Going Home again

[2manyguitars]

OK, I think we all agree that Mark isn't as fleet-fingered as he used to be, due to age and who knows if there's some arthritis or other stuff going on. The cold certainly doesn't help. Then there's the fact that he has done it all, several times over, so to expect him to be really excited to perform and pour a ton of emotions into his playing, well, we might have to adjust our expectations. We certainly can't blame him for any of this. I'm guessing, he probably could practice more guitar to keep his chops up, but if he's not really into it, then what's the point. The guitar hero thing is old hat to him anyway.

Welcome to the cold party 

I don't necessarily think he's bored in any way, I'm just wondering if he regards the way he used to play certain things as pretentious and unnecessary. There's no doubt that since the end of DS he's been on a journey towards simplification, 'less chords' as he once put it. Maybe we're just witnessing the end game of said process....

What do you think Hunter?

[hunter]

OK, I think we all agree that Mark isn't as fleet-fingered as he used to be, due to age and who knows if there's some arthritis or other stuff going on. The cold certainly doesn't help. Then there's the fact that he has done it all, several times over, so to expect him to be really excited to perform and pour a ton of emotions into his playing, well, we might have to adjust our expectations. We certainly can't blame him for any of this. I'm guessing, he probably could practice more guitar to keep his chops up, but if he's not really into it, then what's the point. The guitar hero thing is old hat to him anyway.

Welcome to the cold party 

I don't necessarily think he's bored in any way, I'm just wondering if he regards the way he used to play certain things as pretentious and unnecessary. There's no doubt that since the end of DS he's been on a journey towards simplification, 'less chords' as he once put it. Maybe we're just witnessing the end game of said process....

What do you think Hunter?

No, I don't think he's totally bored with it all. Then he would just stop performing altogether. But it's quite obvious when his heart is not 100% into things. About how he views his playing, he has said that he feels he was trying too hard before, especially in the early days. He may have meant his singing too, which also was more aggressive then.


Otherwise I do indeed think we are witnessing the end game, so to speak. Kind of like a slow fade. I'm not sure we'll hear any of the big guitar songs again. You can't really simplify Sultans or Telegraph Road. Once Upon A Time In The West worked somehow, but the feeling was kind of bitter sweet. But I respect Mark for scaling back like this, adjusting things to his current conditions. It means he will go out with dignity.

[2manyguitars]

OK, I think we all agree that Mark isn't as fleet-fingered as he used to be, due to age and who knows if there's some arthritis or other stuff going on. The cold certainly doesn't help. Then there's the fact that he has done it all, several times over, so to expect him to be really excited to perform and pour a ton of emotions into his playing, well, we might have to adjust our expectations. We certainly can't blame him for any of this. I'm guessing, he probably could practice more guitar to keep his chops up, but if he's not really into it, then what's the point. The guitar hero thing is old hat to him anyway.

Welcome to the cold party 

I don't necessarily think he's bored in any way, I'm just wondering if he regards the way he used to play certain things as pretentious and unnecessary. There's no doubt that since the end of DS he's been on a journey towards simplification, 'less chords' as he once put it. Maybe we're just witnessing the end game of said process....

What do you think Hunter?

No, I don't think he's totally bored with it all. Then he would just stop performing altogether. But it's quite obvious when his heart is not 100% into things. About how he views his playing, he has said that he feels he was trying too hard before, especially in the early days. He may have meant his singing too, which also was more aggressive then.


Otherwise I do indeed think we are witnessing the end game, so to speak. Kind of like a slow fade. I'm not sure we'll hear any of the big guitar songs again. You can't really simplify Sultans or Telegraph Road. Once Upon A Time In The West worked somehow, but the feeling was kind of bitter sweet. But I respect Mark for scaling back like this, adjusting things to his current conditions. It means he will go out with dignity.

Well said.

[Kris-b]

Getting away from his playing, I wondered if Mark used the opportunity to look at all those wonderful old cars. Or did Corona prevent this.
Looking at the longer video again I just realized that Mark featured in the tribute video for one second!

[quizzaciously]

Getting away from his playing, I wondered if Mark used the opportunity to look at all those wonderful old cars. Or did Corona prevent this.
Looking at the longer video again I just realized that Mark featured in the tribute video for one second!

There's so many opportunities apart from guitar hero status and playing tours. Mark just did a whole radio show, maybe he'll jump into some talking game or book game, which I hope for very much. I never understood that panic need of guitar playing or touring or going to shows and any panic need really. If you can't do it, just do something else, it's not the end of the world. And nobody understands it more than MK! Last tour he seemingly had more fun visiting vineyards, meeting friends and flying a plane than actually playing songs with this concentrated look and guitars lifted higher to suit his current health condition.

The sad thing is that he just lost his mum and sister, and that's the thing that can make anybody suddenly look and feel 20 years older. I remember when Tommy Emmanuel's brother died, despite the fact that Tommy is one of the happiest and optimistic guys in the world, he looked 15 years older from now on, it's just those life moments that break your heart, and it doesn't matter if you Mark Knopfler or some random guy, life will get to everyone.

[Knopflerfan]

I have always said the true measure of a musicians talent is not how often they make a mistake, but how elegantly they recover. Mark is an absolute master at that.

As for the kemper amp, I have been really bummed about this decision since day one. It sure seems to go against everything Mark has stood for in the past. He has always gone the extra mile to have a genuine and authentic sound. Its a fine practice amp for those with limited spaces, but the sound is no where close to being in the same realm to a discerning ear imo. Its just plain lazy. I can't even listen to the audio recordings from this last tour.....

Great words diremark86.....A mixture of emotions for me listening to this version.
Don't get me wrong it's a lovely version as ever but of course MK is now 71 and still has it of sorts, but I do find it sad to see him playing LH when before he would literally 'waltz' through it without hardly looking at the fret board....

I really cannot add much more only that I agree with what you have said.
I must admit I haven't listened much to the last tour audios of late and am back to listening to the older albums.....

[PensaGhost]

OK, I think we all agree that Mark isn't as fleet-fingered as he used to be, due to age and who knows if there's some arthritis or other stuff going on. The cold certainly doesn't help. Then there's the fact that he has done it all, several times over, so to expect him to be really excited to perform and pour a ton of emotions into his playing, well, we might have to adjust our expectations. We certainly can't blame him for any of this. I'm guessing, he probably could practice more guitar to keep his chops up, but if he's not really into it, then what's the point. The guitar hero thing is old hat to him anyway.

cold obviously doesn't help but this was a very short perfomance, few minutes of playing in a very slow song, not a full concert, it's really ingenuous to think cold is the issue here, especially after an avalanche of errors in the 2019 tour

[hunter]

OK, I think we all agree that Mark isn't as fleet-fingered as he used to be, due to age and who knows if there's some arthritis or other stuff going on. The cold certainly doesn't help. Then there's the fact that he has done it all, several times over, so to expect him to be really excited to perform and pour a ton of emotions into his playing, well, we might have to adjust our expectations. We certainly can't blame him for any of this. I'm guessing, he probably could practice more guitar to keep his chops up, but if he's not really into it, then what's the point. The guitar hero thing is old hat to him anyway.

cold obviously doesn't help but this was a very short perfomance, few minutes of playing in a very slow song, not a full concert, it's really ingenuous to think cold is the issue here, especially after an avalanche of errors in the 2019 tour

I mentioned my viewpoints earlier, and I'm not going to repeat them. At any rate, there were two tiny greenies (5:31 and 6:43), and they were not glaring. Or, they may be glaring to those of us who are very guitar oriented, but we need to keep in mind that we listen differently than most. Mark masked both errors well, and the general audience probably didn't even notice. Plus we hear the raw soundboard audio, which makes things sound a lot worse than they really are.


From a guitar-oriented viewpoint, though, my opinion is that the use of quite high gain on the amplifier is making every little click, noise and overtone very audible, which is not ideal when you're playing a quiet, stripped-back song like this.

[Rolo]

OK, I think we all agree that Mark isn't as fleet-fingered as he used to be, due to age and who knows if there's some arthritis or other stuff going on. The cold certainly doesn't help. Then there's the fact that he has done it all, several times over, so to expect him to be really excited to perform and pour a ton of emotions into his playing, well, we might have to adjust our expectations. We certainly can't blame him for any of this. I'm guessing, he probably could practice more guitar to keep his chops up, but if he's not really into it, then what's the point. The guitar hero thing is old hat to him anyway.

cold obviously doesn't help but this was a very short perfomance, few minutes of playing in a very slow song, not a full concert, it's really ingenuous to think cold is the issue here, especially after an avalanche of errors in the 2019 tour

I'm pretty sure that Mark suffer from some degenerative disease or a Parkinson variations.

Since 2013, seeing some tour videos, its cleary that Mark has tremor in his hands. Probably he uses a lot of medications so he was abble to play without major problems. Not the guitar hero that he used to be, but with strong hands.

During the passing years, he barely play a decent electric guitar but he was abble to play some acoustics very well. Observing the Brian Johnson interview, Mark almost didn't play the guitar during STP or any song. Just bad playing and fractions of songs.

In other recent interviews, Mark was hiding his hands or holding his leg almost all the time. Based on my observations, i believe that he loses his fingers strenght. For me, the proof of this was the DTRW album. He play mostly electric because he cannot play acoustics properly. Matchsick Man is not well played.

During the 2019 tour, he barely can play R&J or TR. Of course that was some good moments during Speedway and Why Aye Man. OUATIW was a disaster.

But our hero keeps his passion to the music and refuses to stop playing. But nowadays, for him,  the art of playng guitar is very hard to achieve. Even if he practices guitar every day, this fisical condition is a nightmare.

Sorry about my poor english.

[quizzaciously]

OK, I think we all agree that Mark isn't as fleet-fingered as he used to be, due to age and who knows if there's some arthritis or other stuff going on. The cold certainly doesn't help. Then there's the fact that he has done it all, several times over, so to expect him to be really excited to perform and pour a ton of emotions into his playing, well, we might have to adjust our expectations. We certainly can't blame him for any of this. I'm guessing, he probably could practice more guitar to keep his chops up, but if he's not really into it, then what's the point. The guitar hero thing is old hat to him anyway.

cold obviously doesn't help but this was a very short perfomance, few minutes of playing in a very slow song, not a full concert, it's really ingenuous to think cold is the issue here, especially after an avalanche of errors in the 2019 tour

I'm pretty sure that Mark suffer from some degenerative disease or a Parkinson variations.

Since 2013, seeing some tour videos, its cleary that Mark has tremor in his hands. Probably he uses a lot of medications so he was abble to play without major problems. Not the guitar hero that he used to be, but with strong hands.

During the passing years, he barely play a decent electric guitar but he was abble to play some acoustics very well. Observing the Brian Johnson interview, Mark almost didn't play the guitar during STP or any song. Just bad playing and fractions of songs.

In other recent interviews, Mark was hiding his hands or holding his leg almost all the time. Based on my observations, i believe that he loses his fingers strenght. For me, the proof of this was the DTRW album. He play mostly electric because he cannot play acoustics properly. Matchsick Man is not well played.

During the 2019 tour, he barely can play R&J or TR. Of course that was some good moments during Speedway and Why Aye Man. OUATIW was a disaster.

But our hero keeps his passion to the music and refuses to stop playing. But nowadays, for him,  the art of playng guitar is very hard to achieve. Even if he practices guitar every day, this fisical condition is a nightmare.

Sorry about my poor english.

And that's only at 71! As Mark said, "This getting older stuff ain't for wimps." Ain't for sensitive fans either. Because that's tough to observe!

[2manyguitars]

OK, I think we all agree that Mark isn't as fleet-fingered as he used to be, due to age and who knows if there's some arthritis or other stuff going on. The cold certainly doesn't help. Then there's the fact that he has done it all, several times over, so to expect him to be really excited to perform and pour a ton of emotions into his playing, well, we might have to adjust our expectations. We certainly can't blame him for any of this. I'm guessing, he probably could practice more guitar to keep his chops up, but if he's not really into it, then what's the point. The guitar hero thing is old hat to him anyway.

cold obviously doesn't help but this was a very short perfomance, few minutes of playing in a very slow song, not a full concert, it's really ingenuous to think cold is the issue here, especially after an avalanche of errors in the 2019 tour

I'm pretty sure that Mark suffer from some degenerative disease or a Parkinson variations.

Since 2013, seeing some tour videos, its cleary that Mark has tremor in his hands. Probably he uses a lot of medications so he was abble to play without major problems. Not the guitar hero that he used to be, but with strong hands.

During the passing years, he barely play a decent electric guitar but he was abble to play some acoustics very well. Observing the Brian Johnson interview, Mark almost didn't play the guitar during STP or any song. Just bad playing and fractions of songs.

In other recent interviews, Mark was hiding his hands or holding his leg almost all the time. Based on my observations, i believe that he loses his fingers strenght. For me, the proof of this was the DTRW album. He play mostly electric because he cannot play acoustics properly. Matchsick Man is not well played.

During the 2019 tour, he barely can play R&J or TR. Of course that was some good moments during Speedway and Why Aye Man. OUATIW was a disaster.

But our hero keeps his passion to the music and refuses to stop playing. But nowadays, for him,  the art of playng guitar is very hard to achieve. Even if he practices guitar every day, this fisical condition is a nightmare.

Sorry about my poor english.

And that's only at 71! As Mark said, "This getting older stuff ain't for wimps." Ain't for sensitive fans either. Because that's tough to observe!

Exactly.

[Robson]

Very good comment.
Very good quote.

[Rolo]

OK, I think we all agree that Mark isn't as fleet-fingered as he used to be, due to age and who knows if there's some arthritis or other stuff going on. The cold certainly doesn't help. Then there's the fact that he has done it all, several times over, so to expect him to be really excited to perform and pour a ton of emotions into his playing, well, we might have to adjust our expectations. We certainly can't blame him for any of this. I'm guessing, he probably could practice more guitar to keep his chops up, but if he's not really into it, then what's the point. The guitar hero thing is old hat to him anyway.

cold obviously doesn't help but this was a very short perfomance, few minutes of playing in a very slow song, not a full concert, it's really ingenuous to think cold is the issue here, especially after an avalanche of errors in the 2019 tour

I'm pretty sure that Mark suffer from some degenerative disease or a Parkinson variations.

Since 2013, seeing some tour videos, its cleary that Mark has tremor in his hands. Probably he uses a lot of medications so he was abble to play without major problems. Not the guitar hero that he used to be, but with strong hands.

During the passing years, he barely play a decent electric guitar but he was abble to play some acoustics very well. Observing the Brian Johnson interview, Mark almost didn't play the guitar during STP or any song. Just bad playing and fractions of songs.

In other recent interviews, Mark was hiding his hands or holding his leg almost all the time. Based on my observations, i believe that he loses his fingers strenght. For me, the proof of this was the DTRW album. He play mostly electric because he cannot play acoustics properly. Matchsick Man is not well played.

During the 2019 tour, he barely can play R&J or TR. Of course that was some good moments during Speedway and Why Aye Man. OUATIW was a disaster.

But our hero keeps his passion to the music and refuses to stop playing. But nowadays, for him,  the art of playng guitar is very hard to achieve. Even if he practices guitar every day, this fisical condition is a nightmare.

Sorry about my poor english.

And that's only at 71! As Mark said, "This getting older stuff ain't for wimps." Ain't for sensitive fans either. Because that's tough to observe!

Exactly.

Yep. Aging comes in different ways. Guitar players like Jeff Beck (76) and Clapton (75) still got good hands for playing guitar. Unfortunately for us, Mark(71) has suffering to play a great guitar. But that's life.

Our hero choosed a different path in music. Fewer notes, less chords, just simple and beautifull music. In 2005/2006 i remember some die hard fans screaming that Mark couldn't play good stuff anymore. I never felt that.

Maybe this "desapointment" on Mark's playing came from years ago and now has achieve the pinacle.

Sorry again for my poor english.

[hunter]

I'm curious if the motorcycle crash and the back problems he had in 2010 (?) have any effect on his hands/arms and therefore his playing. Once your back is hurt, all kinds of weird things can happen in other parts of your body.

[rmarques821]

He's 71 years old.