Back home again now - sorry for the short post last night. I'm feeling more alert now!
Last night I was so proud and thankful to be a Knopfler fan. The band and Mark played an amazing set and Mark seemed to be in a very happy and relaxed mood. His voice was very strong and I loved the two new songs! Actually on thinking of Haul Away, it reminded me of a track from one of Liam O'Flynn's albums, possibly from The Given Note (I'll find it when I have time) and it sounded really beautiful! BTW Mark's sound was perfect and, of course, no ear-plugs were needed!
One of the things that stuck in my mind was when Mark thanked Mr Bob for inviting him to tour with him and it sounded so touching, I could have cried! It would have been lovely, therefore, if Bob had also mentioned Mark being on tour with him somewhere in his part of the show, but no such luck - it was as though Mark and the band just never existed!
Anyway at the end of Mark's set there was lots of applause and a standing ovation! I'm sure they were well received!
I think the audience at the MEN was very much more leaning in the Dylan direction! As soon as Dylan entered the stage, the whole arena was on its feet and an altogether more enthusiastic vibe ensued! Regarding running of the bulls - a crowd of people rushed to the rail during the interval, but they were told in no uncertain terms by security that they had to return to their seats, which they did after a lot of argument, but did return later in the show!
It was quite obvious, when the band started to play that the sound was way, way too loud and when Bob began to sing it was ear-splitting! We had brought ear-plugs and so had Isaac and we all used them - I don't intend to get impaired hearing listening to Dylan! lol! I had absolutely no idea what the first few songs were - I couldn't hear the words and even though I wore ear-plugs, the sound was still far too loud! The first song I recognised was Things Have Changed and I did enjoy that one, as well as Simple Twist of Fate and Bob played some nice guitar solo. However, Tangled up in Blue (one of my favourite Bob songs) I didn't recognise at all until nearly the end when I just about made out the title. From then on everything just sounded the same! Same tempo, same key, in fact it might just as well have been the same song throughout the evening!
For the encore LARS and AATWT! By then I felt that some of the guitars in the band were well out of tune and sounded like a lot of crashing wrong notes! AATWT was terrible!
Behind us there were people shouting all the time "Bobby, Bobby, look at me, I'm here!" over and over again! Of course Bobby didn't look at them or, indeed take any notice whatsoever of anyone, including the audience, who he didn't interact with or acknowledge at all!
When we arrived back at the hotel, there were a lot of people there from the concert, who were long-time BD fans and they were irate! One woman said she was gutted, because she couldn't hear him because of the sound and also she didn't like the fact that he stayed behind the organ for too long! The rest also agreed, but interestingly they all said how great Mark's set had been, which was really nice to hear! In fact when we were filing out of the venue, I asked one of the officials if he had enjoyed the show and he said yes, but that Bob's sound was far too loud! He then added that Mark's sound was just about perfect and why couldn't Bob's sound guy's do that too!
For me, I think Bob has a very good band, but the sound has to be right! Mark and Bob's band are chalk and cheese. Mark, is very exposed - he is on his own basically and any even minor mistake is obvious - there is no wall of sound to hide behind as there is in Bob's band!
Anyway, I have given Bob a chance and I doubt very much if I will see him again. Certainly my husband won't see him again - he was pretty much fed up with the whole thing! He thought Bob and the band were a firm of undertakers - because of their dress! LOL!
S. A. B. E. N. A
