My MMJ Week Review

[Tomer]

Well, it's been a hell of a week. I arrived from Israel for the Manchester, London & Amsterdam shows. Came back Friday night, now got the time to write some about it.

I've been waiting 4 years to see them again, since my first show back in 2011, also in Manchester. First night at The Ritz was cool. I met Jim, Tom and Carl before show. Then inside I met some of the people here. We were a tight group up front. It was great meeting ya all. Erica, Sarah, Mark, Jessica and all the rest of you. I'm sorry, it's hard to remember all the names.

Highlights at The Ritz for me were The Dark, Masterplan (was so into it!), Dandonte into Lay Low and Bermuda Highway. it was also cool to see all the songs from The Waterfall live for the first time. Especially Spring & Tropics back to back. Those two are my favorites live from the album. Just awesome.

Post-show me, Erica and Jessica stayed around until 2am. Had a chat with Dusty at the pub in front of the venue and talked more to Boe, Carl and Tom (he's the nicest guy ever).

Off to London...My 11th time in Shepherd's Bush Empire. I was Erica's plus one on the early entrance, thank you for that (and also thanks Sarah for the plus one in Amsterdam!). Again, a lot of energies up front. Highlights were At Dawn into In It's Infancy, the massive trip of Evil Urges --> Steam Engine --> Only Memories, amazing version of Mahgeetah, and Dancefloors at the encore that got us all excited. After some post-show drinks at the Brewdog I said goodbye to couple clsoe friends of mine who share the show with me as well. They were going back to Berlin. I was off to Amsterdam to the final night of my mini-tour.

The Paradiso was another familiar ground for me from traveling to concerts in Europe. Love that place, always good. Setlist of the night was mixed with alot of the news songs + oldies. They played 8 from The Waterfall and 6 from Tennessee Fire & At Dawn. Those 6 were my highlights. Starting with Heartbreakin' Man, a beautiful take on They Ran, Lowdown, The Way That He Sings, epic Phone Went West and the simple beauty of Hopefully to end the set. After the show I talked to Tom about it, and he said they always feel those early songs in Holland, because it was the first place outside the US they played and invited to, in the beginning. That early first european tour when they were unknown...

It was a pleasure meeting all you people and share the music. I'm so happy I swas able to do this short trip and seeing the 3 shows. They left me satisfied, but also hungry for more...Was happy to meet new friends and meet old friends. Got three setlists to remind me of this (thanks to Dusty, Rocky and the guys) and more stories for the rest of my life.

Thank you for the band and everybody for sharing the ride. Hope to see ya again in the near future.

- Tomer

"Dance floors, headlights
In my blood there's gasoline
For an urban boy on a dirty tour
I never felt so clean"

[LBSUNFLWR]

so awesome!!!!

[parkervb]

 

[mahg33ta]

nice photos

[APR]

That is awesome Tomer.  Great shows, cities, fun meeting up with fans, meeting the band too.... can't get much better than that.

It has been rare for me to see shows outside of the U.S.  I don't really count OBH, but experiences in Canada were amazing.   And I caught two shows in the mid 90s in Israel.  Europe and South America are on my list of places to see a favorite band or two.... I've heard the crowds and the vibes are different, and that's something I'm curious to witness. 

[MarkW]

Great to meet you too, Tomer.  I wish I could've made it to Amsterdam also, but it just wasn't possible.

[Tomer]

That is awesome Tomer.  Great shows, cities, fun meeting up with fans, meeting the band too.... can't get much better than that.

It has been rare for me to see shows outside of the U.S.  I don't really count OBH, but experiences in Canada were amazing.   And I caught two shows in the mid 90s in Israel.  Europe and South America are on my list of places to see a favorite band or two.... I've heard the crowds and the vibes are different, and that's something I'm curious to witness. 

Cool. What did you see in Israel?

Great to meet you too, Tomer.  I wish I could've made it to Amsterdam also, but it just wasn't possible.

you too, Mark! And everyone. Will let you know next time I'm coming to Manchester for a game :)

[Fully]

Glad you had such a great run!  Nice photos and write up!

[APR]

That is awesome Tomer.  Great shows, cities, fun meeting up with fans, meeting the band too.... can't get much better than that.

It has been rare for me to see shows outside of the U.S.  I don't really count OBH, but experiences in Canada were amazing.   And I caught two shows in the mid 90s in Israel.  Europe and South America are on my list of places to see a favorite band or two.... I've heard the crowds and the vibes are different, and that's something I'm curious to witness. 

Cool. What did you see in Israel?

Great to meet you too, Tomer.  I wish I could've made it to Amsterdam also, but it just wasn't possible.

you too, Mark! And everyone. Will let you know next time I'm coming to Manchester for a game :)

Bob Dylan and Metallica (separately of course).  Neither are my favorite acts by any means but I like them both to an extent.  I just wanted to see a concert, experience the crowd in a new place.  And I'm very glad I did.  The scene in both shows were quite different than shows in the U.S.

Crowd was going crazy and lit a couple small fires during Metallica (black album tour).  Chairs were present for Bob Dylan but very light and not bolted down.  You could move them anywhere you wanted.  Neither of those scenarios have I ever witnessed before or since.

JJ guitar pick also.... man that's all good stuff for your Europe run. 

[Tomer]

I was at that Dylan show few years back. Both this and the Metallica one were held in a really shity places for concerts here (Heard the sound at the Metallica show was really bad as well). It's better to see small shows here in some small nice venues that we got.

But cool you were experience it here. Crowd in Israel is really into it, because not many big artists come here to play. A lot of performers and bands are aslways saying how they love the crowd after playing here.

[APR]

I was at that Dylan show few years back. Both this and the Metallica one were held in a really shity places for concerts here (Heard the sound at the Metallica show was really bad as well). It's better to see small shows here in some small nice venues that we got.

But cool you were experience it here. Crowd in Israel is really into it, because not many big artists come here to play. A lot of performers and bands are aslways saying how they love the crowd after playing here.

I saw those shows back in 1993.  Both outdoors and very memorable.  Dylan in Haifa.  Metallica at Hayarkon Park. 

[Tomer]

I was at that Dylan show few years back. Both this and the Metallica one were held in a really shity places for concerts here (Heard the sound at the Metallica show was really bad as well). It's better to see small shows here in some small nice venues that we got.

But cool you were experience it here. Crowd in Israel is really into it, because not many big artists come here to play. A lot of performers and bands are aslways saying how they love the crowd after playing here.

I saw those shows back in 1993.  Both outdoors and very memorable.  Dylan in Haifa.  Metallica at Hayarkon Park. 

Oh, ok. thought there were the ones in recent years. cool.