Description

Double album

Rolling Stones recorded at De Kuip in Rotterdam, The Netherlands on Wednesday, August 13th back in 2003. The atmosphere this Wednesday night was awesome: Between the warm up and The Stones all the people in the stadium made a few rounds of a wave. It was a fantastic feeling to be part of such a great crowd. It still remains an event to watch with thousands of people to a gig from the best rock n roll band in the world. Anyway… when the intro began to play people got crazy and called for the Stones. And yes, there he was: Keith Richards. He started playing Brown Sugar and then the rest of the band came on stage. The whole stadium immediately went crazy. Keith played very good, no annoying pauses in his rhythm parts (these pauses causes that the rhythm is driven by the drums instead of Keith, which is not the case as you listen to the albums). After this great version came another great rocker: You Got Me Rocking. This song too went great and the audience still went crazy and sang along with it. Ronnie’s solo was very good, Keith was great, Mick was in top condition and kept the audience busy, walking and dancing on the whole stage. Next song was the great sing-a-long It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll. They played it very well with Keith walking towards our section (left side from the stage) playing his solo. The new song Don’t Stop with Mick on guitar was also another great performance. Very good guitar work from Mick, Keith and Ronnie. Ronnies’ solo was a little soft in the mix but he played it fantastic. Angie, another treat for the audience. It was getting a little darker and the atmosphere was great while a lot of people put on their lighters and sang along with Mick. Although I thought that Mick had to keep himself in line with some high notes, he sang it beautifully. It was a great version. Like there was no ending with sing-a-long songs we were treated with You Can’t Always Get What You Want. For the first time this evening the background singers came on stage: Lisa Fischer, Bernard Fowler and Blondie Chaplin. I didn’t miss them on the previous songs I must say. Eventually it all is about the Stones themselves (including Darryl Jones, Chuck Leavell and Bobby Keys)! The band left the audience much room to sing along with them and Mick, of course, lead this treat. When the song finished Mick said to us that we were singing so loud one could even hear us in Amsterdam! Indeed, the crowd was so loud they sometimes dominated over the band. Ronnies solo was a fantastic one, really stunning, the best solo on this song I’ve heard in a long time. If youre counting the Dutch shows during the 90s this is probably one of the best. The band were tight. Charlie was fantastic, Keith played very serious and consistent, Ronnie played also great with some great solo’s and was the funny guy as always, Mick was absolutely in top of his form. His voice was so sharp and clear and his harp parts were brilliant. And then one of the highlights of the evening: A great rocking version of Midnight Rambler. Ronnie and Keith played at the stage as if they were together in a small room rocking on their guitars, next to Charlie and Darryl. Even the sound/mix was great on this song. As said earlier: Mick played brilliant on his harp and sang his lungs out. The timing was perfect, the song was very tight and rocking. They played a long version and somewhat different: After the first up-tempo they slowed down and seem to be going to the slow blues part, but no… they went rocking and up-tempo again! When they slowed down again they played the bluesy part. Wow, it was really impressive. The timing of Keith, Ronnie with Charlie was perfect. We were also given some visual treats when the band went into Sympathy For The Devil. The lights went beautiful red, which created a great atmosphere. During the percussion sample the crowd sang the Oeehoeeh-part and then Mick began to sing the first verse. And when the chorus started huge flames on the top of the stage were thrown. Too bad the guitars were too soft, so I couldn’t hear Keiths’ solo’s very well. The band then went to the small stage and performed 4-tracks before walking back on the catwalk to the main stage and a sort of mixed sample started to introduce Gimme Shelter. When that had been performed it was time for the last few songs: Honky Tonk Women, Start Me Up, Satisfaction and the encore Jumping Jack Flash. Overall it was a great show and the visual effects were supporting instead of being dominant to the music this time. And that was great, cause now you really got the idea you went for the music instead of only a huge show. It was an unforgettable evening.

Track list:
1. Intro
2. Brown Sugar
3. You Got Me Rocking
4. It’s Only Rock ‘N Roll
5. Don’t Stop
6. Angie
7. You Can’t Always Get What You Want
8. Midnight Rambler
9. Tumbling Dice
10. Band Introductions
11. The Nearness Of You
12. Before They Make Me Run
13. Sympathy For The Devil
14. Transfer To B-Stage
15. Neighbors
16. Mannish Boy
17. Street Fighting Man
18. Gimme Shelter
19. Honky Tonk Women
20. Start Me Up
21. Satisfaction
22. Jumpin Jack Flash