Mark Knopfler Live

Thanks to the generous gift of a set of tickets for my entire family (thank you! thank you!), we attended the Mark Knopfler concert at the Britt Music Festival this weekend.

Brothers in Arms was probably the first Dire Straits album I heard, but I remember a friend playing “Romeo and Juliet” and “Sultans of Swing” and soon after encountering Brothers in Arms I went back and picked up some earlier Dire Straits albums as well as a couple of Knopfler’s soundtrack recordings (Cal and The Princess Bride).  I think it was Jamie Soles who pointed me to Knopfler’s first solo album, Golden Heart, and since then I’ve picked up several of his subsequent albums.

So it was a great joy for me to take my family to Jacksonville, ride the trolley to the top of the hill, sit on a blanket with a perfect view of the stage (thanks to my mother-in-law who stood in line for hours to get a good spot for all of us!), eat cheese and bread and salami and chutney and drink wine (thanks to my glorious wife who prepared a picnic lunch for us), and then see Mark Knopfler in concert.

This was his Kill to Get Crimson tour, but instead of playing mainly new songs, he roamed through his repertoire.  Here are the set list and some YouTube videos, none of which are from the concert I saw, though they are from this current tour (the ones at the end are from the night before the concert I saw):

* “Cannibals” (from Golden Heart)

* “Why Aye Man” (from The Ragpicker’s Dream)

* “What It Is” (from Sailing to Philadelphia)

* “Sailing to Philadelphia” (from Sailng to Philadelphia)

* “True Love Will Never Fade” (from Kill to Get Crimson)

* “The Fish and the Bird” (from Kill to Get Crimson)

* “Hill Farmer’s Blues” (from The Ragpicker’s Dream)

* “Romeo and Juliet” (from Making Movies)

* “Sultans of Swing” (from Dire Straits)

* “Marbletown” (from The Ragpicker’s Dream)

* “Speedway at Nazareth” (from Sailing to Philadelphia)

* “Telegraph Road” (from Love Over Gold)

and

For the encore, he played

* “Brothers in Arms” (from Brothers in Arms)

* “Our Shangri-La” (from Shangri-La)

And after more cheering and a standing ovation, he came back and played

* “So Far Away” (from Brothers in Arms)

* “Going Home” (from Local Hero)

Knopfler is a great guitarist and in several of these songs he threw in longer solos than you’ll find on the albums.  It was a wonderful evening, made more wonderful by sharing it with friends and family.  We got home late, tired, and very satisfied.

 

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