'04 Summer Tour, Estadio de Madrid, May 30th 2004
E viva Espagna !
Paul arrived on May 29th at 6:30 pm at the Villa Magna Hotel in the center of Madrid. Villa Magna is a 5 star hotel, not very pretty from the outside but it's renewed recently i was told; Madonna stayed here last year as well. Pauls rooms were on the nineth floor. The band stayed in the same hotel: later in the evening I got autopgraphs and pictures from Rusty and Wix, both very nice guys who took their time (a minute or two) to greet the fans, and have some pictures taken.
Paul didn't come out afterwards, even though he had reserved a restaurant but apparently he decided in the end to eat at his 'presidential suite' (3325 euro per night) and not at a restaurant or with the band. We were also told that Paul had a massage this evening (he must love that because at the concerts he likes to sing about it as well).
Brian May was also in town, we ran into him at the Palace Hotel and i got a picture with him but unfortunately my camera opened up so i am sure that the film (with pictures from yesterdays concert as well) is lost. I told Brian: "hey you look great" but he answer "mmmggr I feel like crap actually".
I went back to my own hotel which was two subway stations away before midnight because I wanted to be early at the Estadio De La Peineta the following morning. I heard the following day that Brian Ray arrived at arround 1 pm at the Villa Magna.
They didn't come out of their hotel very often, but when they did, they were very nice to the fans...
Estadio La Peineta
Before going to the stadium i dropped by the hotel again to see what was happening there. Since Paul and the band were still in the building, i decided to wait along with a dozen other fans. Between 9:30 am and 4:30 pm nothing happened, except Wix left the hotel before noon. I asked him: "Did you play something wrong in Lisbon at the beginning of...". He interupted me saying "Eleanor Rigby, yeah I fell of my stool". (note: he played some bizzare intro of Eleanor Rigby, making Rusty and Brian laugh).
At 4:30 pm the band came out of the hotel and stepped onto the waiting tourbus, after having signed more autographs and after some pictures. Paul followed about 10 minutes later in his limo, but he left so fast it was hardly possible to take a picture while he waved through the open car window. I got a lift from other fans to the Stadium where we arrived at 5:30 pm. And after waiting 40 minutes at the ticket office, i collected my ticket (they didn't dispose of a computer, so they had to wade through all kind of lists). It was already 6:50 pm when I realised I was waiting at the gate for the seating places, so I quickly ran to the "entrada general". When the gates opened at 7 pm I ran the 200 meters or so to the stage very fast and found myself in first row, between Rusty's and Pauls microphone.
The Concert
Before the preshow there was jazz-music, free water, the usual tape with the slow version of Band on the run, Piano music by Eric Satie, Junk, etc. From the pre-show i remember a good mix of Venus & Mars, Live and let die and Temporary Secretary (probably the worst McCartney song ever). The show itself was the best concert I saw of the whole '04 summer tour. The audience gave Paul a warm reception and by the end of the show quite some people took their (girl)friends on their shoulders. I guess the band prefers to look at a crowd in bikini because they played a steaming *summer* show!
After a few songs Brian Riddle (the security guy with the moustache) took my camera away because i tried to take a picture of Heather (which isn't allowed this tour aparently). Heather was wearing a green top, bright yellow stretch pants and again the sunflower blouse. This time she brought a cushion with her to sit on. Riddle gave my camera back at the end of the concert without the film and batteries. I didn't care much because this was my second film anyway. Strangely enough it wasn't forbidden to take pictures: nobody seemed to care. During I've got a feeling I noticed how strong John Lennon's voice was during the "Everybody's got a hard year etc" part. Rusty did a good effort but his voice can't counterbalance Paul's part like John Lennon was able to. Highlight of the show was Helter Skelter for me: what a rocker! Paul spoke some spanish during the show, without translation (like in Lisbon and Prague) however. The audience joined him as he spoke the spanish words from second movement of the 'Liverpool Oratorio': Tres conejos en un arbol tocando el tambor. Que si, que no, que si lo he visto yo.
After 'The End' someone threw 3 attached little rabbits playing a drum to the stage. Paul picked it up and seemed very thrilled with this present, showing it to the other band members while having a laugh. After the concert tour programmes were sold out. I had a short visit to the red cross first aid to have a look at my aching feet (just walked too much in the last days). I was fortunate enough to find 2 friendly spanish gentlemen who gave me a ride to the airport from La Peineta.
This concert of the ''04 Summer Tour' was well worth all the effort and I hope to see you all on
one of the coming events,
tijl.vanbrabant@chello.be
P.S. Please e-mail me whenever you like!
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