Seems some of us are in the same mood - I was also thinking about the tour and tried to rank it within my very own MK scale...
-The concerts I attended were great, and London 27.05. probably came close to the most "surreal" experience from all my concerts so far. There was some magic at that venue and at that place that night (for me), hardly to describe. Could just be because of dead center first row, but that sort of thing is hard to describe anyway. All I know is that the recording doesn't reflect that for me - it would be just another one for me if I only knew the recording. That's the thing about "live experience"... And that should be the most important thing. Multi-concertgoers like Ingrid or Pottel or Knopflerized would probably agree in the fact that there is no need in talking too much about it but experience it live instead. But as it is a forum and the tour is over, why not?
-Set list wise I have some things on my mind.. maybe other thoughts than the most common ones. For me, the shows end after "Speedway". To be honest I cannot stand the way they play TR these days.. it is butchered to death in my opinion. Karaoke modus still there, and Mark's way to pronounce the lyrics
(""yeah and they say, we gonna have to reap thats been sowed...") is hard to bear for me, and only because of a maybe great solo I can't say I like a song or not. Brothers, So Far, Our Shangri-La and even this years' PTTE are all songs that I hardly ever listen to because I don't like the 2013 renditions at all..
- So I can judge the set lits in two halfs - first one is expectionally good, the first 4, 5 songs were always the same and I think it is right that way because they fit very well together. Father & Son is the big surprise for me and I love it, even though Mark does everything to destroy the magic with his guitar playing on this one
some times. I wonder why nobody ever spoke about how often he plays very false and wrong on this one, whereas John and Mike are really shining here. It sounds as if Mark's guitar on this one is too battered and out of tune to deliever the right performance most of the time... Don't kill me, that's just what I think.
-Hill Farmer's Blues was better in 2010, not one single performance that I heard so far via YouTube and recordings can outshine some of the 2010 versions.
-When the best Kingdom Of Gold for me is the first one from Turin (I think?), I obviously disagree here with Isaac's opinion that this song is getting better and better. For me, Mark never reached the same brilliance of that first 2013 performance, but I do not know all versions. But it might be a hint for him playing it not that much.
-Marbletown is definitely too long - 2010 was more dramatic. Some versions I heard are really great of course (Prague), but it seemed to me like giving Mark's wrists a break for 15 minutes before the big soloing songs Speedway and TR are coming up...
-Biggest issue for me about 2013 concerts in general: The "emotions" are somewhat missing... When I listen to my favourite 2010 versions, WII, STP and PTTE are really giving me goosebumps because Mark (together with Danny) reached really highest emotional touches for me. 2013 Haul Away comes to mind, Romeo & Juliet sometimes, but that's it. Corned Beef City, Gator Blood, I Used To Could are good songs, in fact two of them are my album favourites, but live they are just rhythm and somewhat cool and cold, good to bring some variation to the set but not songs to listen to and wallow in after hundreds of listenings..
-All Sultans versions were not as good as some of the 2010 versions for me - and it is no big deal to drop this one because it cannot get any better obviously. Milan stands out for me, and although I experienced Sultans in Bremen and London as very great live power songs, the recordings somehow dont do it for me. Sounds strange maybe, but true. The way Sultans is played 2013 would mean no great loss for me if skipped forever - same as with TR by the way.
-Ian Thomas is definitely a better drummer than Danny - technically and variationwise. Still I am not 100% convinced whereas Danny's playing never left any doubts for me. Again, Piper 2010 (for example Locarno, or STP from the same show) shows so much empathy with Mark which Ianto never had.
-Biggest joy and biggest surprise for me the rendition of 5:15 A.M. Even in my wildest dreams I would really hever have expected him to play this gem live. If anything else falls apart, this is still the biggest positive thing.
- Mark himself: Photography and filming didn't seem to bother him that much this time which is a sign of a very relaxed and friendly attidude. His voice was good in general (not always THAT good... breathless at times), but better than 2010. He looks better, too, slimmer and just more into it. Very promising for future tours to come.
Very long post: Pottel would proabably say (and in fact, has already) put it in one short sentence as usual "best tour for ages. Period". But as this thread asks for it, I thought some more elaborated thoughts would be fit well.
So conclusion: The live concerts experiences made it clear for me that next time around, I will attend MORE shows than this year's three. But for the pure repertoire virtue, some other shows from former years defended their place as my all-time-favourites, and yes, Locarno 2010 is still among them!
But it will be great to put together a list of gems seldomly played in 2013 maybe one day!
So, where is the darned suncream now...
LE
