You can't imagine how excited I was before Hamburg. It would be my first Rolling Stones gig ever. My partner Ron has been to over 20 concerts, but for me it was a first. We went to the venue early and got in pretty quickly, then straight to the pit of course to find a good spot, on the rail next to the catwalk. We chose Ronnie pit for our first concert and the view was perfect, very close to the band.
Kaleo opened for the Stones in Hamburg. Really nice young Icelandic rock band. They performed a few really good songs and were nice entertainment, while waiting for the big guns. The yellow screens with tongue logo appeared and the excitement built for the Rolling Stones to hit the stage.
“The price of trying rarities is that mistakes are bound to happen, but we wouldn't have wanted to miss them for the world. A 22-song setlist was a great opener for the No Filter tour.”
Red lights... Mick Jagger came on stage and opened with 'Sympathy for the devil' This was a nice surprise, lyrics fit to start a show. The opener was followed by 'It's only rock and roll' and 'Tumbling dice', both numbers lacking a bit of punch for my taste, but they hit it spot on with one of my favourite Stones songs 'Out of control'. Then they played two numbers from their new album 'Blue and lonesome'. These two new songs were well received by the public and will definitely be in the setlist for the rest of the tour.
We got a real treat when they played 'Play with fire', rarely performed live and such a great ballad. Both Keith and Ronnie were excellent on their acoustic guitars. This lovely intermezzo was followed by 'You can't always get what you want'. I missed the choir, but still nice to hear this live. 'Dancing with Mr. D.'? There were some rumours this would be played, but still according to Ron it had been almost a decade since this was last played live, so wow... a nice rarity for my first Rolling Stones concert. The song vote winner was 'Under my thumb.' It was the first song Ron ever saw live in Amsterdam in 1982. 'Under my thumb' was solid, followed by my second-favourite Rolling Stones song 'Paint it black' and 'Honky Tonk Woman'. Both were well performed, Keith might need some time to hit his best form, but luckily he has Ronnie on his side.
Band introductions were fun with a super enthusiastic Ronnie, calm and polite Charlie and then the audience went wild for Keith who was going to play his set. 'Slipping away' is such a lovely ballad, really well sung as well. Second song was 'Happy' which immediately made the sun shine on a pretty chilly autumn evening.
The warhorses
Now on with the warhorses. Starting with 'Midnight Rambler' and 'Miss you'. On the last one Darryl Jones showed us what an amazing bass-player he is. His solo was mesmerizing! The whole band played a great 'Street Fighting Man', technically one of the best songs of the evening. 'Start me up', 'Brown sugar' and 'Satisfaction' brought us close to the end of the show. They came back with 'Gimme shelter', another great song with a lovely duet between Mick and Sasha. They ended with 'Jumping Jack Flash' and some flashing fireworks!
Wow what a night for my first Rolling Stones concert ever!
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