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One Night Only In Rotterdam

June 04, 2003 | Other
Of course Elvis The Concert had to visit this Dutch town during what is supposed to be the last tour of the show. The small country took care of quite some sell outs and extra concerts before and again the house was packed (8,000) on June 3, 2003.

The tension usually built up during 2001 was spoiled a bit because the houselights went out too late. The audience was already on its feet when the curtain dropped, but fell back in their seats full of surprise. We were always told that Elvis’ twin brother died at birth, but obviously Elvis took his twin to this show, and they entered the stage at the same time, also dressed exactly the same. No need to say that the main screen was completely out of focus and we got Elvis duplicated, a bummer! Overall this new screen (compared to previous tours) was better (read: no lines/ squares visible), but often too dark, while the two small screens were perfect. We hope this was a local problem and the other shows of the tour do not suffer from this.

The show itself changed a lot compared to the previous European tour in 2001. A couple of “new” songs and a very different order managed to make this show almost a new experience. Also the footage used on the various screens was changed a bit. Unfortunately the timing was not always as perfect as we were used to, especially on “That’s All Right” and “Mystery Train/ Tiger Man” Elvis wasn’t paying too much attention to the band . Being the professionals they are, the TCB-band was able to cover up for him in no time.

Especially the second half of the show made up for the (little) minors. After the security tried to stop the fans from closing in on the stage, in which attempt they met the wrong guy (thanks for that, Rogier!), the green light from the producers made it possible to have a real party in front of the stage. Officially next Sunday’s show in Amsterdam is the first “standing room only” show, but we took a foretaste of it in Rotterdam, and not only from “Suspicious Minds” on. Ahoy’ Rotterdam was really shaking on “Polk Salad Annie”, “Mystery Train/ Tiger Man”, of course “Suspicious Minds” and “A Big Hunk”, while “Bridge Over Trouble Water”, “What Now My Love” and “An American Trilogy” got real standing ovations. The latter even more than once: the Stamps for their solo, the beautiful flute solo was a delight (we’ve heard it much less during previous shows) and was awarded for that, while Portia Griffin of the Sweets got the hands together for her “Glory Glory”-part too. Even the tropical temperature in the stadium couldn’t get the fans tired and they kept on partying to the last notes of the closing riff, and even after that.

We’re glad we were part of this party and will be able to check if the minors will be solved in Amsterdam next Sunday for (possibly) the final “Elvis The Concert”.