Antwerp • Tuesday, April 1, 2003

About

From The Macca Report:

Paul’s plane landed at Brussels Airport because his plane was diverted there due to bad weather. He arrived at the venue with police escort around 5:20pm after his white stretch limo was stuck in a traffic jam on the motorway and had to ride on the shoulder. While he was on the motorway he did a phone interview with DJ Evert Vedema of radio Donna which went live on the air. At the venue he rolled down the window and waved to fans. Just before the concert he was presented backstage with a book titled “Art Nouveau in Belgium” given to him by EMI-chief Erwin Goegebuer.

Songs heard at the soundcheck: “Coming Up,” “India,” “Matchbox,” “Honey Don’t,” “Hey Jude” (fast version), “C Moon,” “Things We Said Today,” “All Things Must Pass,” “Two of Us,” “Blackbird” (shortened version), “You never give me your money/The Fool On The Hill” (medley), (intro) “Lady Madonna.”

Security was tight at the show with metal detectors and people being body searched. The sold out concert (13,500) started late at 8:50 pm with the pre-show. Paul came out in a black jacket, red long sleeved T-shirt and blue jeans. On either side of him were telepromoters. One with the song lyrics and one with his stage comments written out. The setlist was the same as the previous shows.

Throughout the show Paul and the band spoke some Dutch/Flemish in their intros. Paul told the audience he was speaking “Belgie!” and “Flem-mish.” He referred to the audience as “Belgies” and “Antwerps.”

After “Jet” he said, “Goedenavond Antwerpen! (Good evening Antwerp) We have come tonight to rock you!

Then he began “All My Loving” and messed up the words singing, “I’ll pretend that I’m missing the lips I am kissing..”

After “All My Loving Paul said, “Thank you very much. Good evening everybody in Antwerp and Belgie. Ok, so I’m gonna try and speak some Belgium this evening. Watch out! A lot of it will be in English too.”

For the intro to “Getting Better Paul said, “Ok so, sometimes, you know when you make a record and do a song, you ah, you record it, you mix it and maybe that’s the last time you ever do the song if you’re not going out on tour. This next song is from the ’60s and this is a song that we’ve only just started doing on this tour. Het is de eerste keer dat ik dit nummer zing in Belgie.”( this is the first time I sing this song in Belgium)

Before Paul started, “Coming Up” he said, “Everybody, booogy-woogy.”

“I’ve got a feeling we are going to have a good time tonight,” Paul said and launched into “Let Me Roll It” which had the extended “Foxy Lady” ending.

“Ok, It’s getting hot in here. Yeah?” The band played the “Stripper” as Paul took off his jacket. “Ok gang all the songs we’ve played you so far have been old songs and this is a newer song. Een nieuw nummer.” (a new number) Then he began “Lonely Road.” 

After the song he said, “All right thank you. Thank you very much. OK, this next song we did, uh, we recorded in California and this one is the title song of our latest studio album. This one is called ‘Driving Rain’.”

Paul said, “Are you digging the Belgium? ‘Cause I do! It only took me three years to learn it.”

For the introduction to “Your Loving Flame” Paul spoke in Flemish and said, “Ik wil dit nummer opdragen aan mijn liefste vrouw Heather.” (I want to dedicate this number to my dearest wife Heather) 

When the band left the stage for the acoustic set Paul said, “This is the bit where I get left alone with you. K ben alleen met jullie, helemaal alleen.” (I’m all alone with you, completely alone) “This song was written in the 60’s and it was at the time of the civil right struggles in America and I wrote this song with a young black woman in mind.” Then he sang “Blackbird.” After “Blackbird” people started to stamp their feet on the ground, which shook the complete hall.

Paul introduced “Here Today” and said in Dutch, “Ik heb dit geschreven na de dood van mijn vriend John.” (I wrote this after the passing of my friend John) A few people in the audience started singing “Give Peace A Chance” after “Here Today” and Paul strummed the chords on the guitar and told them to keep singing. He pretended to direct them and said, “Oh, yeah.”

Paul said for his intro to “Something,” “George hield van de ukulele.” (George loved the ukulele). After “Something,” Paul said, “What about Ringo?” and sang lines from “Yellow Submarine” encouraging the crowd to singalong. This version was more complete with Paul playing acoustic guitar while Abe played drums. Someone in the audience began to sing “Octopus’s Garden” and Paul made a remark, “Are we going to do all of Ringo’s repertoire now?” Then Paul started to sing, “I’d like to be, under the sea..” and played some guitar chords to the song. After “Eleanor Rigby” they played a little of “Yellow Sub” again. ” In the town.. No, no.!”

Before “Michelle,” he pretended to argue with someone in the audience who was yelling at him. Paul answered him back with silly noises and gibberish.

After “Michelle” Paul said, “Merci beaucoup” which was the only time Paul spoke French, 

About half way through the concert security let people run up to the front of the stage. They had been forcing people to sit down during the show and stay in their seats. The crowd as a whole did not sing or dance during the songs. The audience was not as enthusiastic as at the Barcelona shows though security might have been a factor.

During the intro to “She’s Leaving Home” Wix said, “It was a real pleasure to be able to play all those beautiful songs and if I get the chords right on the next number they’ll let me play the guitar afterwards.”

He did the fake intro of “Baby Face” for “Hey Jude.” At the end of the “Hey Jude” the crowd continued to sing the “nah-nah-nah’s” while the band was leaving the stage.

For the encore Paul came out waving the flag of Belgium.

After “Lady Madonna” he shouted, “Wil je meer ?” (you want more?) The crowed yelled “Je wil meer !” (we want more!) …well in that case..” he immediately launched into “I Saw Her Standing There.”

When the concert was over an a capella version of “Band on the Run” (as played in his BBC2 commercial but longer) with Paul singing vocals accompanied by “sounds” and harmonium, was played on the PA system.  […]

Last updated on May 16, 2019

Sportpaleis Antwerp

This was the 1st concert played at Sportpaleis Antwerp.

A total of 2 concerts have been played there • 2003 • Apr 1st • Apr 2nd

Setlist for the concert