Set list:
Broken Bones
Corned Beef City
Privateering
Father and Son
Hill Farmer's Blues
Skydiver
She's Gone
Your Latest Trick (Dire Straits song)
Romeo and Juliet (Dire Straits song)
Sultans of Swing (Dire Straits song)
Postcards from Paraguay
Marbletown
On Every Street (Dire Straits song)
Speedway at Nazareth
Encore
So Far Away (Dire Straits song)
Going Home: Theme from Local Hero
My two complaints - the show was relatively short (just under 2 hours from first notes to final walk off - including time between encores) and that there were few tunes from the latest album, "Tracker".
The opening tune, "Broken Bones" is frankly one of my least favorite from the new collection. It was a fitting opener, though. The song built up on its rhythm -sounding like a locomotive leaving the station until finally reaching cruising speed.
If you came expecting Dire Straits (any era or incarnation) or even a show of the tempo of some of Knopfler's latter tours you might have been a little disappointed. This wasn't my favorite Mark Knopfler show.
Having said all that, this was not a bad show. It was actually a very good show.
There were several deep or obscure songs. I've been a Knopfler/Dire Staits fan since the beginning and a few of them were out of my personal frame of reference. Several Dire Straits songs were thrown in for good measure. My favorite DS tunes were the two from "Love Over Gold" ("On Every Street", and "Your Latest Trick"). This was the album where the band peaked in terms of orchestration. They went from their 4 piece origins to a much bigger band with 2 keyboardists and a sax player.
I found it interesting that "Sultans of Swing" (the one tune you KNEW you were going to hear) was done in the 4 piece fashion. No keys, no sax, no Celtic instruments - everybody but Mark, the drummer, bassist and the rhythm player left the stage. The song was played the way it was recorded as opposed to the fully orchestrated versions heard on recent tours.
Great crowd, great venue and great show! I'd give it a 9.5 on a 1 to 10 rating system.
Thanks for the review. First tour I will miss out the last five.
I did order this recording so nice to know what to expect.
20 minutes ago the UPS man arrived at my door with Mark Knopfler's new release "Tracker", Warren's new album, "Ashes and Dust," and the new Los Lobos album "Gates of Gold." What to listen to first?
Hey Rusty! I saw Mark Sat and agree w/ your assessment. Only my 2d time seeing him, so did not have any expectations. I did look at some prior setlists so knew about what was coming. I agree w/ you that some more off Tracker would have been nice as I really like this record.
What I could not get over was the sheer number of instruments used during the show. The bagpipe was really cool, though this may have been my first time seeing that instrument at a concert!
Any idea of what the instrument was that looked like a 1/2 scale 12-string? Did not sound like a mando.
On Gear Slutz the consensus is that it is a cittern.
On Gear Slutz the consensus is that it is a cittern.
Well there's a new word for me. There were two of those used during the show that I figured were bouzoukis. But what I was referring to looked exactly like an acoustic guitar, just tiny.
I think it might have been a bouzouki. I've seen several folk/celtic/Pogues acts use them!
Thought continued - yeah, lots of strange stringed instruments were used. Ukelele looking things ... things that looked like 12 string ukeleles ... tenor mandolins ... Almost like a David Lindley show or something!
Look at about 10:50 for a good view of the instrument in question, held by the bearded guy:
Nice review Rusty. Would of loved for that to have been Mark Knopfler show #2 for me!
Blues Society had Roy Bookbinder house concert last weekend - not at my house. Was a first for me, too. Funny dude.
I caught the Knopfler show at the Warner in DC. It was a great show but not my favorite Knopfler performance. I had read some reviews from other cities and it didn't take me long to realize that, not only was the set list repeated, but Knopfler even said the same stuff night after night.
Don't get me wrong. The musicianship was stellar. The sound was great. I had a fantastic seat.
The magic that comes from improvisation was not in attendance.
Found a good site on stringed instruments: http://www.atlasofpluckedinstruments.com/n_america.htm
Instrument in question might be a taropatch
or a tiple
or maybe ... something else?
saw him in Albany a couple weeks ago...great musicianship...good show. Mark made several jokes about the ukulelee during the show that the keyboard player on stage left busted out for a few songs. I liked the few tracker songs he did include and echo I could have heard more. set list very similar to what was posted here....exact same dire straits tunes
I had to know! I sent an e-mail to Richard Bennet - the co-guitarist and player of some of the instruments in question asking about the various axes. He responded:
Rusty,
The 10-string instrument is indeed a Tiple, the smaller 4-string is a cavaquiho. The pipes are Iris Uillean pipes. I also played 2 Irish bouzoukis. The other lads played citterns.
Thanks for the kind words.
Richard
Found a good site on stringed instruments: http://www.atlasofpluckedinstruments.com/n_america.htm
Instrument in question might be a taropatch
or a tiple
or maybe ... something else?
Wow,thanks Rusty for the effort and your resourcefulness. Very cool that he would answer too.
