C'est toujours un régal de voir mark en live. Certainement un des meilleures concerts que j'ai vu. la setlist surprenante mais excellente. Salutations à tous les fans.

The gig was in Hallenstadion in Zürich. Seated gig so capacitiy was down to 12.000. Beautiful hall, everything well organized. We were already at the hall around 18.15. Doors opened at 18.00. We've had a drink, walked around a little. Then found our seat. I was at 8th row this time, right side from the stage. The setlist was the same as the first night in Amsterdam, or better to say the one we are used to now ;-) From the start I was astonished about the soundquality. I've never heard it better before! You could here every little detail of every instrument! Mark and the whole band were in super-shape! Every song had his highlights with nice different little solo's, most of the time a little different from the first 4 gigs this tour I visited till now. Why Aye Man is complete different from 2005. I love the addition of John McCusker, he is a great player, enjoys the shows very much which you can see and adds a lot to the band. Every detail in the show is very nice Hill Farmers Blues keeps my favorite till now, but I also love Marbletown, ending very soft. This was the first time I could hear the very silent part at the end because the audience was pretty quiet till the end of the song. Knoxville also became a favorite to me. Withnice little solo's from Matt on piano, John on fiddle and Richard on lapsteel. Telegraph Road, I heard it thousand times before and now I was surprised again. Very strong, great variations, never heard it this way. All in all, the best show I have ever seen! Sound was fabulous, Mark and the band enjoyed being on stage the complete 2 hours, you could feel and hear it. I had shivers during a lot of songs. Cannot imagine this one can be beaten, but fortunately Mark Knopfler is able to surprise us again and again.

What a great show here`s the setlist from zurich cannibals: perfect sound from the first second. had a great seat in mid row 17 why aye man: powerful, sounded much better than on the 2005 tour as this song was the opener. ( i`m not a guitar player, was this a les paul in MK`s arms???) what it is: just love this one, so, what can i say...? sailing to philadelphia: missed the voice of james taylor as charlie mason from the studioversion a little bit, but anyway, a wonderful song true love will never fade: big surprise for me. i didn`t love this track on cd, but that was one of the highlights so far! the fish and the bird: what happend with marks voice? sound better and better. this one was the next surprise/higlight hill farmer's blues: absolutly fantastic. never heard this song in a live show before. (Les paul???) Romeo And Juliet: heard it a hundred times, but i `m ready for the next thousand times. It`s the ultimative MK lovesong.... sultans of swing: that was the pure and original dire straits version without any keys and stuff ( sorry guy and matt!) i like the long version from the amazing alchemy tour, but this version is history! Bandintroducing: mark did it friendly with some jokes about ritchard and guy. so, it was very nice to hear MK talking, but it`s always the same stuff/jokes marbletown: very different ( or should i say much tougher version than the cd ). the guy next to me said: now its time for this bonaparte song like everytime.... Ha, he was wrong! daddy's gone To knoxville: Ritchard on the pedal steel and john on this fiddle! that was real country! Howdyyyy!!!! thanks for this great song!!! one of my favourits on cd and liveversion. postcards from paraguay: the fiddler did this unbelievable southamerican flutesound on this song. hey this guy is from scotland!!! Great song whit a great MKvoice. remember when he was singing paraguayyyyyy.... speedway at nazareth: one of the best things MK ever did. The liveversion is much more than just a song, it`s a adventure! telegraph road: this is the ultimative best song i ever heard. little bit different version with MK on the national guitar (?wright?). he changed to his nice pensa (?wright?) after a few minutes. Standing ovation and the audience was hungry for more! Brothers In Arms: different than years before. there was no long intro but still a fantastic song Our Shangri-La: i prefer the version from the last tour, but still fantastic too So Far Away: don`t know why, this is definitly not my favorite. most of the people liked this song, and i don`t know why. Going Home: a great end in a great show. this full band version sounds like a good old "dire straits show end"

Overall, a solid show from Mark and this very tight band - some of the instrumental parts were just superb. There have been complaints about no changes to the setlist, but playing the same tunes night after night really enables the band to focus on the orchestration/sound. This is important when you add a violinist/flautist to the mix, as Mark has done on this tour with great effect. Highlights: Cannibals - what a fun opener - I'd forgotten about thist track, and it works very well live (nice harmonies though Guy was too high in the mix) What it is - really uptempo Romeo & Juliet - emotional, every time Marbeltown - powerful Speedway & Telegraph Road - overwhelming. Mark was playing a new guitar (?) - orange/Santana-esque for end of T. Road, and I thought it might have been the best sound he got all night. Another "highlight", so to speak circular lighting rig moving to face the crowd towards the end. I won't tell you what the design is on the front, but it is very appropriate. Lowlights: Vocals were not mixed very well on some songs. Either that, or Mark was intentionally mumbling/whispering through them - especially evident on Sailing and Sultans. Would have appreciated more up-tempo songs with bluesy feel, like Boom like That or Money for Nothing. Punish the Monkey would have been a much better choice than the anemic "Fish and Bird" off his new one. Anyway, it was a good show, very nice sound and appreciated by the 12,000 or so in attendance (looked to be a full house).