July 16, 2022
On Friday in Vienna, The Rolling Stones underlined that they are still the greatest after 60 years on stage with what is perhaps their best concert in this city so far. In front of more than 50,000 enthusiastic fans – even 56,000 were rumored – Mick Jagger and Co. presented themselves as a perfectly coordinated, energetic band that lived up to their status as rock legends. It was a two-hour triumphal procession to the last note of “Satisfaction”.
Bilderbuch made a good impression as a heater in the Ernst-Happel-Stadion despite the lousy sound, let the guitars howl loudly and were able to enthrall the audience with the playful “Spliff” or the driving “Maschin”. Vocalist/guitarist Maurice Ernst made a solid frontman who knew how to hold his own away from the regular audience or in front of such a large crowd. Hats off!
Of course, young and old had come because of the Stones, who, after a standing ovation from Charlie Watts, started with “Street Fighting Man” on the video wall and disabused all those who had joked about an “elderly evening” before the guest performance . Jagger, Keith Richards and Ron Wood showed no signs of tiring at 78 and 75 years respectively, on the contrary, with so much power as on this “Sixty Tour” one should not speculate with a “possibly last time”.
Of course, the Stones brought their big hits with them – from “Let’s Spend The Night Together” and “Tumbling Dice” at the beginning, to the inevitable “Miss You” in the middle, to “Start Me Up” and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” towards the end , embedded in a sound that is almost clear for the Ernst Happel Stadium, every sound mixer’s nightmare. The Bob Dylan cover “Like A Rolling Stone” was the surprise in the set list, the ballad “Wild Horses” was performed as a fan request.
“Last night I was at the Schweizerhaus,” reported Jagger. He ate stilts and on the way home he was also stopped “at the sausage stand”. “My diet is broken,” the singer grinned and still danced in top condition, both physically and vocally, permanently on the catwalks. The only break he was granted was a double vocal performance (“Slipping Away”, “Happy”) by Keith Richards, introduced by Jagger as “my Haberer”.
Speaking of Richards: Together with Wood (Jagger: “the Picasso of the Prater”) he unleashed a guitar thunderstorm that drove through marrow and bone in a positive sense, the solos in “Sympathy For The Devil” and “Midnight Rambler” were outstanding, the last one gloomy, evil and staged aggressively. Which drive drummer Steve Jordan, who took Watts’ place, brought into the group and how congenially he forms the rhythm machine with bassist Darry Jones was shown in “Paint It Black” – it couldn’t be better.
The Stones opened the encores with “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”, accompanied by a children’s choir from Ukraine. And then “Satisfaction” – satisfied, grinning faces could be seen on and in front of the stage. It was a musical spectacle that didn’t need any pyros or other gimmicks, that lived from the songs and the performance, just rock and roll in all its facets. At 60, The Rolling Stones are the masters of this profession who have fallen into the fountain of youth.