Concert #11:2011.10.20, Ahoy, Rotterdam, NL # SPOILER AHEAD #

[localhero1986]

Just got home after the rotterdam gig... once, but never again, damn, what do I HATE this f*cking sh*t city... Nice gig, missing the first song. Needed more than FOUR HOURS for a normal 200 km drive. Guess what, the last two kilometers, yes, really the last two, took us (me and my dad) two f*cking hours. At some point I said my dad goodbye, jumped out of the car and was just in time to hear the first notes of cleaning my gun. Missing only one song, ok, shit can happen. My dad, still waiting in the typical dutch traffic, moved forward slowly, being able to catch the show from Marbletown on, "just"  missing 8 of the 11 songs... Most boring show ever, when you're standing alone. This was the last time in my life I visit Rotterdam, really, what a f*cked up city which has nothing to offer but trouble and misery... during the gig, the sound was horrible. Seriously, I've never seen a gig being so f*cked up with respect to the sound (I was standing in one of the upper blocks in the back).
When organizing events, they don't seem to know ow to deal with lots of people. In Germany they can!!! So, goodbye Holland, hello Germany. I should have left this damn country even before yesterday....
After all the worst gig experience so far, though MK and BD played pretty damn well... No, just give me a nice, warm, small DK concert atmosphere!

[joanzimm]

Knoplerized, you amaze me! He was wearing this flowered shirt in 2008. I guess he must have bought a bunch, in a sale or something. Or maybe it is his get lucky shirt or maybe it is a spell repeller. But this the new Guibson they were talking about.

The famous floral pattern shirt must be totally washed out by now! Amazing it survived two tours! LOL. Maybe his wife uses it as a cleaning cloth now.

Mark looks awesome I don't think any of us will miss the blue floral shirt although I don't think brown is his color.  I prefer him in black.  You guys are all so lucky that you get to see him this year.  I'm suffering from acute-MK withdrawal

[ingridswing]

Hi all,
@ localhero1986: I don't know how the sound was in the back. Standing first row it was absolutely fabulous. Together with the other 1st row-standers we all agreed that it was the best show this tour and for me one of the best ever! I am still in shock of the high quality, the great guitarplaying, the superb performance, the excellent mood of MK and band.

I am so happy I left during the break not to let BD ruin this great feeling after MK's gig, because I really can't listen to his voice..
Looking forward to Oberhausen now. 

[lfblaauw]

Last night's gig at the Ahoy was great. Brilliantly played, very good sound quality. A contrast with the 2nd half with Bob.  What a shame for such a legend.  His voice ruined most of the songs. The whole performance was a bit boring.  During MK's part we were 10-15m away from the stage, during the break we get to the back of the Ahoy. There we heard many reactions about Bob's performance, they were not positive.  That's a pity!

But back to Mark: Great performance, a bit to short    Song for Sonny Liston was played very well, nice arrangement.  Cleaning My Gun 'live' is getting better and better.  Speeedway was nice as always. A pity that the volume of Mark's guitar was a bit low in Corned Beef City. Overall a nice tune, although I didn't like Jim's plinky-plong on this one. Think that Matt would have done a better job.

Privateering sounded nice.  I'm really looking forward to hearing the studio-version of this tune. Maybe some electric guitar in it? Would fit the song good!

Done with Bonaparte and Marbletown did nothing to me.  He'd better quit these songs, sounded a bit boring to me.  Instead of these ones he'd better played Sultans or MFN during this gig. That would be a big smash for the audience (hence the reaction when he started to play SFA).    Normally I would prefer some rarely played tunes, but for a big part of the audience (not the hardcore fans, they're only a small part) it's important to hear these 'big hits'.  That was also the only negative reaction we've heard at the Ahoy from various visitors.

Lars

[JeroenvG]

What a great night. A great played concert by our best friend Mark. Looks like he was enjoying the concert more than last time. Great also to see a couple of the AMIT friends again! Ingridswing, Dutchessy, dennisbrouwer and offcourse seeing Isaac again.

After the concert we were discussing the next tour. Ingridswing is hoping for a 2012 tour but I hope Mark will go back in the studio to do same extra songs he wrote during this little tour and then go for a worldwide tour in 2013.

We will see!

I did record it on my iPhone, but I am listen it back right now but the sound is very hard recorded. I will put it up on the tracker till there will be a better recording!

[JeroenvG]

Here is the recording! Hope you like it!

http://tracker.knopflertk.net/torrents-details.php?id=2214

[Dutchessy]

Just got home after the rotterdam gig... once, but never again, damn, what do I HATE this f*cking sh*t city... Nice gig, missing the first song. Needed more than FOUR HOURS for a normal 200 km drive. Guess what, the last two kilometers, yes, really the last two, took us (me and my dad) two f*cking hours. At some point I said my dad goodbye, jumped out of the car and was just in time to hear the first notes of cleaning my gun. Missing only one song, ok, shit can happen. My dad, still waiting in the typical dutch traffic, moved forward slowly, being able to catch the show from Marbletown on, "just"  missing 8 of the 11 songs... Most boring show ever, when you're standing alone. This was the last time in my life I visit Rotterdam, really, what a f*cked up city which has nothing to offer but trouble and misery... during the gig, the sound was horrible. Seriously, I've never seen a gig being so f*cked up with respect to the sound (I was standing in one of the upper blocks in the back).
When organizing events, they don't seem to know ow to deal with lots of people. In Germany they can!!! So, goodbye Holland, hello Germany. I should have left this damn country even before yesterday....
After all the worst gig experience so far, though MK and BD played pretty damn well... No, just give me a nice, warm, small DK concert atmosphere!

That really sucks!! But it's a well-known thing... Traffic sucks in and around Rotterdam. Next time buy tickets from mk.com.

[vgonis]

Rotterdam or Rottendamn But all the big cities have similar problems. Athens is a bitch even without any particular reason. I guess the traffic jam in Rotterdam was because of MK and a couple of BD fans  going to the concert. 

[tunnel85]

Rotterdam or Rottendamn But all the big cities have similar problems. Athens is a bitch even without any particular reason. I guess the traffic jam in Rotterdam was because of MK and a couple of BD fans  going to the concert. 

I don't know for all cities -Glasgow was very quiet, so quiet there was no taxi nor bus to get back- but if anyone plans to come to Geneva on Nov. 15, please allow you some extra time to reach the venue by car and park. 

[localhero1986]

Rotterdam or Rottendamn But all the big cities have similar problems. Athens is a bitch even without any particular reason. I guess the traffic jam in Rotterdam was because of MK and a couple of BD fans  going to the concert. 

Well, it lacked any organization. Traffic lights allowed 2 cars to pass, then wait for 2,5 minutes, 2 cars and so on. Parking lot was full of cars so everyone had to turn around and head for the parking garage. In Cologne and Frankfurt they seem to know how to deal with lot of people (and cars) and guide the traffic very well. I can't imagine the people at Ahoy are all suffering from dementia and organizing a concert for the first time over and over again. They just don't seem to learn... Besides, it's Rotterdam: logistics. Number one when thinking of logistics is well designed infrastructure. A hopeless city...

[ds1984]

This seem to be designed to be not a car friendly country. They don't produce cars.
Better to Take The "A" Train or tramway...
Remember one MK past tour (2005 I htink) when they fall in heavy traffics and subsquently in 2008 they did instead choose to board on train between Adam and Rdam

[Dutchessy]

From expecting rain:

Jeeps wrote:
In short, it was a great evening, totally worth waiting through Mark Knopfler, who just noodles away at songs which you can only tell apart by the color and shape (not sound, really) of his guitar.

And:

That is exactly what I thought. In fact I don't have a clue of guitar playing, but I asked myself, why he's changing his guitar after every song. They sounded all equal.

Me:

No difference between guitarsounds? Do they have shit in their ears? Or are they not listening?

[Love Expresso]

Well, Dutchessy, I think after listening several years to Dylan's "singing" these days, for some people it might be as well compared with what you said about it... So this is just another example of ER ignorance. I wouldn't give a damn about... In fact it is somehow sad when somebody really witnesses Mark live on stage and is not able to appreciate it, isn't it...

LE

[Rollergirl]

Well, Dutchessy, I think after listening several years to Dylan's "singing" these days, for some people it might be as well compared with what you said about it... So this is just another example of ER ignorance. I wouldn't give a damn about... In fact it is somehow sad when somebody really witnesses Mark live on stage and is not able to appreciate it, isn't it...

LE

sad for them, but I don't give a sh*** about that , I am too selfish 

[vgonis]

From expecting rain:

Jeeps wrote:
In short, it was a great evening, totally worth waiting through Mark Knopfler, who just noodles away at songs which you can only tell apart by the color and shape (not sound, really) of his guitar.

And:

That is exactly what I thought. In fact I don't have a clue of guitar playing, but I asked myself, why he's changing his guitar after every song. They sounded all equal.

Me:

No difference between guitarsounds? Do they have shit in their ears? Or are they not listening?

Well, in fact the sound is so unique that sounds the same to their ears. But that is a good thing expressed with poor english. Let us not forget that in a way this BD fan is correct: when you listen to MK's guitar you can tell it is MK! And when you hear BD you can also know it is BD. So the question is not rhetorical, and actually deserves an honest answer. It is the different tunings and the different settings of each guitar along with the unique sound each one produces. The finger picking style Mark uses is mainly used with acoustic guitars and it takes a lot of practice, control and special settings in order to sound so good on an electric guitar. So actually this BD fan was un flogging his ears with great music and it seemed strange to him and in a peculiar twisted way he was paying a compliment to MK. No need to be harsh telling him he listens to shit. After all have you heard Shit's latest record? It is great and MK is guest appearing...