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
