Cologne June 20

Day 23: Sunday June 20 - Cologne

Review by Nikki Sudden, Berlin

The wettest show of the tour, but also, not counting Shepherds Bush, which was a totally different situation, the best. Two days later my jacket is finally dry! The rain poured down but nothing seemed to take the edge off the day. The Stones were perfect in Köln. The only thing that really marred the day was the second gate security -- a totally ridiculous exercise -- delaying tactics set up for no reason whatsoever. Due to the luck of the draw I hadn't had to wait outside the gates that day--mind you after queuing for 13 hours after a night with no sleep for the Landgraaf show I thought I deserved a break!

Not realising the correct etiquette of how these things go, once inside the enclosure I'd waited at the head of the steps that led down to the inside of the stadium. As the people who'd been waiting outside arrived at the second barrier to go down to the pitch security stopped us for what seemed an eternity. Finally they seemed to relent and I was past the two guards and tearing across the field towards Ronnie's side. I was the second person through into the enclosure and there were 30 or 40 people in before me!

The No Security video burst onto the Jumbotron screen for the last time and the audience applauded like mad. As the "Might As Well Get Juiced" playback faded out Keith charged out onto the stage. From the opening barrage of Jumpin' Jack Flash the stadium burst into life. Keith, hatless with just a scarf tied around his head to battle the elements--the 'Meccano set' in his hair rattling away to full extreme.

As Mick began singing the lyrics were the sane as ever, but they seemed to have a special resonance that rainswept evening. 'I was born in a crossfire hurricane' really meant something. For You Got Me Rocking something went wrong with Woody's regular Tony Zematis--the one he uses for slide--and he replaced it with a Dan Armstrong (?) plexi-glass model. The first time I've ever seen him using this guitar. As the rain continued to bucket on down the words 'I was a tycoon drowning in debt' seemed to take on new connotations.

Live With Me was possibly the best version I've heard since last year's version at Waldbühne. Everything about the Müngersdorfer show was perfect. The rain didn't have any effect in glooming the proceedings whatsoever. Woody soon took off his rain-drenched hat, passing it to Mick. After a few bars with his head uncovered he pulled the hood of his waterproof jacket down over his head. For the whole of Respectable and the following number or two all you could see of his face was his mouth and chin. The hood totally obscured the rest of his face. He still looked cool--possibly even cooler than usual. And, as at Landgraaf his guitar was up in the mix again--something that's been sorely lacking since Imst a few weeks previously.

Gimme Shelter so obviously meant what it said and Lisa belted out her part with a new-found complete power. The best part of the show was a truly glorious Memory Motel, the best version I've seen since the band premiered it at RFK Stadium in Washington during the opening pair of Voodoo Lounge dates. I really love it when the band makes mistakes and this time Keith got it wrong. He went into the first of his 'She's got a mind of her own...' parts quite a few bars too early. Ronnie looked at Mick, Mick looked back at Ronnie, both of them looked at Charlie, shrugged and carried on with the song. Despite this the number had a certain majesty that had been lacking at some of the Bridges To Babylon shows. The Prague version had also been glorious but still lacked the extra something that tonight's rendition had.

Saint Of Me was as cool as ever. As usual Mick handed his acoustic to Pierre de Beauport before leading the crowd sing-a-long of, 'Yea! Oh yeah! You'll never make a saint of me'. Sometimes it works better than others--this was one of those times. In England and Scotland the crowd hadn't quite come to terms with what was expected of them, on mainland Europe this part of the show always comes across brilliantly.

Out Of Control, with Keith on Les Paul Junior, was brilliant if not quite up to the first Wembley version, which touched heaven just like it did in Prague a year before. Capo on the second fret for Paint It Black which burnt a hole through the sky despite the as yet unrelenting rain. The band introductions this time included thanks to everyone from the carpenters to the riggers to the drivers and especially to those mad enough to try and attend most, if not all of the shows.

As the rain continued to fall Keith changed the lyrics of the first of his two numbers to 'Like a thief in the rain' which added a special note to the still incredibly wet evening. As he did on quite a few other occasions on the tour Keith muffed up the intro to Before They Make Me Run, slipping fingers in the rain excusing everything.

The lights went down, the bridge crept out... If you're in the front rows, or up against the barrier, unless you stand on tip-toes you're always more or less out of sight of the B-Stage for the duration of the set there. Despite this Route 66 still hit like a rocket. As Like A Rolling Stone crashed into life--why drop Get Off Of My Cloud though--there was a sudden burst of activity on the main stage. Through the deep unlit gloom one could see a bevy of blondes lining up with Ber-nard. Occasional flashes let you know that photos were being taken. Then during Midnight Rambler as the rain suddenly ceased to fall, two of the as yet unnamed blondes could be seen gambolling round the stage. At first sight one was led to assume that they were the usual culprits, Miss Elizabeth Jagger and Miss Leah Wood. They were seen running up and down the walkways distracting themselves, and distracting those of us up against the barrier. Later one realised that they were two newcomers to the stage, Misses Alexandra and Theodora Richards. Then as the band had walked back from the middle of the arena the four daughters joined Blondie ('Mr. Laughton'), Ber-nard and Lisa round the microphones for Sympathy For The Devil. Towards the end of the song Lisa led the four blondes in a procession round Woody's part of the stage. They went tumbling and laughing round the backing vocal microphones.

Even the 'greatest hits' part of the show seemed fresh and inspired--both from the band's side and from those of us who've heard it all so many times before. Tumbling Dice rolled along smoothly. It's Only Rock'N Roll as usual missed off the intro, Keith beginning it as he has for years with one of his many variations on Chuck Berry. As usual on this last leg of the two year tour he once again played the false Brown Sugar start just before launching into Start Me Up. This seems to have taken over as a new 'party trick'--instead of the false starts he was teasing the crowd with last year.

Then it was Brown Sugar itself. A momentously long version echoed round the stadium. The rain was long forgotten. The song seemed to last for a joyous eternity before finally grinding to a halt. As per usual for the middle and last legs of this ultra-short Stones' tour, the encore was (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction. Glitter confetti showered down from the p.a. stacks and from the B-Stage. Then it was over. The ensemble bowed. The Stones themselves bowed and a few seconds later they were off--back to the Wasserturm for a shower and change of clothes before the party in the 11th floor restaurant. Leaving the rest of us poor mortals to shiver our way homewards.

According to the crew the next tour is supposed to be beginning in another seventeen months--either that or in 2002 -- the fortieth anniversary tour. Soon it'll be time for Forty By Four. So there'll be a new album in just under a year and a half - there's still a lot to look forward to. Hopefully next time the Stones go on the road the band will be stripped down to Mick, Keith, Charlie and Woody, plus a bassist and keyboard player--preferably Ian McLagen. Remember that, to paraphrase Andrew Oldham, 'there are but four Rolling Stones'.

Changes from Landgraaf: Thief In The Night. PS. Keith planned to do You Got the Silver, but because of the rain, he did Thief In The Night.