 Letzigrund Stadium,
Zürich
on Thursday, October 2nd. 2003. The final show of the Forty Licks
tour, the big bow and thanks. Attendance of approx. 42.500 people.
Lovebugs did the warm-up for the group, unfortunately the show was almost 30
min. delayed this final evening.
Set list:
Brown Sugar - Start Me Up - You Got Me Rocking - Don't Stop - Angie - You Can't
Always Get What You Want - Midnight Rambler - Tumbling Dice - Slipping Away -
Happy - Sympathy For The Devil - It's Only Rock'n' Roll - Mannish Boy - Street
Fighting Man - Gimme Shelter - Paint It Black - Honky Tonk Women -
Satisfaction - Jumping Jack Flash.
 Review
Rolling Stones begeistern 40 000 Fans im Zürcher
Letzigrund:
ZÜRICH - Die Rolling Stones haben im Zürcher
Letzigrund über 40 000 Fans begeistert. Die legendäre britische Rockband
um Mick Jagger präsentierte einen Querschnitt durch ihr 41-jähriges Schaffen
und viele unvergessliche Hits.
Mit 38-minütiger Verspätung betraten die Rolling Stones die riesige Bühne
im Letzigrund. Mit staksigem Schritt erschien Keith Richards als Erster.
Sekunden später hopste Mick Jagger auf die Bühne, er trug schwarze Hosen und
einen rot-glitzernden, frackähnlichen Mantel. Dann folgten Ron Wood, Charlie
Watts und Darryl Jones.
Als ersten Song schmetterten die Rolling Stones "Brown Sugar" in
die haschgeschwängerte Luft im Letzigrund-Stadion. Nach dem zweiten Stück
"Start me up" überraschte Mick Jagger mit einer Begrüssung in fast
akzentfreiem Schweizer Dialekt. "Hoi zäme - guetä obig, Züri",
sagte der charismatische Frontmann, "Es isch schön, wieder emal do zi".
Das schon längst begeisterte Publikum war hingerissen.
An diesem milden Oktoberabend im Letzigrund zeigten die Rolling Stones,
weshalb sie eine der besten Rockbands der Welt sind. Sie spielten sich souverän
durch ihr grosses Repertoire, reihten Hit an Hit, und Mick Jagger wirbelte wie
ein Jugendlicher über die Bühne. Die über 40 000 Fans sorgten für eine
äusserst gute Stimmung.
Die Rolling Stones hatten vor 36 Jahren letztmals vor Zürcher Publikum
gespielt. Das letzte Konzert in der Schweiz gaben sie vor fünf Jahren in
Frauenfeld. Mit dem Auftritt vom Donnerstagabend beendeten die Rolling Stones
ihre "Licks World Tour" in Europa.
Das wegen des Konzerts befürchtete Verkehrschaos blieb aus. Grosse
Behinderungen gab es nicht, wie eine Sprecherin der Stadtpolizei auf Anfrage
erklärte. Offenbar benutzten viele Konzertbesuchende öffentliche
Verkehrsmittel, um zum Letzigrund zu gelangen. Die Zürcher Verkehrsbetriebe
setzten zusätzliche Trams und Busse ein.
 Rock’n’roll
veterans descend on Zurich:
On Thursday the Rolling Stones played the final leg of their “Forty Licks”
world tour to a sell-out crowd in Zurich.
The audience was noticeably better behaved than in 1967 during the legendary
British rock group’s first Swiss gig, which ended with fans trashing the
concert venue.
Some critics say it is time the rock veterans laid their instruments to rest
and quietly retired to English country houses. But the 42,000-strong audience
at the Letzigrund stadium clearly thought otherwise.
Cheers and applause broke out at soon as Keith Richards started his guitar
solo of “Brown Sugar” and fans went wild when they were greeted in
Swiss-German dialect by frontman Mick Jagger, sporting a glittering red
jacket.
The Stones did not really offer anything new at their latest gig, relying
instead on classic hits from their repertoire – but they delivered what the
audience had come to see.
High-pressure hose
The Rolling Stones’ first concert on April 14, 1967, in Zurich’s
Hallenstadion is the stuff of legend in Switzerland. Crowds had to be broken
up using high-pressure water hoses.
Some 400 police officers - the biggest ever force deployed in the stadium -
were sent to keep fans in check. But they didn’t manage to stop 1,000 people
from storming the stage and destroying parts of it.
The band was forced to leave the stadium, with the mob reducing everything in
their vicinity to rubble.
Support band
Toni Vescoli, the former singer of the Sauterelles, the band which supported
the Stones’ at the 1967 gig, remembers the incident well.
Vescoli thought it was almost a dead cert that riots would break out. “Back
then the Stones only played for 30 minutes and there were lots of people who
wanted to let off steam,” he says.
“Keith Richards and Brian Jones were stoned, Jagger was superficial, Charlie
Watts was monosyllabic and Bill Wyman was very talkative,” Vescoli recalls.
High prices
Hans-Ruedi Jaggi, the late former manager of Sauterelles, organised the 1967
spectacle.
“Jaggi was a mad guy. He always wanted to do things nobody else dared to do,”
Vescoli says.
André Béchir, the founder of the Good News booking agency, succeeded Jaggi
and has organised the Stones’ Swiss gigs ever since.
Béchir has been criticised for charging astronomical prices for the gigs –
up to SFr250 per ticket – but he says the price is justified, as the cost of
organising such a mega-event are high.
“There is nothing you can compare a Stones concert to - apart from a World
Cup final football match,” Jaggi says.
swissinfo, based on an article previously published by NZZ.
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