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After 31 years Paul McCartney was expected to perform on an Antwerp stage
again. Expectations were high, since television reports about the Paris show a week before spoke about the tour of the year in the US in 2002 and
that he was singing more Beatles songs than ever in a concert.
Fans who had heard already lots of concerts traded around knew already what
to expect. Same songs, except for a few exceptions, same introductions and
jokes by and about the band members, talking a bit in the local language if
the concert takes place outside the USA or Canada.
He arrived on April 1st on Zaventem, Brussels Airport (normally he should have landed at Deurne, Antwerp airport but his plane had to be diverted
because of the bad weather) at 16.04 with an Airbus 319 and was taxied to
Abelag, the private part of the airport. Passport control was 'arranged'. Nine minutes later he was driven away with a nine meter long white
limousine hired at A & B Limo, followed by 6 shiny black Mercedes. He drove
on the E19 motorway in the direction of Antwerp where he got stuck in a traffic jam halfway in Mechelen. The ride continued slowly over the hard
shoulder.
While he was driving on the motorway he did a phone interview with DJ Evert
Vedema of radio Donna which went live on the air.
The limousines were awaited by a police escort at the entrance of Antwerp in the Craeybeckxtunnel. He arrived at the Sportpaleis at around 17.30.
Just before the concert started he was handed over a book "Art Nouveau in
Belgium" by EMI-chief Erwin Goegebuer.
Soundcheck numbers on April 1st were (information from a friend) ?, Coming
Up, India, Matchbox, Honey
Don't, Hey Jude (a bit of the fast
version), ?, ?, C Moon , ?, Things We
Said Today, All Things
must pass, Two of
Us, Blackbird (short), You never
give me your money,
Fool on the Hill
(intro), Lady Madonna.
Security was heavy before entering the hall, even metal detectors were used
and people were body-searched.
Programs were sold at 20 € (I've heard that in Barcelona they were 22€),
while a set of 4 badges was 10e and in Barcelona only 8€. Several T-shirt
at different prices. There was also a separate stall for Adopt A Minefield,
red and black T-shirts were 25€, plus sleeveless shirts in the same
colour. Also a lithograph was sold at their stall for 35€. A blue denim was at
105€, a black one for women at 75€, a Robles guitar case at 90€, pins at
10€, a black and beige baseball cap at 30€, Sleeve shirt with Property of
on it 45€, Bring it on T-shirt 40€, Butterfly T-shirt 35€, White T-shirt
with a heart 30€.
The first Antwerp concert started about 20 minutes late at 20.50. During the first concert he was wearing a black jacket, contrary to the
blueish purple one on the second. He was reading everything from two teleprompters, the one on his right had
all the song lyrics, while the one on his left had all the comments in between songs.
After All my loving he invented a new language, thinking we speak Belgian
over here. I guess history was never his strong point. In the northern part of Belgium people speak Flemish, which is about the same as Dutch, in
the southern part they speak French, and officially there's a little part in the east where they speak German.
He spoke some Flemish like Goedenavond Antwerpen (Good evening Antwerp), Het is de eerste keer dat ik dit nummer zing in België (this is
the first time I sing this song in Belgium), een nieuw nummer (a new
number), ik stel voor (I present), ik draag dit nummer op aan (I dedicate this song to), ik ben alleen met jullie, helemaal alleen (I'm all alone
with you, completely alone), hij neemt stereoïden (he takes steroides), ik
heb dit geschreven na de dood van mijn vriend John (I wrote this after the
passing of my friend John), George hield van de ukulele (George loved the
ukulele)
After Blackbird and Something people started to stamp their feet on the
ground, which shook the complete hall. Contrary to Paris and Barcelona only about three people started to sing
Give Peace A Chance when Paul had finished
Here Today, he reacted with a certain reluctance by a simple "Oh yeah okay"
"What about Ringo" he asked after Something to which the audience started
to sing Ringo Ringo, Yellow Submarine got started by the whole audience and
was picked up by Paul on guitar and Abe on drums. He added we're not going
to do the complete Ringo repertoire and did a bit of Octopus's
Garden. After Eleanor Rigby a bit of
Yellow Submarine was taken up again.
The only words in French on both days were Merci beaucoup after Michelle.
Wix introduced She's Leaving Home by telling that it was a real pleasure to
be able to play all those beautiful songs and that if he got the chords right on the next number that they'll let him play the guitar afterwards.
Like on all European shows he added the Jimi Hendrix' Foxy Lady
coda at the end of Let me Roll
It, on both days this got a big cheer. Hey Jude was preceded by
Baby face during the first concert. After Lady
Madonna he shouted again some Flemish "Wil je meer ?" (you want
more?). Je wil meer well in that case immediately starting I Saw Her Standing
There. Before the second encores he came on stage both days waving the Belgian flag.
Television News reports late at night, both on national VRT and commercial
VTM, showed excerpts of the concert. VTM also showed in the 7 O'Clock news
interviews with people from age 10 to 60 waiting outside the hall to get in.
Newspaper reports were all very favourable: "Feest van herkenning" - celebration of recognition (Gazet van Antwerpen)
McCartney strandt in file - McCartney strands in traffic jam (De Nieuwe Gazet en Het Laatste
Nieuws) Roll over Antwerpen (Het Nieuwsblad) Macca straffer dan ooit - Macca stronger than ever (Het Laatste Nieuws
April 3rd) 2,5 stomende uren tussen Hello en Goodbye (2,5 steaming hours between Hello
and Goodbye (Het Volk) To my knowledge there were no reports in the French speaking newspapers. |