Concert date: 9/25/99 Antwerp, Belgium

Review of the show:
Whitney in Antwerp....Truly amazing!

Last weekend was a really wild and hectic weekend. I went to see Whitney in Koln and Antwerp...2 concerts, 2 different countries and all of this in 2 days.

Here's what happened:

Dj and I had to pick up our tickets at 7 pm from the box office. When we arrived Rudi, Trevor, Alexandra and others were already there. After talking to them, we went to our seats. We had 3rd tickets and we were sitting on the left side of the stage. Rudi and his friends had front row tickets, but were also sitting on the left side of the stage. We didn't have really good seats. I would have expected better seats (like right in front of the stage instead of being on the far left side) for the amount of money I paid, but no, that was too much to asked.

Anyway, the concert started at 8.30 pm with Amanda Marshall. What can I say....She can really sing! I absolutely loved her performance. I had also heard her in Koln the day before, but the sound wasn't that great. This time the sound was exellent and Amanda blew me away!

Amanda finished around 9 or 9.15 pm and we were waiting for Whitney. I thought she would be late (like yesterday we had to wait for more than half an hour), but I was pleasantly surprised when Whitney graced the stage at 9.30 pm. From that moment I was in Whitney Wonderland.

I had made a bet with Dj that she would wear her green, furry coat and yes, she was wearing it. The show opened with a bang and there was Whitney, wearing her long, furry coat with a black top and her yellow boots (the ones she was wearing during the Movie Awards). She looked perfect although I'm not really fond of those D&G clothes.

Well, the concert started with GET IT BACK. Whitney walked down the stairs and from the moment she opened her mouth I knew it was going to be great! Her voice was 100%, so powerful and soulful. It was a big difference with Koln. Also there was a really good vibe. You could see that Whitney was in a good mood and the audience was pretty cool too. During GIB Whitney was dancing with her dancers and hitting those high notes in between. She sang GIB with so much power, the mood was set.

Right from the start she noticed her fans, 'cause Rudi and his friends made some banners which made her laugh. i think she really apreciated it, 'cause she was looking our way quite often.

After GIB cam HEARTBREAK HOTEL.

This is a great song. The stage was filled with red lights and whenever Whitney sang Heartbreak....Hotel there was this cool echo. Also the backup singers were really good...maybe better than Faith & Kelly Price.

Whitney truly was on fire...delivering high notes and then go really deep with her soulful and powerful low notes. She knows how to work the audience.

I think that after HBH she started talking. She said " Hello Antwerp" and then turned around to ask her back up singers if she was in Antwerp. She said that if you were on the road as long as she has been, you wouldn't always know where you are. After that she started to sing IF I TOLD YOU THAT. I really like this song and Whitney was dancing around. You can see that she has practised her dance moves. It all looked pretty good.

After IITYT she started to talk about MLIYL her album (we ofcourse responded with a big applause). She said to the audience:" Thank you for embracing my album". She told us that it all started in 1985 and that she would take us back with SAVING ALL MY LOVE FOR YOU. She sang it partly a capella and was hitting those high notes really easy. I'm not sure if it was with this song or with another song, but people were singing along and it made her laugh. She then showed us who was vocally the best.

She only sang a part of SAMLFY and smoothly continued with UNTIL YOU COME BACK TO ME. this is one of my favorites on the cd, but is live even better. She sang it with her rich, powerful, soulful voice and in a really jazzy way. It reminds me of that movie with Roger Rabbit, where his girlfriend Jessica sings for him in a smoky nightclub : ) Everytime I hear UYCBTM I think of this. Sorry, can't help it.

After UYCBTM came I LEARNED FROM THE BEST. This song was one of the highlights of the concerts. She had me and the crowd hanging on her every word. What can I see....release this as a single and promote it well!!

Again the high and low notes were fired right at us. Something that was typical for the whole concert...firing those high and low notes like it was nothin. I just listened and enjoyed...I did not even move...I was taken away by her voice. Even the end of the song was perfect. Slowly building the tension and then releasing it with that perfectly sung long note.

After that it was time for STEP BY STEP, a big hit in Europe, which you could tell by all those people dancing to that song. Whitney was looking our way almost the entire time and had to laugh when we made those arm movements (hands in the air).

Then it was time to change clothes. I was really looking forward to Gary singing Change The World but instead the band played a medley of I Have Nothing, I'm Your Baby Tonight, the backup singers really showed that they can sing, and Queen Of The Night. During the medley you could see footage of Whitney on a big screen. You could see her practice her dance routines and they also showed some other stuff of her while being on tour or preparing for her tour. i have to say that I didn't really pay good attention to it cause I was watching what was happening on stage.

After the medley Whitney graced the stage again, wearing a long tight black dress with some sort of pink bolero. She started to sing MLIYL, a really wicked kind of reggae version. It was so great. Nobody could keep their seat. everybody was dancing, clapping their hands and singing along. Whitney danced with her dancers and fooled around. They all started walking behind eachother making crazy moves and she started to say stuff like (I'm not sure what she said, but it sounded like this)"Work it man" and was making some crazy noises. She even let her dancers sing along with her. It was too funny. During MLIYL Whitney started to point at something and had to laugh. There was this guy (either BBBB or some crew member) running in front of the stage with some sort of rasta hairdo.

After MLIYL came I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY, the remix. The crowd didn't wanna sit down and kept on dancing. Whitney was having a great time and she probably didn't expect that the crowd would react so enthusiastically. You could see that everybody on stage as the audience were having a great time. Whitney just went for it and gave her all. She even let the crowd sing and thought it was too funny.

HOW WILL I KNOW. Exact the same thing, people were still dancing. She can still sing het golden oldies and hit the high notes, the only difference is that her voice has matured, it is more richer and powerful.

Well the dance medley was a big succes. Whitney was really surprised, you should have seen her face. It was special, she was pleasantly surprised. I was too.

After all this dancing it was time for the slower songs. There's nothing better than Whitney taking you back to church. Whitney told the crowd that she started to sing when she was 13 or 14 years old and that she owed it all to god. She told the crowd that she was a Christian and that it meant a lot to her. She continued by telling the crowd that she always sang this song: I LOVE THE LORD. If anyone wasn't convinced that Whitney wasn't a good singer than this would 'convert' them. She gave her all...this was one of the highlights of the show. She sang about the Lord and the many names we give him, she was really improvising. You could hear and see that Whitney's roots are in gospel. She totally dedicated herself to this song...she really got emotional. When the song was over she told the crowd that at her church people praise the Lord by singing, making music, clapping their hands, dancing etc. She asked the audience to clap their hands while she sang I GO TO THE ROCK. During IGTTR she introduced the new band...they were great, but I do miss Ricky. Also during IGTTR she went to the side of the stage and I could see that she asked what time it was. It looked like she had to finish before a certain time, cause after that she wrapped up IGTTR and went straight into the Movie Medley. She told the audience about her movies and started to sing I BELIEVE IN YOU AND ME and continued with WHY DOES IT HURTS SO BAD. It was sung beautifully but I absolutely loved her version of Aretha's HURTS LIKE HELL. Whitney should have sung this song. I could actually feel the pain and I didn't even had a broken heart! *S* This was also one of the highlights.

After that it was time for I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU, Whitney's biggest hits. Not everyone recognized the song right from the start but we did. It looked like Whitney was struggling a little bit. It sounded like she needed some water but she pulled it of. Dropping her towel and then the bang, to give us some vocal firework. Hitting the high notes easily. WOW. She got a standing ovation. Unfortunately this was the last song and Whitney left the stage. She came back for an encore, wearing her red furry coat (like the one on the tour t-shirt) and a mini skirt (the one she showed on Oprah). She sang the remix of IT'S NOT RIGHT BUT IT'S OKAY. And again she had people on their feet dancing. At the end of the song she took off with Bobby who was waiting for her. Leaving us with nothing but good memories!!!