I enjoyed the second Cologne concert very much. In fact I was glad that the set list included many of the recent TD tunes. I think TD has never been better than in the last 8 - 9 years.
TD has always been Edgar's baby. For live shows he has a bunch of great musicians around him. Just think of Iris' powerful percussion, Linda's flute and sax solos or Hoshiko's violin melodies (Logos was just stunning with her contribution). And Thorsten is a skilled keyboard player (and don't forget, some of the finest compositions in recent years were his, just like the great concert finale "The Silver Boots Of Bartlett Green"). That IS a great band.
I love every piece of music TD produced since 2005, just as much or even more than the music from the 70's or 80's.