Roarzine.com review of Tivoli concert. In the end of last year we had to make a list of favorites. One of the questions was what the best show of 2004 was. Without any doubt I’d written Alter Bridge @ Melkweg on there. This was absolutely one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. Such a great live band. About 6 months later, Alter Bridge is back in Europe and there are 2 live shows planned in the Netherlands. One show in Utrecht (Tivoli) and the other in Tilburg (013) and I absolutely didn’t want to miss one of those shows, so I went to Tivoli to check them out. No real show goes without a support act, and for the show in Utrecht Land of Airplanes was called if they want to support Alter Bridge. Land of Airplanes is a Dutch band and finds its homebase in Almere, and funny enough.. that’s where I’m from! So it was kind of cool for me to see them perform at such a packed club. Land of Airplanes had about 30 minutes of playtime and they filled that 30 minutes with songs that are definitely ‘unique’. Land of Airplanes’ sound isn’t comparable with any other’s style and it’s always cool to see (new) bands that are adding something new to ‘the scene’. They pleased me, but as you see so many times it didn’t seem to please the crowd that came here especially for the main act. So, on to the main act, Alter Bridge. First impression was that this show was even better than the show in Amsterdam 6 months ago. But okay.. it’s true that the show in Amsterdam was one of their first shows ever! (in the formation of Alter Bridge) And that they now have already played a lot of sold out avenues ever since. Tonight’s show was sold out as well. The cash register at Tivoli only had 7 tickets left to sell, at the date of the event. The waiting line told us that those 7 tickets were going to be sold for sure! Just like last time in Amsterdam, there were already people waiting from early in the afternoon for the doors to open. So back to the show. Alter Bridge has only one album out there, which isn’t longer than 45 minutes. So how to fill up a show? Just play some covers/medleys in between your own songs. Covers? Man.. that’s lame. Well, not if your guitar player listens to the name Mark Tremonti. His way of handling his guitar and adding solos to the songs is just awesome. Alter Bridge played songs of their debut record like ‘Find The Real’, ‘Shed My Skin’, ‘Broken Wings’, and opener ‘One Day Remains’. After Alter Bridge came back on stage to do an encore featuring the songs ‘In Loving Memory’ (acoustic) and their first single ‘Open Your Eyes’. I already know now, that this show is going to be listed at my ‘best of 2005’ list. And fortunately.. Alter Bridge is going to be back really soon for the Fields of Rock festival in June. Rock fans! Go and check them out!