The Rolling Stones show in Vienna Austria Friday July 15, 2022 was powerful and emotional. Mick said they have been performing a total of seventeen shows in Austra. Some of these have taken me to the Alps, to an airfield, to a racetrack, but tonight, luckily, they were back to the city of Vienna, at Ernst Happel Stadion. The picture below is showing the unique moment at the end of the show, a specially invited childrens choir from Ukraine, singing during “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”.
I went home for a short trip after the show in Brussels Belgium. Brussels Airlines were just perfect and on time, and Brussels Airport was perfect, unusual during these busy summer days. Then I took my daughter on a three days Stones trip to Vienna Austria. We were on Austrian Airlines. Again the flight was on time. Oslo Airport Gardermoen was virtually empty, as all the SAS flights were parked due to the SAS pilot strike. I was nervous about our Vienna flight, because a delay would mess up the plans for both of us. A total of 22 out of 34 flights i.e. 2 of 3 flights during the early afternoon were cancelled. I knew the chance of getting another flight to Wien / Vienna was small, very small. Luckily we were on time, and we arrived safely to Vienna during the afternoon the day before the show.
We stayed at the great Hilton Vienna Danube Waterfront, right on the Donau riverside. It is a short ten minutes walk from the hotel to the Stones venue – Ernst Happel Stadium. No need for transportation after the show, no need for worries about queues.
Vienna is such a great city for any tourists. We did the “must do” things, visiting parks, walking the Donauinsel – a long narrow island in the Donau river, crossing the Donau on the bridges a few times, and of course the great and unique St Stephan church. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.
I made a short comment about the show in the IORR reports pages:
While the Stones were off stage, and we waited for the encores, they arranged many microphones at the far end of the stage, Ronnie side, where Sasha and Bernard normally are. Soon we found out what was going on. The Dzvinochok boys choir and Vognyk girls choir group, alongside their choirmaster Ruben Tolmachov, had managed to travel from Kyiv Ukraine by road. Now they were on stage singing the choir of “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”. They all looked so happy, but don’t forget the war, it is so sad, but it was a great gesture of The Rolling Stones to do this very special moment during these difficult days for the Ukraine people. An additional note about the boys in the choir – there were only one boy, the rest of the choir were girls. Even at that age, 15 or so, it seems like the boys are needed back in Ukraine.
The story about the picture below is as follows. The last song of the show – Satisfaction – is just finished. The band is getting together for the final bow. Steve Jordan is sprinting up along the center stage to hand out his drumstick, and he will be late for the large final bow. Ronnie is celebrating the show with Bernard. Mick and Keith embrace each other at the back of the stage. Sure it was a great show!
For show reports and pictures please see the IORR reports pages:
The Rolling Stones
Ernst Happel Stadion
Vienna Austria
Friday July 15, 2022
