Re: 13th of june 2003 STONES in Oberhausen
Date: June 12, 2005 18:06
Yes, AC/DC ruined my ears, the Stones sound just sucked (they used half the volume).
AC/DC were great, but they sounded exactly like 2 years earlier in Hamburg in their own show.
Here my review from 2003:
Fire the soundcrew:
Too Tough´s Oberhausen review
Just back from Oberhausen. We arrived there too late for the Cranberries. But we noticed they got friendly applause for their set.
AC/DC was next. I saw them in 2001 and knew what was going to come. Older Stones fans around me were sceptical first but went nuts later! The sound was perfect: crispy, loud, distorted. Right in your face, no compromise. It was the longest and best set I ever saw by an opener. They used the small stage, were loud, used their guns incl. pyro, and played 1,5 hours! The crowd went nuts all over the place. Best support I´ve ever seen!
I was curious what the Stones would do. Setlist and soundwise.
Sound: The worst, as always in the fields. It´s the 70+. show of this tour. How stupid can the soundcrew be to send Keith and the rest onstage with half of the volume AC/DC used? The guitars weren´t distorted at all, Charlies bassdrum nearly sounded like his snare and toms, and the worst thing: the first 30 minutes I could easily understand what my friend was saying. IT WASN`T LOUD ENOUGH! That is bad because we weren´t in the back of the field, we were standing FRONT OF STAGE. In the end the sound was better, but the guitars still sounded too weak. Even the Telecasters had this soft Höfner sound.
The crowd was enthusiastic, though, so setlistwise it was ok (in the end I got 2 songs I never heard before (Thru and Thru with a fantastic keith, and Rock me baby with the sound brothers Angus and Malcolm). That was pure fun and a really historic moment for me. But again 4 low and soft guitars in the mix (strange hearing Angus play on that one and hear him playing 2 hous earlier).
Ronnie wasn´t in his best form (I was so hot to hear him rock the house like Munich, but he didn´t yesterday).
Blondie played guitar on several songs onstage. What the @#$%&? Let him stand there and shake his maracas. That´s all.
They used a Gimme Shelter instrumental electronic bullshit intro for the walk back to the main. Sounded strange and obsolete. Skip it.
Last field for me ever, have two big shows left (Stade de France and AOL-Arena). But having seen them at Olympiahalle: can´t wait for Bercy and Ahoy! And: Olympia and Vredenburg, of course;-)