A Bigger Bang Tour: The Rolling Stones in San Sebastian, Spain

Last night the Rolling Stones played in Anoeta Stadium, San Sebastian for the first time in their long careers spanning 4 decades. It was their second concert on the Bigger Bang Tour in Spain (the first was in Barcelona last Thursday).

Although the concert hadn’t sold out the stadium was packed. The enormous stage set was awesome and that was before the concert had even begun. It consisted of a large screen with what looked like spirals coming out of each side, a bit like the Guggenheim in New York.

The Stones were due to come on at 22.00 hours,15 minutes later they sprung onto the stage and kicked the evening off with a lively version of Start Me Up.

Mick Jagger, who greeted the stadium in Basque, moved around the stage with an enormous amount of energy and fluidity. The ever dependable Charlie Watts was at the back on the drums while Ronnie wood and Keith Richards flanked Jagger.

The set consisted of 19 songs which included their most recent material but was based around their classics like Jumping Jack Flash, an amazing rendition of Sympathy for the Devil, Brown Sugar, Tumbling Dice, Under My Thumb, Paint it Black. A moving platform took all the band out into the middle of the stadium where they played Satisfaction, Honky Tonk Women and Only Rock and Roll (But I like it).

During Honky Tonk Women massive inflatable red lips with a tongue, the symbol used by the band, burst out of the main screen. This was just one of the special effects during the evening which included 4 enormous flames shooting out of the top of the stage during Sympathy for the Devil (I could feel the heat from the flames from where I was standing in the middle of the stadium) and fire works which took every one by surprise once the concert had finished.

Pure showmanship at its very best. Polished and sharp also come to mind when trying to describe their performance on Saturday night. Perhaps some people had been put off by ticket prices which started at 73 euros. However, the sheer scale of the whole show was amazing, the sound perfect the lighting was spectacular…definitely worth every cent.

The band, who stayed 3 nights at the Maria Cristina Hotel in the centre of San Sebastian (see hotels in San Sebastian) left for their next Spanish dates on Sunday.

The Rolling Stones have 2 more Spanish dates on their Bigger Bang Tour. They are due to play in Madrid on Thursday 28th June at the Calderon Stadium and in Elejido on Saturday 30th June at the Santo Domingo Stadium.

Related:
The Rolling Stones cancel all concerts in Spain (2006)
Photos of Rolling Stones concert in San Sebastian