Rolling Stones - A BIGGER BANG, Hamburg August 2007

Hamburg AOL Arena - 15 Aug 2007


My review:
Although the ticket fee almost killed me, I thought better to see them after all the disturbing news about Keith.
So, Wednesday morning off to Hamburg, sunny day and good driving without delays. Checking into the hotel and getting ready for the gig. I knew from earlier gigs that the venue hasn't good access, city train and long walk to shuttle busses which were already crowded when I arrived. Making my way down to the inner section - due to unexpected reorganisation there was some confusion about the seats. The stage had moved to the long side as the venue wasn't sold out and the way they arranged it now made it impossible to spot any empty seats.

As we all know, Amy Winehouse called off and the band "Starsailor" was opening, the only thing I remember is that they were very loud. We had enough time to go for a drink and meet up with a bunch of hard core fellow fans and friends (from Germany and Holland) who used to turn up on most of the Stones gigs. I knew some of them also from Rhythm Kings gigs. It was nice meeting up again with Adele and Jan, having some fun, taking photos and swapping the latest news. Then it was time to take our seats. I was in section D, 2nd row which was quite close but not in the centre.

My neighbour whom I got immediately friendly with told me that it was her first time to see the Stones live, so she was pretty excited. Like me, her heart beats for Keith which made us sisters in arms on the spot! We could watch the one and only Keith standing at the top of the stairs which led down to the stage. Then they came down ... as Keith once quoted  ... "open the cage and let the tigers out" ... an ear-deafening bang, and here they were with "Start me up". The fire exploded just in front of us and we felt the heatwave. From the first minute, the seats were forgotten as everybody jumped to their feet and remained standing ! The Stones were on the safe side taking no risk and playing their warhorses along with some newer songs. Mick spoke some German and was in a good mood. In the beginning Keith seemed to be rather quiet and hardly moved, but warmed up later and smiled often. I was happy to see that he looked great and seemd to be very concentrated. When he moved to my side, my camera died so just one poor photo, but he sat down on the catwalk for a couple of minutes and smiled to all of us, said thank you, bless you all and finally threw a pick into the crowd. Couldn't see much of Ronnie as he was on the far side and didn't come over. Charlie Watts was drumming like hell, Mick ran from left to right and burst with energy. When they did the James Brown thing, the backing band and Lisa Fisher had their moments- not to forget Chuck Levell and the horn section as well as Darryl Jones on bass.

Next day I did some sightseeing in Hamburg, visiting all the historic places as Star Club etc in Hamburg's notorious red light district and took photos. Later meeting up at the the hotel again where many other fans and press people were standing. Unfortunately neither Mick nor Keith showed up, but Charlie was reported to be out visiting art galleries. We learned later that Ronnie had already flown out to Dublin. After a while Blondie Chaplin came out, and I was lucky to get his autograph. He even talked to me briefly asking where this leaflet came from (it was from the Licks-DVD), and that he'd never seen it before. Later it started raining, someone else left through the back door, we suspected it was Mick, in a black car, no chance to see anything. Then it was time for me to go, did some shopping and then off to the highway - direction home.
 

Set list with my blurbs:

Start Me Up - great as always, Mick didn't spoil the lyrics this time

Let's Spend The Night Together - fantastic, haven't heard this live for ages! That made people jump

Rough Justice - ok, I could live without it

Rocks Off - good, but would have preferred "All down the line"

Love Is Strong - slower than on the CD which gave it a certain kick

Ruby Tuesday - heartbreaking and touching, even the hardest guys melted

Midnight Rambler - outstanding !!! Mick's harmonica playing, I have no words, what a highlight.

I'll Go Crazy - Lisa Fisher's moment

Tumbling Dice - could do without, heard it too often - but it's a crowd pleaser, great light show during the song.

Introductions

You Got The Silver (Keith) - without guitar, just the man himself singing, standing there in his white shirt, looking awsome and to die for - big lump in my throat.

I Wanna Hold You (Keith) - background was great, Bernard Fowler to be mentioned.

Miss You (to B-stage) - off to the B-Stage, everybody sang along

It's Only Rock'n Roll (B-stage) - good, but I heard it better

Satisfaction (B-stage) - aw, that sounded really worn-out, but the crowd liked it

Honky Tonk Women (to main stage) - the arena sang along full blast, fantastic, and the big tongue licking.

Sympathy For The Devil - Mick Lucifer himself, red coat - everyone did the woo woo's

Paint It Black - Keith was outstanding, happy to hear this old tune again !!

Jumping Jack Flash - rough & dirty, the arena was exploding

Brown Sugar (encore) - just one encore, but fine

* Fireworks - shorter than usual

* what I sadly missed: Let it bleed, Dead flowers