Queens Jubilee Concert

[Banjo99uk]

couldnt care less if MK's trendy or not, it would be cool to see him up there though.

[Simon]

The show is scheduled for 2 hours 30mins. Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones, Jools Holland plus those mentioned. Oh and JLS bring the average age of the performers down to 70!

MK will never be considered nor would he want to muscle in - what has he got to gain from it and what can he give by taking part?

He is not an extra or a bit-part player. He is who he is. I would actually be horrified if he took part. What exactly is it? A celebration of the Queens 60 years. There is no musical significance in this and those attending the gig, the majority will not give two hoots as to why it is being staged - they will be more interested in who they are seeing on the stage.

The Queen has no connection to music so its a bit of a 'wheel out the oldies yet again' for their pension fund type affair am afraid. Anythign to boost sales in my opinion and for GB to beccome even more popular than God.

[superval99]

Also mentioned are Alfie Boe, Lang Lang and some ballet dancers, for the classical touch!   I think it will be just a bit of this and a bit of that, like the Royal Variety Performance.   There just isn't enough time for anything in depth.   

[Jackal]

I'd bet Mark's thoughts on it all are similar to Bill Bailey's thoughts on the Proms ... Go to 5:45:

 

[Simon]

And Gary Barlow says he wants to meet every act on his shopping list to give them that 'feel needed' touch. He is going to the USA to grab a few groups etc. too. Can you imagine him going all that way, finding these bands/persons, hoisting them across to the UK for them to perform for probably no more than 5 mins?

Like Val says - there will be no depth to it - it will be like Live Aid condensed into a matchbox and with just the highlights of the highlights put in there.

I cannot imagine the Queen sitting through it either. I am sure someone will benefit from it thoguh i.e. charities via the TV rights and the 10,000 'lucky' ticket holders (thats 1 in every 6,000 members of the British public). Quite a celebration! Wonder what the other 5,999 people for every one person that attends will be doing:-) or should that be the other 59,990,000 citizens/taxpayers/supporters of the monarchy:-)

[Jules]

Since the very first moment, I thought that MK wont be involved in this, probably because he

[vgonis]

We had at least two princess trust concerts, Liveaid, Mandela, Knebworth and Montserrat and we loved them all. He was always played following his age, so I don't expect him doing the duck walk, but it is going to be memorable, if he plays at all. But really, the handkerchiefs was a brilliant act! (I am talking about the video Jackal posted!)

[twm]

I have a great deal of respect for Bill Bailey. Quite apart from his comedic ablities and sharp wit, he is an excellent musician. Though known mainly for his rock music interests and tendencies, he is in fact classically trained, having attended the London College of Music. Prior to this, he had been a pupil at a private school, by the way. He is obviously well-qualified to criticise "middle class" classical music fans.

I disagree with him about the Last Night of the Proms. I've never attended and only occasionally catch it on TV but it is intended to be a light-hearted evening, with these funny little "traditions" built up over the years. It does changed a bit over time and, occasionally, it reflects the national mood. The one immediately after 9/11 was more sombre than usual, for example. The first part of the evening can be reasonably straightforward, in a classical music sense, but it is in the second part that the "jollity" begins.  

When I was young, I think you could get tickets on a ballot basis but, even if my memory is right, I think you can only get tickets for the Last Night of the Proms nowadays if you have bought tickets for previous Prom concerts. I forget the number of tickets you have to have bought beforehand but it is something like half-a-dozen. I have once attended the First Night of the Proms (many, many years ago) and my memory is that I got these in an open ballot.

I have no idea what MK thinks of the Last Night of the Proms but maybe he should operate the same ticketing system for the last night of his Royal Albert Hall concerts - you can only get a ticket if you've attended, say, four other shows on the UK tour. That way, only the hardened fans would be there on the last night and MK could really let rip, knowing that he didn't have to pander to his audience because they'd be willing to go anywhere he cared to take them. Now that could be fun - instead of another routine evening. He could pull out the more obscure songs that aren't often done live; he could try out new songs, even not quite finished ones; he could bring on all sorts of additional performers (old friends, new friends, a classical quartet or choir and so on); he could play the new album straight through from the opening track to the end; he could have a section playing the songs that influenced him when young; he could do a solo guitar section; he could have a bit of audience participation; there are many possibilities. And don't tell me that all you true MK fans wouldn't like that! Another side of Mark Knopfler! You'd love it. It would be fun.

[Love Expresso]

Really great idea! Love it! But as far as I am able to judge MK's way in doing these things, I would think that this project would only make sense to him at his VERY VERY LAST show - last night of the mark - and it would indeed be a great idea. Would be interesting to see how fast these tickets would go away... I think the RAH nights are some sort like a melting pot for MK die hard fans... 5000 die hard fans are not going without saying, aren't they?

LE

[vgonis]

twm, I fancy your idea. But I see at least two flaws. First of all, new songs, just to be played with a shred of decency need rehearsals. No matter how good the musicians are, they have to devote a great deal of time, rehearsing. When they play the songs night after night it is a sort of rehearsal, so there is a sort of problem performing songs for the first time on a special gig, after a series of concerts.
Then, it is a matter of capacity. Many fans would buy tickets for many shows, just to have the chance to attend the final show, but as many would be left out. You can't expect a first come-first served logic to work. After all we are talking fans, so no logic at all!    
I saw Ray Davies while on tour in the late 1990ies, playing acoustic versions of his songs and reading passages from his then, new book. The attendance was disappointing low, because fans come in many degrees. The die-hard fans that are ready to hear really hard to understand stuff from their favourite artist, are not that many.

[Simon]

And you forget that a tour is to get the music out to as many people as possible - not the same ones each night. if i was an artist i would get sick of seeing the same folk turn up. I would want to play to the masses not the minority. The same fans watching are not going to buy the albums 4 or 5 times over to make up for the artists loss in mechanical sales.

By bringing in more performers and 'odd friends' costs money - firends believe it or not, in the music business, do not do things for free (I don't mean they don't do charity work I mean if they are going to perform for a performer who is getting paid they want to be paid too - simple economics). A choir or classical quartet are not going to take too kindly to playing against the backdrop of unrehearsed songs either.

And if Mark wanted to play obscure/forgotten songs i think he would play them anyway. He just doesn't want to which is why we get sometimes the same boring routine of the usual suspects in each of his shows with the order hardly varied at all. As per the last bar of R&J followed quickly by 'tsk tsk tsk crash' (cymbal  sounds) SofS:-)

Just my thoughts :-)

[vgonis]

Simon, I mostly agree with what you say, but the "regular" fan is almost a tradition in rock, and many rock acts count on them visiting again and again as a basis for their tours. As for the "buying albums" quote, see at your CD stack. Don't you have some of MK's CDs twice or three times, even if they have minor differences? I know I have!  After all, only the big acts with massive sales make money from the sale of their records.

[JF]

As per the last bar of R&J followed quickly by 'tsk tsk tsk crash' (cymbal  sounds) SofS:-)

yes, but there's one time when the 'tsk tsk tsk crash' was played BEFORE Romeo & Juliet : at the Mandela concert 

to my knowledge, it's the only time where Sultans was played before Romeo, and at the 2nd place !
the 'tsk tsk tsk crash' just after end chord of Walk of life very unsual !
That's what (among many other things) makes this gig so special   


and of course until 92, the 'tsk tsk tsk crash'  was just after end chords of Private Investigations (or News in 80/81) not Romeo & Juliet 

Even if he don't want to play other tunes, I'd like if he would sometimes change the setlist order.
imagine :
SFA, Sultans or MFN as opener 
BIA as the "last" tune of the show, and then TR as the encore,

or another idea :
acoutic set as opener (like Bruce did in 93), and then the whole band for electric set

Well I know I'm dreaming, but at least it would be a little bit a "compensation" to no other songs we all want to hear

[twm]

I acknowledge two things: that MK is unlikely ever to do what I propose (I don't think he's wired that way) and that it would not be a straightforward enterprise.

In terms of the latter, part of the whole thing would be that it could be looser than his regular concerts. Sometimes, when musicians attempt the unusual, it doesn't always come together exactly right but that is part of the fun. It may not be the slick, well-rehearsed show we're used to but musicians winging it a bit, showing other aspects of their craft and skill - and, indeed, other aspect of their personality and artistry - would really grab my interest. And probably my admiration, too, but I come from a jazz background originally. Musicians guesting in an ad hoc way, without prior rehearsal, was commonplace, one could even say it was the essence of the performance. I'm sure these guys do a lot of mucking around and mucking in together when there is no audience, so it should be possible to do it in public with only the slightest amount bit of pre-work. Let them fly, say I! 

As for the other musicians being paid, it could be a charity concert and neither payment nor intensive prior rehearsal would be required. I seem to recall attending a (charity?) show in Beaulieu, at my wife's behest. I don't know the precise circumstances (it was a kind of DS/MK/NHB combined show, as I recall, and very enjoyable) but, was all that show rehearsed in full in advance? You lot will know better than I.

It would be the end of a tour. It would be amongst friends. It would be in front of friends (well, in front of a well-disposed audience anyway). It would be a fun thing. It would give regular fans something a bit different. It could raise a large sum of money for charity. The tour would end with a bang, not a whimper. The musicians would go off stage with huge smiles on their faces, having pulled it off. And it would as memorable for them as for us.

[Simon]

Mandela was DS though and thats the difference i think. It is pure MK now. And it was also a short set to an audience who came to see many other bands so he had to get SOS in quick to keep peoples heads up.