Where the Bands Are (The Rolling Stones, 5 June 2022)

The Rolling Stones are celebrating 60 “special years” together with live dates across Europe this summer. My boyfriend and I decided to catch up with them in Munich. When #travellingformusic the gem is that you get to travel (obviously) and see, not only great bands performing their music live, but also beautiful cities around the world and Munich is a nice city to spend the Pentecost weekend in (I’m not at all religious but appreciate the bank holidays that come with living in a Christian society). Last time we were in Munich in 2019 (also travelling for music) we saw Glen Hansard.

At the day of the concert we went to the stadium fairly early, since one of our tickets was a “VIP” ticket and you were expected to register to get the special merch and early entry. However, as we finally found the entry gate we learned that the admittance has been postponed due to an expected thunderstorm.

We decided to wait and use the normal entry after all. Around four o’clock the bad weather started. We ended up standing under a tree trying to cover ourselves with ONE rain poncho. After about 2,5 hours the thunderstorm stopped and we were both wet and cold and we felt like going back to the hotel. However, we were also curious to see if the tickets that we had bought cheap on Ebay would work and we ended up in the Silver Pit, just as the Rolling Stones entered the stage.

As for the concert; It started strong with Street fighting Man and 19th Nervous Breakdown. Perhaps at bit too strong, as Jagger already sounded out of breath as he talked to the audience (in German) in between the songs and later had trouble hitting some notes on Rocks Off.

After urging the crowd to sing along to Ruby Tuesday (web vote winner) and You Can’t Always Get What You Want, Jagger changed into a hoodie for Living in a Ghost Town and Honky Tonk Women. After that he went backstage and let Keith Richards sing two songs.

The final 30 minutes of the concert was an explosion of mega hits such as Start Me Up, Paint It Black, Sympathy For The Devil and Jumping Jack Flash.

A highlight was the first encore, an intense version of Gimme Shelter, where Jagger sang a duet with backup vocalist Sasha Allen on the catwalk while images of a smoking street flickered across the screens, recalling the war in Ukraine. Other high points for me were Honky Tonk Women, Out of Time and Paint it Black.

The original Rolling Stones members are getting close to eighty and they obviously don’t have have the energy to work the crowd as people are used to and at times the band seemed a bit unsynchronised. However, the Stones are still a good live act. It was my first (and last?) Stones concert and I got to hear many of their most famous songs and I did not regret staying although it was a bit freezing.

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Setlist:

1. Street Fighting Man
2. 19th Nervous Breakdown
3. Rocks Off
4. Tumbling Dice
5. Out of Time
6. Ruby Tuesday (web vote)
7. You Can’t Always Get What You Want
8. Living in a Ghost Town
9. Honky Tonk Women
10. Connection (Keith Richards on lead vocals)
11. Slipping Away (Keith Richards on lead vocals)
12. Miss You
13. Midnight Rambler
14. Start Me Up
15. Paint It Black
16. Sympathy for the Devil
17. Jumpin’ Jack Flash

Encores:

• Gimme Shelter
• (I Can’t’ Get No) Satisfaction

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