all, they had fun on stage. Keith a lot on Ronnie’s side and vice versa (!), Darryl came to Chuck/backing vocals, Bernard and Lisa coming out of their section for 2 songs… they all were really into it.
Mick made quite some jokes about bankers, which were received very well. ‚thank you for having us here, and the best part is, it’s coming out of your bonuses!‘ and a reference to a Woody Allen movie ‚I’m an investment banker. What’s that? I invest other peoples money until it runs out‘.
The Setlist:
1. Start me up
2. You got me rocking -long version
3. It’s only rock ‘n roll -sharp, Mick singing ‚I bet you think that you’re the only bimbo in Barcelona‘
4. It’s all over now – please continue playing this on the main stage!
5. Ruby Tuesday
6. Miss you – Darryl on fire! Crowd singalong
7. I go Crazy -Lisa got everybody’s juices flowing!
8. Tumbling Dice
9. You Got The Silver -Ronnie on fire
10. Wanna Hold You – best version of the tour, Keith actually remembering the riff and words
11. Sympathy for the Devil – never enjoyed it as much as last night
12. Jumping Jack Flash
13. Brown Sugar -flawless intro
14. Satisfaction – Nice Keith-reworked intro on it. the new end needs a bit more work though.Highlights of the evening were YGMR, which was an extended version with lots of solos and weaving. It’s All Over Now, I think they played it on the main stage for the first time, which is good for the performance of that song. You Got the Silver, with a fabulous Ronnie, and a very tight Sympathy with all the necessary elements.
The band also gave a present to the bank, by inviting plenty of pretty women to give the audience that little raunchy extras a Rock and Roll show needs:)
I was lucky to be in, and it’s a pity that not more selfproclaimed real fans could be there. But the Stones got paid to deliver, and they delivered indeed!
Ich finde das klingt nach einem geilen Gig, den ich auch gern gesehen hätte!
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Staring at a grey sky, try to paint it blue - Teenage Blue