The Sweet Escape / Tour Reviews

Hey ya'll, what about a topic where everybody posts his/her review of the concert he/she went to?:

Who: Janneke & Kim

When: 18 September, 2007

Where: Ahoy, Rotterdam, Holland

What: Gwen Stefani

Written on: 23 September, 2007

I knew Gwen Stefani, who’s having a break from her band No Doubt, would go on tour because of her sophomore album ‘The Sweet Escape’. Several dates for the US & Austria were already announced. After a while also European dates were mentioned including September 18th, Gwen will give a concert in Ahoy, Rotterdam, Holland.

I asked several people to come with me but none of them were interested till I asked Janneke. I ordered our two tickets on 10 March, that means we still had to wait 6 months.

18 September

I woke up at 10:00 AM all excited cause I had to be at the train station Den Bosch at 13:00 PM. Cause of Janneke’s intern we couldn’t go earlier but after all that didn’t matter that much. After the whole train and metro traveling we arrived at the venue at 14:30 PM. Till our amazement there were only a few people at the venue, like 10. We still had to wait till the doors opened (18:30) so we sat down and waited. Some more people arrived and other people who were there before came back from their walk. The security prepared their selves by placing the gates on the right spots. Round 17:00 PM there still weren’t many people and it started to rain a bit but luckily I brought an umbrella ella ella with me. By 18:00 PM we were getting all excited and at 18:30PM the doors opened. As fast as I could I run into the venue while hearing Janneke screaming ‘wait’. I yelled back ‘Just follow me and run’. I just had to have front row places and we got our front row places, not in the middle but a bit to the left, still very great spots.

After waiting for an hour and a half CSS came on stage. CSS stands for Cansei de Ser Sexy, a Brazilian band with an alternative style. They were quite boring and not interesting for us at all cause we are here for Gwen Stefani. They played their songs and after that we had to wait another 30 minutes.

All of a sudden the photographers came in and found a spot, the lights got down and some Harajuku Girls and other dancers came on stage playing Thief and Police. The music from /Sweet Escape/ started to play and Gwen came on stage in a very awesome golden cage, kind of like in the video. Everybody was cheering and singing, this moment is always so cool cause you’re finally seeing the star you’ve waited for for 5 months. After the opening she sang /Rich Girl/ and everyone was singing along with nanananana. Followed up by /Yummy/, I looked forward to this performance as I love the song and didn’t knew what to expect. She made it like a song about cooking and food, she was all dressed up like a cook too. With /4 in the Morning/Luxurious/ and /Early Winter/ Gwen dressed up in some Japanese style which Janneke loved and so did I, a really nice theme. In my opinion the whole audience was a bit calm, even the front rows besides Janneke & I and some fans on the right side. But after hearing the first tunes from /Wind It Up/ the whole audience became some more loose. /Danger Zone/ wasn’t that interesting but still cool you know. /Hollaback Girl/ was a lot of peoples favorite so everybody was enthusiastic. /Now That You Got It/ & /Don’t Get It Twisted/ had the same vibe for me as /Danger Zone/, still cool though. I think Gwen thought the same as me about the whole crowd. It’s usual that Gwen steps down from the stage with the song /Cool/ but this time it was different than at other concerts cause she ran into the crowd all the way to the back. All the security woke up and run after her but the girl is fast and the security ain’t. Gwen climbed all the way up to the first rang and walked between all the fans in the back, stepped on a hotdog stand and climbed down again. She had her workout for that day, so had the security. This was unexpected for the whole venue but as she was singing, it was /Cool/. For /Wonderful Life/ it goes the same as the songs I mentioned before, just nice. Then there was a big highlight in the show for me, Gwen started the song /Orange County Girl/, my favorite of hers. I totally loved the whole performance and was singing along the whole song!

After another costume change Gwen came back with a gorgeous encore! She sang /The Real Thing/ acoustic and for me this was the second highlight of the show, absolutely gorgeous and dedicated to her husband Kevin and their son Kingston. Gwen sang the song together with one of her band members who also has a very beautiful voice. To finish the concert Gwen played her very first solo single /What You Waiting For?/, a crowds favorite. After a fantastic last performance and a bow with all the band members, dancers and Gwen herself the concert came to an end.

I must say that Gwen Stefani is an amazing singer, dancer and performer. Next time when she’ll come to Holland for a concert I’ll definitely will be there, with or without No Doubt. It’s official, Gwen is Cool!

Edited September 24, 200717 yr by Kimmy