Show was largely fantastic - only really 'Miss You' (like an unwelcome turd that wont flush) and a slightly disorganised (but still charming in its own way) 'Cant Be Seen' were below par, with a fabulous 'Out of Control' and 'Rambler' being highlights....and while it kills me to say it, even You Got Me Rocking was enjoyable. It was my 50th show and I was surprised to get a song I'd never seen them play before - a really sweet "Waiting On A Friend", with a quite beautiful sax solo from Tim Ries.
Terrific sound in the pit where I was with the guitars lovely and loud in the mix and the whole band "on". You knew Keith was going to be on good form by his facial expressions right from the off - a mixture of Harpo Marx and a Serial Killer.
The venue was the reason why I picked this show to go to. It didnt disappoint. By some distance the best venue I've ever been in for a gig. The sun setting on the historical old ampitheatre during 'Midnight Rambler' and the haze of the arena during 'Sympathy ' were two memories I'll take to my grave.
Mick especially was just off-the-scale fantastic. And to think some people thought he would ever be the same again. His between song patter (in German) was really funny too. It may be scripted but the boy is a natural.
The underuse of Taylor though continues to border on the downright criminal. Whilst the warhorse section was very good indeed (especially JJF, a long 'Gimme Shelter' and a majestic YCAGWYW), the intensity for me peaked with that triple guitar assault on 'Midnight Rambler'. They didnt even have a guitar ready for him when they started 'Satisfaction' - leaving the poor guy to stoll around aimlessly at the back of the stage like a mechanic looking for a spanner before Pierre strapped an acoustic on to him a minute into the song. I assume they're paying him for each song he plays on - which would probably explain why he's on the longest song of the entire gig. They make sure they get their money's worth! Another weird incident was during the band intros. Charlie had to be re-introduced after Ronnie as he was standing at the back talking to Keith and Mick T the first time and didnt come out! Then when Keith sang "You got the silver", Taylor sat down at the back of the stage facing Ronnie's side.....at first I assumed he must be playing lap steel or something...but no, they just left him sitting in a chair facing the side of the arena. I'm not sure what he was doing when he was there - maybe checking facebook, looking at the 'Joey' thread or doing some online banking to make sure his wages had gone through ok..all very weird.
Nice meet up before the show and its always good to see old friends again as well as a few new ones. Glen's friend Sue joined us again and regaled us in her own modest fashion with some amazing stories of a band she's been following passionately now for 51 years - she really has enough material there for an unforgettable book. You could have knocked me down with a feather when she turned to me during YCAGWYW and calmly whispered "I was in the studio the night they recorded that".....
. A special public thanks to Matthias (shookhandswithkeith) who called me when I was in Berlin on holiday last month when there was a ticket drop and made sure I got the upgrade to front of stage tickets that I was looking for.
We even had a nice little encore at the S-bahn station while waiting for the train back to the city centre as we got to the platform to find the choir treating us to a beautiful encore performance of 'You Cant Always Get What You Want' . A sweet end to a perfect night.
Forget the nonsense you may have read from people writing this band off as a performing act. While the setlists are predictable, the songs we've heard so many times before are being very well played and there's still hardly anyone to touch them as they showed for those 126 minutes on Tuesday night (almost to the minute the same length of concert that I witnessed at my first gig in 1982 when they were already considered to be ancient)
Just one more little thing that I think a lot of people missed. And that was that the show was almost over before it began. Watch what happens at just past the 1:50 mark when Mick runs out behind Keith, who doesnt see him and almost puts his eye out with his telecaster. Mick's "what the fuck!" reaction to him is priceless (Keith did apologise a few minutes later though)
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Berlin, Germany-Waldbuhne, June 10th 2014! (Read 7,376 times)
