Concertgebouw
We entered the Grote Zaal around 7 pm and the atmosphere captured us immediately. Strange metallic sounds like as if giant tubular bells would crash into one another came creeping out of the speakers from differed arbitrary directions stimulating our appetite. It made a perfect match with the visual impression of the pipe organ. The band began at 8 pm and played an incredible program for nearly 3h. Larks Tongues IV was outstanding. I am very happy to have heard the Lizard suite full blown and a lovely Moonchild.
We sat in 4th row right in front of Gavin and were able to observe his virtuosity in detail. What has been written here about sound problems matches rather well what I have heard from a friend of mine who attended the Munich concert on July 17th. He sat on the balcony as well. In contrast my sonic experience in front of the stage was very good. I was able to differentiate well between the three drums even at climaxing parts. This is probably because a great amount of the sound I received came directly from the drums on stage and not so much from the PA or the reverb of the concert hall. I suspect the Concertgebouw is soundwise not very neutral generating a considerable amount of response which is likely not easy to handle.
The concept of having three drums worked out pretty well for me. I love to observe the interaction of the characters, how they split tasks and how they pass the balls to one another (e.g. Indiscipline). - After the show we were kind of exhausted and very much satisfied. A deep experience that I will live on for a long time!