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17/03/03 - THE AHOY, ROTTERDAM Review by Steven
Stanley:
It was soon time for the doors to open up anyway and I managed to get near one of 4 doors they all opened at once...it was absolute pandamonium getting in there...I was getting crushed badly and when I got in I got stopped for my camera (Lesley and Claire got their confiscated) and I got told to move to the side...I ended up being frisked 3 times which had cost me valuable time. I pretended to be dumb and not understand the dutch or even English they were trying on me...so when their attention went and everybody started pushing again I ran down the corridor as fast as I could...with my precious camera! I got a front row position with I was pleased with but all by British counterparts were too slow and went for the b-stage instead. I went to 8 gigs last year and got front row on all of them...I always regretted not going to the b-stage (especially when Adrian did at Wembley!) so I made a very quick decision and gave up my front row place to go to the b-stage...it paid off bigtime, as you will see! Vega4, the support act were better than I remember them being at Leeds and Warwick and I actually enjoyed them this time. They seemed to be on for ages though. After them it wasn’t long until BA came on...it was a very quick turn around actually...the roadies had perfected this since last time! Before he came on the Ahoy was pumping...I could tell it was gonna be amazing. He came on anyway on for the first time I could see the stage in full with all the screens and it looks a lot better than it does close-up. This was the first time I had seen the 5 piece since ’97 and although they haven’t replaced Dave and Tommy as well in my eyes...Norm and Gary did a brilliant job. ‘Here I Am’ sounded very good and ’18 Til I Die’ was awesome with BA on 6-string. ‘Let’s Make A Night To Remember’ was one of the best songs of the night for me as well. After ‘Can’t Stop’ BA said ...This is Rotterdam....and this is Back To You!!!!!.....wow!!!! Rotterdam’s response was awesome I could just see the whole standing section infront of me bouncing in waves! It was kinda cool to see ’69 done half unplugged...but that song should be played PLUGGED IN!!! It was amazin when it eventually blasted out but it didn’t last long enough for my liking. ‘It’s Only Love was good as well with Keith’s solo’s getting BETTER AND BETTER. He really is the star of the show for me, that guy sure can play a guitar.
(Above) BA on the b-stage The woman who got to sing ‘When You’re Gone’ called Monique (she was a mother, a wife and a secretary apparently so she kept saying!) was very brave I think...she was clearly nervous but she ended up doing a really good job so she did well I thought. Another new arrangement which was nice to hear for a change was the upbeat ‘Heaven’...still I prefer the other version. ‘The Only Thing’ as normal blew the roof off and then during the end of that song the security around us were getting the b-stage ready and that was next!
As soon as he went off-stage and the drums were lifted off everyone surrounded the b-stage area. ‘Poison Ivy’ was really funny because when Bryan shouted...Poison Ivy’s gonna make you itch!... Keith was there scratching his bum for like 2 minutes making rude sounds with his guitar!
That song ended anyway with BA standing on the drumkit if I remember correctly and then ‘She’s Only Happy...’ started and BA and Keith were looking for people to pull up onstage. Keith wandered to our side and was looking for a hand...I stretched mine out for him and as soon as he saw me he grabbed it! He pulled me over the barrier (I'm the one in the blue jacket!) and my trailing leg got stuck so Lesley pushed my bum over! I was over the barrier so after that getting on the b-stage wasn’t as hard. I was the second one up there I think and I didn’t think twice about the thousands of people watching me! I just chucked Mike my camera to take pictures of me and off I went!
There was a crowd around Bryan on there after standing with him for a few seconds I saw Keith on his own around the other side so I went with Keith instead. I shared his mike for the first verse and he was amazed I think and thought I was really good cos he kept winking at me and stuff for me to carry on! I practically sang the whole song with him and Mike did get some pictures of me which aren’t bad at all for a cheap disposable camera with a candle as a flash light hehe! After the song I told Keith that ‘Adrian says hello to ya’....Keith knows who he is because Adrian is one of his biggest fans. He told me to say hello back and as I was about to go he says ‘here you can have this’...and he gave me his plectrum :) Before I got off the stage I was cheeky and took a picture of the massive crowd I had just been singing infront of!
They were soon on the main stage again and I phoned my mate Steph back home so she could hear ‘Cloud #9’ a full blown ‘Run To You’ followed before Bryan sang ‘The Best Of Me’ and went right into the crowd to do so...it looked very good on the big screens with BA and the fans. One last treat was to follow though...he said a little speech which went something like this: ..within the next hour or so it will probably be decided or not whether a war with Iraq will begin. I wrote this song I’m about to sing for you back in 1991 at the time of the Gulf War. It’s called ‘Don’t Drop That Bomb On Me’. It was AMAZING to here and it really put shivers down your spine hearing it...he cleverly ended the song by shouting ‘DON’T DROP IT’! He and Keith did their bows and they before Bryan went he said...’I know it’s custom in Holland to give 3 kisses, but over in Canada we give 4...thankyou’! After the gig we went straight outside (past Vega4!) to get some drinks and then around the back to see if we could meet anyone. We did see Lance and Toe but that was it. When we left to our knowledge and previous experience on meeting them they had gone, if anyone else had any luck congratulations but we didn’t care because we were hungry and wanted to go home! He is off to re-record 3 songs in Vancouver now and Keith is goin because it’s Noah’s birthday so they would have been all keen to get home and wouldn’t wanna hang around too much. Journey home was good again on our ferry (very very nice it was too) and we had a few drinks to celebrate a very successive first attempt at seeing BA in Europe :) It's worth noting that 'Hey Elvis' was on the setlist as the first song to be done on the b-stage but for some reason they must have dropped it.
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® 2003 18 Til I Die.co.uk. All rights
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BA on mainstage...photo by Chiman.
BA on bass
Keith on the b-stage with his signature Gretsch
B-stage Bry :)
BA on the b-stage |
Me
on b-stage singing 'She's Only Happy' with Keith!