Alright then! The first of my 2 concerts. I was there with my nephew before the doors openened. We were almost in the front-row! I stand by Jeff Lammens! He wrote a review earlier. The concert was really fantastic!! I took 90 pictures! The nicest I placed here: http://www.myhattrickcup.nl/TIJDELIJK Add me to MSN: stefanesselink@hotmail.com I'd like to exchange some pictures/video's! I made video's the 17th of april!

Great show. I made a recording of it, check my website http://www.dutchtaper.com/ for info and an mp3 sample.

Well, I'm still a little bit in shock from yesterday, in a positive way of course! I heard from many people that during the STP tour, Mark kinda lost his spirit and drive so I was very sceptical about the show. I looked forward to it, especially since I also had tickets for the May 2003 show which was cancelled. Anyway, I went to the concert with Jeffrey Lemmens (check his review as well!), his father and my parents. I might just say that I got A LOT MORE than I expected! :D William Topley started around 19.50 hrs which was great since we were standing right in front of the stage for about one hour, I guess the crew saw that the hall was pretty full so the gig could start off. Topley was nice, not really my style but he's a great musician and a great warm-up for Knopfler himself. After six songs the crew did some checks on the stage and tuned the guitars for a last time. Then, the lights went out again! Knopfler and his band came up and a great ovation started! It seemed like the entire hall was shaking :D Great! He started with Why Aye Man and I immediately noticed the great acoustic performance that was able thanks to the designers of this great musical establishment! Too bad they were only selling Heineken since it's not really my thing ;) Anyway, back to Mark! After Why Aye Man came Walk of Life. I guess Guy started a little too slow since the song was even slower than the original recording I guess (that means twice as slow as the On The Night version). But that wasn't a problem, the song still rocked. Then there was What It Is followed by my all-time favourite: Sailing To Philadelphia. Mark did some vocal tricks in here which I really appreciated, he missed a line but who cares. He changed some notes in the vocal appearance which were really great! Hope I can get a recording... Other highlights were Romeo & Juliet with a GREAT intro, really gave me shivers! Telegraph Road and Speedway at Nazareth were also GREAT! Really beautiful, couldn't be played better. Sultans of Swing was also nice, but I still wonder why Knopfler cut out the dynamic peace. He still plays the lick, but the band doesn't change the volume. Nice anyhow! I'm sure I forgot some highlights, since I'm still "awakening" ;) Also, Mark's appearance was great. He wore a nice white shirt and a jeans, nothing more and nothing less. That's one thing I'll always appreciate about Knopfler, he's just Knopfler and doesn't try to be Knopfler². That goes for the rest of the band as well! They're just musicians (some of the best in the world) and trying to give the crowd that blissful feeling. Yesterday that attempt was perfect and very succesful for my concern! I was about 5 meters from the stage, I really had a great view! We were near the Music Hall at approx. 18.00 hrs, so that was absolutely wonderful! I'm sure I've forgotten some things, but I'll update this review if that's possible!

Indeed, a great show, i recorded it on minidisc. Details soon on http://www.zoishethelemaal.nl Take care, Arjen

I had a wonderful evening, enjoyed the show very much. Thelegraph road was thrilling... I sat at the back off the hal but I try to get a front or nearby place tomorrow in Rotterdam Mark and band thank you for the jewels you gave us!!!!!!!

Alright, we stayed the night at a hostel in A-dam. And after some good chinese food at lunchtime, we returned to the HMH. We wanted to try to meet MK once again but his taxi went into the Hall again. But we were not disappointed - of course not because we´ll see a great gig again. The time passed very quickly and we were talking with many other fans who have been waiting in front of the Hall. Joost and I met all the other fans again when there were only 30 minutes remaining until they let us in. We got some good placed again - we stood directly in front of the stage again and were waiting for our star. William Topley did the support act again. And then at 20:40 Mark and the band came on stage. There were many people who recorded this show on video (I´m looking forward to the multi-camera VCD) and my friend Joost recorded this show on audio too. Mark forgot some lyrics on STP - he started singing the Chorus but he had to sing one verse else before the Chorus - as you see, everybody makes mistakes. We had a surpise in the set again: "Back To Tupelo" instaad of Donegan - a song I wanted to hear live too. Great atmosphaire. They played "Rudiger" again and I had the feeling that one song would be missing - because there was one more song in the regular programme. And that was true: "The Mist Covered Mountains" and "Wild Theme" were missing but we had a very good last song instead: "Our Shangri-La" - such a beautiful song...weeehhh. After this great gig we had some beer again and we were very tired as we were the day before - understandable because we´ve been waiting in front of the venue for almost 5 hours this day and the day before. We went back to the hostel and found a good sleep. I really wanna see Mark again soon. Maybe my friends and I will go to the show in Stra, Italy - we´ll see...

This was such a good show! It was about 2 hours and 15 minutes pleasure! Setlist: Why aye man - Walk of life - What it is - Sailing to philadelphia - Romeo & Juliet - Sultans of swing - Done with Bonaparte - Song for Sonny Liston - Back to tupelo - Rüdiger - Boom, like that - Speedway at nazareth - Telegraph road 1st encores: Brothers in arms - Money for nothing 2nd encores: So far away - Our shangri-la No, he didn't play local hero this evening, but it didn't matter in my opinion. It began about 8:40, kicked off with the great opener Why aye man, directly followed by a slow (jep, that's true) but very very cool Walk of life. Then What it is followed by Sailing to philadelphia, very beautiful version. Romeo & Juliet began with the wonderful intro by Matt, Mark started playing THE first notes of the song, just a wonderful moment. You could hear clearly the melody of R&J, some recordings of the earlier gigs don't have that, so, don't worry. Then (no thank you!!!) but playing Sultans of swing. Yeah, for a crowd as todays it was one of the best moments I guess. Mark didn't make the "Richard, it's you and me and everyone else, good luck", now, it was a real cool surprise: "Well Richard baby, we, just the two of us. Like eh, Simon and Garfunkel, the everly, no, the NEVERLY brothers or so. Anyway, and the rest of the band, do your best!". Then the wonderful Done with Bonaparte followed, wonderful (long) version, seemed that Richard had some small trouble with his bouzouki (I could be wrong ofcourse, I'm just a "fan") but he and the rest of the band covered that very well! Then the small kit arrived, with a cup of nice (english ofcourse) tea. Mark said "I like Holland but, you know, Heineken, no. This is a cup of real fine english tea". Song for Sonny Liston followed, a very rocky version, I don't know how he played but it was Fantastic (with capital F). Then a "surprise": Richard came next to MK, also with a cup of tea and Back to tupelo followed, wonderful (yeah, if you would get for everytime I use the word "wonderful" a dollar, you'd be richer than Bill Gates, haha) version too. Richard played very very good! Then the autograph hunter song, Rüdiger. Yeah, I have to use the word again: WONDERFUL! The album version was good, the "a night in London" version was better, but this was the best. Okay, then Boom, like that. Mark said shortly before he played "song about fast food", pretty cool, he didn't say much but he played more! The song was like the rest, more than just "ok". I don't know how he does it, but so many perfect songs in such a short time. Speedway at nazareth was the next one. Woah, after it, I really knew I was born with ears! And not just that, two of them! The first sounds of Telegraph road reached me and then Mark began to play the first notes with the Steel guitar. Swiched to the strat (if I'm correct, if I'm not, let me know :p ) and it was a pleasure for 14 minutes. Then, the end. But not for long. After 3 minutes or so, "they" came back. The audience was ofcourse very happy to see them again, it was a long time ago, haha. Anyway, they started Brothers in arms. No intro, from the first second MK's own powerful guitar. Matt and Guy did a wonderful After that, Money for nothing (also without intro) followed. What can I say, Money for nothing, one of the worlds best songs ever! Next to the others he played ofcourse! Another end, but not for long. So far away with "Here I am in Amsterdam town", the crowd started sort of waving, just superb! Then, the big surprise: Our shangri-la. Man! That is such a pleasure for your ears man! Being for about 7 or 8 minutes in heaven, I even don't know how long it was, so beautiful! Then, some of the fans were a bit "dissapointed" (maybe that's too much) because the band left the stage now for real. No more encores. Anyway, in my opinion, Our shangri-la was the best song to end this perfect day! For the ones who are still waiting for their concert: You're one of the luckiest people on earth to hear MK and the rest of the band their music! Really, every single note, every single second was an honor! Guy(s): You did a great job! Btw: I was standing about 6-7 meter from MK, right in front of the Hammond B 3 / Richards place. I wore a black Shangri-La T-Shirt. So maybe you've spotted me, I guess not, MK was much more interesting this evening! gr, Jeff Lemmens, The Netherlands

This was my first Mark Knopfler concert, and it was great! I really loved all the songs, but my favorite was (ofcourse) Telegraph Road. That song rocks!! I think the setlist was the same as yesterday, but they didn't play "The Mist Covered Mountains/Going Home" at the end. But hey, I don't care, it was one of my greatest experiences of my life! I took some pictures with my camera, you can see them at the Links page from this concert.

Great show, fine performance, did miss Going Home at the end of the show. Hope to hear that song in next Sunday in Dortmund Germany when I'll be going again