With a lot of cheering, German quotes from Mick Jagger and a two-hour set full of classics, the Rolling Stones ended their 60th anniversary European tour in Berlin's Waldbühne on Wednesday evening. "Tach, Berliner," shouted singer Mick Jagger after the opener "Street Fighting Man".
He later joked about the long construction period of Berlin Airport BER and said: "Glad to see the airport is finally finished". He really loves Berlin, said the 79-year-old, the city has the best food in Germany. In Berlin, the band ate currywurst and drank "Berliner Luft" peppermint schnapps. "After five schnapps my German was perfect."
The British rock group's set on Wednesday included the classics "You Can't Always Get What You Want", "Tumbling Dice", "Satisfaction" and "Paint It Black". As in the previous concerts of the tour, ruins and the Ukrainian flag were shown on screens to the song "Gimme Shelter".
"It's good to be back in Berlin," said guitarist Keith Richards (unlike Jagger, entirely in English), "because you never know what's going to happen." He was probably alluding to the legendary Rolling Stones performance at the Waldbühne in 1965. When the band gave a rather short concert back then, it ended with fans smashing benches, overturning lanterns and demolishing commuter trains. Dozens of people were injured and arrested, and hundreds of thousands of people were damaged. The forest stage was not usable for years.
