Ok, here we go. A little review about a strange yet very nice evening.
Row 4, a bit too far to the left (I did expect just a little bit better from MK.com)
The MK Set
Why Aye Man
This tour have I prefered What it is as an opener to this one, as he plays that one better than in years.
An unconcentrated MK fumbling out the first verse. Still, quite good and better than two last tours.
Cleaning my Gun
Finally, fixed to the setlist. Why the hell wasn't it last year?
Sailing to Philadelphia
I always thought of this song as a kinda boring concert song. But after this eve I have to take it back. Fabulous stuff.
The Hill Farmer's Blues
Good, as always.
Privateering
THIS is music. MK enjoyed playing it.
Song for Sonny Liston
First tour standing up and it's for sure a cool song. A lot actually enjoyed it.
Haul Away
Beautiful.
Marbletown
A song that have managed to become better from album, to the first tour, to the second and to peak at this one. Amazing interaction between the guys and their instruments. A lot of people really liked it.
Brothers in Arms
What can I say? To this date this song still works amazingly well. And the audience likes it. First standing ovation.
Speedway at Nazareth
Blown away. Another one which has become better from tour to tour. When Richard enters with the Les Paul I don't really know what to do.
So Far Away
Good I guess. Quite boring, yet much better than KTGC tour or last one for that matter.
The Dylan Set
I don't know what you guys talk about? Dylan was really good and sang well, mostly (except for the three last). This is of course a subjective thought, but I think MK really improved Dylan's performance during the songs they did together. Also really nice to see where really MK belongs - not in the spotlight. And neither on autopilot, where he unfortunately tends to go. Good band, Bob was fun to watch (what a fox!), Charlie Sexton (sounds like a porn star) was whipping his hair back and forth throughout the concert, everthing was fine. I smiled many times when Dylan played his organ. It looked and sounded like he thought "I have no clue what the hell I'm doing - But I love it!".
Well, not everything was fine. The audience were the strangest thing I've ever seen. Mostly BD fans, what it seemed like. What I tought during and right after MK's set was that I felt a bit sorry for MK and the band. Well, they did get applauses and stuff and at least one and a half standing ovation, but over all, the audience sucked big time. But this is just half of the story. I imagined these people were just waiting for their "one and only" Bob Dylan. That wasn't the case. In the end, Mark Knopfler and the band got way more feedback from the crowd than Dylan did! And in this big golf ball were 85 % BD fans. Still, it was a boring crowd and I hope we didn't scared them away for future tours. And I can't desist from being a little sad about Bob Dylan after the last song when he said good bye and leaved in hurry to very little feedback.
Summary
If Privateering and Haul Away are songs to expect for the next album we can be very happy. It's highly possible it will be better than GL.
MK's improved in singing and guitar playing a lot from KTGC tour.
Ian Thomas is better than Danny. I like changes.
McGoldrick and McCusker are two amazing musicians.
I can see why the uninitiated think that MK looks tired and unhappy. But I think those things shows in different ways than from a smile in his case. Of course he likes what he's doing, otherwise he wouldn't record and tour in this scale.
Bob Dylan must be the coolest cat that walks the earth.
