Almost 11.000 people will come to this show in London, at the legendary
Wembley Arena. The Burgess is warm-up tonight.
I should be Happy. After seeing a great show by the Stones at the Bercy,
Paris I was looking forward to seeing them again at Wembley Arena. I was
pretty lucky with the set list as they played seven numbers not played at the
Bercy. The featured album was Exile On Main Street (Let It Bleed at the Bercy),
and Keith's set was entirely different.
Tim Burgess was the chosen support for the evening. I hadn't heard much by
him before but found his set quite enjoyable. The music would have probably
been enhanced with better acoustics. The problem really where I was sitting
was the poor sound quality, a factor which really spoilt the whole evening.
Anyhow the Stones took to the stage with the usual acclaim; everyone was
standing and applauding as the familiar intro of Street Fighting Man began.
Then it was straight into Start Me Up, You Got Me Rocking and Don't Stop. By
this time I had come to the conclusion that the sound wasn't going to improve.
Live With Me brought out Bobby Keyes on sax to the side stage to the usual
applause. One of the highlights for me followed next: - Wild Horses; "We're
going to quiten things down a little," said Mick, they did and it was
fantastic.
Then came the Exile On Main Street set which featured Loving Cup, Rocks Off
and Tumbling Dice. Again the sound quality was not helpful to these numbers
and I had hoped to hear Sweet Virginia, but never mind. Introductions next,
with the audience shouting out for Charlie who modestly stood up to take his
bow. Keith's set for the evening was The Nearness Of You and Before They Make
Me Run, it was the first time I had seen him perform the latter so I was well
pleased.
Next up followed three numbers they didn't do in Paris, Sympathy For The
Devil (the re-mix version was at No.14 in the singles charts in the UK). Paint
It Black and Honky Tonk Women. Sympathy had the usual audience "ooh - ooh"
participation", Paint It Black was excellent and the on screen animations
that accompanied Honky Tonk Women were superb. Following this came
Satisfaction, before the band made their way to the 'B' stage. It's nice that
they thought of the fans who didn't have such good tickets by using a second
stage, but I did wonder why they didn't think of performing 'in the round' for
the whole show. I saw Yes do this at the same venue a few years back and it
worked quite well. Mannish Boy, It's Only Rock and Roll and Brown sugar were
duly performed before the band was led out of the arena. Everyone was shouting
for more and they duly delivered Jumping Jack Flash as the red confetti was
sprayed out. The whole band took their bows and then left Mick, Keith, Ronnie
and Charlie to wave goodbye. I just can't believe that it's the last time.
I have deliberately left it a week prior to sending this review. As I have
mentioned the sound quality where I was sitting (on one side of the arena,
half way from the stage) was not very good. We only seemed to be hearing one
speaker and the sound seemed to be bouncing around. I think that if you were
seated on the arena floor it may have been better. However, I have seen the
Stones at the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm, at Earls Court and at Wembley Stadium
and personally thought that the sound was better at all venues. In comparison,
the Bercy is a similar sized arena and the sound was also much better -
although I did have a better ticket. I'm so glad I made the trip to Paris to
see them off in style.
Wembley Arena, London. 
Review
Wembley Arena:
