Concert date: 11/2/99 Anvers, Belgique

Review of the show:
Whitney in Antwerp

This was the second time that Whitney was in Antwerp and again it was amazing! I came with Davey de Wit and 2 of my other friends and we were pleasantly surprised when we received our tickets. Finally, the PC had managed to give us front row seats right in the middle, right before Whitney.

The show started early with Amanda Marshall who sang some new songs that I had not heard before. As usual she was great but she sure has an attitude problem; she does not look or respond at and to the audience. I had the chance to meet her in Rotterdam and she signed my cd, but she’s not very friendly.

After Amanda finished her set, it was time for Whitney to show up. I have to say that you’ll never know if Whitney shows up on time, but this time she was even a little bit early.

She kicked off with GET IT BACK, wearing a black jacket with a pink collar, black pants, and a black top. She sounded great and strong, knowing that she had been ill days before. I had made a banner with ‘Whitney u rock’ and she noticed it and started waving at me. I think she and the dancers and the back up singers recognized us (we’ve been to 6 concerts this tour and we’ve talked to them in Rotterdam) ‘cause she stood right in front of us almost the whole time and she responded to everything we were doing or saying, which was pretty cool!!

After GIB came HEARTBREAK HOTEL. The response of the audience was at the beginning really bad. During Amanda’s show there was hardly any reaction except for ours and during the first couple of Whitney songs, the audience wasn’t really responding to her. (this changed during MLIYL). HBH was sung very well…I can’t get enough of the heartbreak…echo…hotel..echo.. part, I just love it!

IF I TOLD YOU THAT, still no big response from the crowd (though warming up). We were told by the security guards to sit down which sucked ‘cause you can’t sit still during this song. Again, this song was sung excellent, impressing us with some vocal tricks.

After this song, she started to get the audience in the mood by saying: ‘can you say yeah!’

She then turned around, doing her make up and after that she started to talk about her album, asked if everybody was okay, said she missed her family, especially her daughter while being on our for so long. She also said she had an award show coming up and then took us back to 1985:

SAVING ALL MY LOVE FOR YOU. I wish she would sing the whole part, but she went straight into UNTIL YOU COME BACK TO ME, including some high notes. When she was about ready to sing the end of the song “until you come back to meeeeeeee’ some fans including Davey were faster than Whitney and started to sing the high part of ‘meeeee’. Whitney stopped and listened (it sounded really good) and the audience started to laugh and clap. Davey said to Whitney: ‘up and down” and Whitney asked: “up and down?” She then said: “what about down and up” Davey said: “fine with me” and Whitney had to laugh and then sung really low, held that note and went right into a high note. That was so cool.

It was then time for I LEARNED FROM THE BEST. She almost kinda screwed up the end of the song, but finished it nicely. She did something really cool with ‘said goodbye-ye-ye-ye. I hope this song goes to #1 ‘cause she deserves it.

Then came STEP BY STEP. We made a banner for Binkie. She’s one of the dancers and we met her in Rotterdam and she’s really cool and nice. She talked to us in Rotterdam, gave us autographs, and thanked us for waiting in the cold for Whitney and her to show up in Rotterdam. She had also promised Davey and me free tickets for the Oberhausen concerts, but she couldn’t get any. Therefore she gave Davey a t-shirt in Oberhausen (I wasn’t there ‘cause I didn’t have a ticket).

Anyway, we made a banner that said ‘Binkie u rock’ (yeah we’re really original!).

Binkie was really surprised and thankful that we made that banner (both Davey and I had one). Everyone on stage had to laugh about it, including Whitney.

It was time for a break and to my surprise, Gary started to sing “Change the World”. The last time I heard him sing that song was in LA. It sounded great and he had to laugh when Davey held up a picture that he took of him at the hotel in Rotterdam.

After his song there was the medley and Davey had made a banner for Sharlotte Gibson, one of the back up singers. She had told him in Germany that her birthday was coming up so Davey surprised her with a banner. I think she liked it ‘cause she laughed at us and waved at us, looking really happy.

Then Whitney came back on stage, wearing a tight dress with flowers on it, the one she was wearing at the Oprah Show, but then in grey. You could really see right through it. Well, Whitney came back on stage singing MY LOVE IS YOUR LOVE and the crowd went wild. On my right people started to walk up to the front of the stage but the security tried to push them back. Whitney looked at the security and they stopped and let the people dance. Bobby joined Whitney on stage and they danced together, I mean really going wild. This song always gets the crowd on its feet and it’s one big party!

She then continued with I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY. The audience was still on its feet, clapping and screaming. Everytime I see Whitney live it amazes me the way she can work the audience…they really went crazy.

The same with HOW WILL I KNOW. She sings it with such a strong voice, she still has it. She also let the audience sing…big mistake ‘cause it was way off key! *LOL* She wanted us to rock, to party and to have a good time

After that it was time for the gospel medley. I had made a banner with “Could u please sing the Greatest Love of All” She read my banner out loud: “Could I sing Greatest Love?” I’ll do that for you later on”. The whole audience clapped and screamed and she then continued by saying: “Do you know this song?” and she started to sing an improvised version of JESUS LOVES ME. It sounded excellent, including some high notes.

She then continued by saying: “I’ll take you back to church, is that alright” and started to sing I LOVE THE LORD. She sang it differently this time. All the other times she sang about all the names we gave Jesus… ‘wonderful councilor, captain of peace (or something like that), king of kings, mighty good shepherd, I love the Lord’. Instead she sang ‘Hallelujah’ which was really beautiful with some nice high notes.

She then continued with I GO TO THE ROCK and introduced the band. When the dancers came on stage we again held our banners up for Binkie. Whitney noticed it, started to read it out loud: “Binkie u rock?!” she laughed and said: “Amen to that” and then she laughed really hard again.

After IGTTR came the movie medley. Whitney hadn’t sung THE GREATEST LOVE OF ALL yet so I held up my banner again. Then she came up to me, looked at me while I said “pretty please?” ….laughed, turned around and asked the band if they could play GLOA. She sat down and said: “Okay here we go” and she started to sing THE GREATEST LOVE OF ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She sang it for me, little old me. That was the best moment of my life. She sang it so beautifully and so strong….I will never forget it, I was really touched. I’ve seen her live 10 times, but I had never heard her sing THE GREATEST LOVE OF ALL and now she was singing it at my request.

After she sang it the crowd went wild and I think that it was THE highlight of the show (well at least for me and my friends).

After GLOA she sang the movie medley. Everytime she sings “HURTS LIKE HELL” I can feel the pain and I don’t even have a broken heart : )

After HLH came I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU. This is Whitney’s biggest hit and everybody knows and likes the song…the crowd went wild. I love this song and I can’t get enough of it. Unfortunately it was the last song and Whitney left the stage. We wanted to get closer to the stage but the bodyguards wouldn’t let us. Then Whitney came back wearing the worst outfit I have seen on this tour. Some grey jacket with black boots with white stripes on the side and some silver or grey jacket. I really didn’t like it, but that didn’t mean that IT’S NOT RIGHT BUT IT’S OKAY wasn’t okay. She rocked the house but left the stage way too early. That was my last concert, but it was one of the most memorable ever!!!

After the concert was over, Binkie, the dancer came up to us to thank Davey and me. She hugged us and said she really appreciated everything we did. She took pictures with us and said she really regretted the fact that it was our last concert. She told us to come back on the next tour and that she would come back again with Whitney. She said she had Davey’s phone number and who knows… I asked her if she could get us an autograph from Whitney. She said it would be really hard ‘cause Whitney always leaves right after the concert, but she would give it a try. She then had to go and security kicked us out.

Well, it was a great concert.

- The security sucked. Whitney’s bodyguards were making fun of the fans, including Davey. They really have an attitude problem too. They also took away our lights when we were holding them up during ILFTB or UYCBTM

- Whitney was really friendly, reading all of our banners and reacted to it. Also on my banner that I made last year in Asschaffenburg: “Above all to thy own self be true” She said that it was so true.

- During IWALY we held up a banner that said ‘Thanks for all the great concerts’ and she really appreciated it. She looked a little bit emotional during IWALY (but I don’t know if it was real or not).

- She really interacted with the audience, especially with us.

- Whitney really looks forward to going home.

- I still can’t believe she sang GLOA

- I do think that people don’t appreciate the gospel medley. I don’t think people who aren’t real fans get it. They think it’s too long or they say that Whitney talks too much, but it’s important to her. Besides that, you can really hear how great she is during the gospel songs ‘cause she really gives her all and her voice is at its best.

This is what happened during the concert. I don’t remember everything and in what order but this is the impression I had from this concert.

Chantal K. and Davey

hitney came back on stage singing MY LOVE IS YOUR LOVE and the crowd went wild. On my right people started to walk up to the front of the stage but the security tried to push them back. Whitney looked at the security and they stopped and let the people dance. Bobby joined Whitney on stage and they danced together, I mean really going wild. This song always gets the crowd on its feet and it’s one big party!