review by Benoit

Do I need to say that it was a great show? Is it necessary to claim that Mark's voice was amazing this night? The hall was quite small, around 250 persons attended to the show. Sound and acoustics were really excellent. All the night was outstanding. The opening band Enemy played strong rock songs, which was perfect to introduce Mark. Unfortunately it was too short, they only played 4 or 5 tunes. A long time after they leaved the stage, Mark came in, obviously smoking. He was in a great mood, even joking sometimes about his old age or the noise in the crowd. The musicians were really into it, particularly Troy who is a great guitar player.They played certain songs heavily, especially the new ones. Because of This, On Jesus Program and the five new songs were truly highlights. At the end of Kimiko’s Dream House, Mark talked a bit about Jeffrey Lee Pierce, telling that it was a special tune for him.
Actually this is the best show I have ever seen. Thanks to Mark and the musicians.

Borracho, Message To Mine, One Way Street, Sleep With Me, Don't Forget Me, New Song, No Easy Action, Miracle, Creeping Coastline Of Lines, Death Don't Have No Mercy, Skeletal History, On Jesus Program, Because Of This/Hotel, I'll Take Care Of You, Metamphetamine Blues. Encore 1: Mockingbirds, She Done Too Much/River Rise, Clear Spot Encore 2: Kimiko's Dream House, Pill Hill Serenade.

review by Edwin

The place where he played looked really nice: wide stage, not too deep hall so no-one would be too far from the stage. According to the website, 'Orangerie' in Botanique has space for 1000 people, but I don't think that many people would fit in. The place was not crowded, just nicely filled (about 500 I guess). I just read a bunch of reviews of previous shows: I don't think there were many QOTSA-fans-that-did-not-know-Mark's-work around.

Who decides upon the music when no-one is playing at a concert? Here we had to listen to some rap-guy who had listened too much Ice-T: the f**k's and motherf****'s nearly made me sick. Then the support act came up. Must admit that I'd never heard of them. They rocked, but Troy (singer/guitarist) wasn't really singing, it was more screaming. They only played half an hour or so, so we were wondering why it was so short. After having heard many, many, many more f**k's and motherf****'s, the band and Mark came up and it was clear why the support act played so short: both the guitarist and the bassist were in Mark's band (wonder why the drummer wasn't there, as I liked how he played in the support act). Looked like a low budget show, which fitted perfectly in the dicussion I had with the guy, with whom I visited the show, before the show, about whether Mark (or his management, or Beggars Banquet) would make money out of such shows or would lose money.

It was the first time I saw Mark live but I was very eager to see him (as I had to go to Brussels, Belgium, coming from the Netherlands, to see him). Well, all the time and money invested was very very very much worth it: I enjoyed everything so much...

He kicked off with Borracho, which was great. Then another 'oldie' (One way street?), after which he played alternately new songs (i.e. from 'Here comes...') and old ones. I cannot, at this moment, reproduce the play list, but he played songs from every solo album (I loved Jesus' Program) and at least 4 songs from Weird Chill (Methamphetamine Blues, Clear Spot, Skeletal History (I think), Wish You Well (I think)). One thing I really liked was that nearly every song was just different from the album version: 'intimate' songs were played heavier, some 'heavier' songs were played more intimate. Methamphetamine Blues was really fantastic: it ROCKED!!! The crowd loved everything and were treated two encores, the first two songs of the first one being accoustic. I think Mark enjoyed playing, as he decided at the spot to play Kimiko's dreamhouse.

Maybe I'll be able to recall the play list, and be able to comment on some of the individual songs, but in general it was just fantastic. His appearance (how tall is this guy, 1.90m at least?), his voice, the fact that I was just 3 meters from him, everything...

Recently I read a review of one of Mark's solo-albums (Field Songs or Weird Chill) saying "unsurprisingly brilliant". I think this is a perfect description of this show.
Edwin