31.05.2006 10:12    Brigitte Schöfböck - Austria
Review: My husband and I flew in especially for the concert from Vienna, Austria. Since we are great fans of both Mark and Emmylou (if you don't know her most recent albums "Red Dirt Girl" and "Stumble Into Grace", do yourself a favor and get them both), we already had booked tickets and a flight when the tour was first announced early this year. As expected, the concert was more than worth the trip. The conditions were perfect for us: Center seats in the lower middle block (row 9), generally great acoustics at the Color Line Arena and a mostly mature audience (I'd estimate from 45 upwards) that was both astoundingly attentive - you could virtually hear the proverbial needle drop during quieter songs - and appreciative. Beforehand, I bought not one but TWO t-shirts (and the tourbook, of course) at the merchandise stall; I'd have loved to buy them all as they all looked cool, but that would have been a little too expensive. As for the show itself, it was all that we expected, and even more. Mark and Emmy harmonize so incredibly well you could think that they have been playing together forever, and it was pure joy to listen to their incredible duets live. Emmylou's solo songs gave us chills; in particular the wonderful "Michelangelo" off her excellent album "Red Dirt Girl" (the title track of which was also played later on). Something we both noticed was the significant improvement of Mark's voice; particularly notable in an outstanding version of "Romeo And Juliet". Having read the Brussels setlist prior to leaving for Hamburg, I was a tad disappointed that there were Dire Straits songs in the setlist yet again, but as it turned out, they worked great - most of all the final encore, "Why Worry", which (with Emmylou taking lead vocals) was just magical. It also was great to hear "All That Matters" and "Our Shangri La", which we unfortunately didn't get during Mark's Vienna concert last year. What else can I say? Oh yeah, the band of course was great, too - all top musicians who obviously love to play and have a lot of fun on stage. There are hardly enough superlatives to describe what we saw and heard Sunday night in the outskirts of Hamburg...anybody who is going to see a show on this tour can look forward to an unforgettable, outstanding and SUBLIME concert experience!!