Mark Knopfler is one of the greatest living guitar players ever! He really puts Eric Clapton and all those other “name” guitarists to shame (yes, you read it right!). I was a big Dire Straits fan and had only recently gotten into MK’s solo career. When tickets went on sale, I missed the MK.com pre-sale. Since I was not a huge fan, but wanted to go, I selected the second price level, which was about 65 bucks USD and got a nice front row seat in the balcony in house right.
I love the MGM Grand Theatre. The sound is usually pristine and spot on. The staff is very nice and accommodating, not aggressive like at Mohegan Sun. The unique thing about MK is that he lets people record his shows and take photos etc. In fact, until 2008 he used to allow people to videotape, but disallowed it as it became an obstruction and annoyance to him, the band and the audience. So there might be a copy of this show floating around somewhere, who knows. I like to cheat and look at the set lists before hand; I’m not good at waiting to see what will be played at the concert. I didn’t recognize a lot of songs, but had already bought the ticket.
The concert was on a Saturday night. The opener was Pieta Brown, accompanied by Bo Ramsey. I don’t remember much about her act, but I didn’t mind it. I think it fit nicely with MK’s musical style. A few minutes to nine, the house lights dimmed and the band walked out to the customary song Feelin’ Good by Junior Parker. As the band took their places, the song faded and they launch into the first song Border Reiver, still in the dark. Mark, as he would later explain, pinched a nerve in his body and was forced to sit for most of the four month World Tour. According to Guy (MK’s keyboard player who keeps a very copious travel and tour diary on his website, said tonight was the first night MK tried using his keyboard thrown to sit on during the show, and MK seemed to like it).
Halfway through the first song, I was upgraded to a front row seat. Don’t ask me how it happened; I don’t even really know myself. When I say front row, I mean dead fucking center, like Mark was looking at me all night. What an amazing way to see a concert. Those high rollers and people usually in the front never seem to appreciate the honor bestowed upon them. Halfway through the guitar solo for What It Is, I was seated in my newly acquired front row seat. I felt like a high roller, the kind of person who those seats are usually reserved for. The vibe up front was totally different than the old seat high in the balcony. I felt as though I was right in the thick of the show and felt like I was part of the band. I always like being close enough not to have to watch the giant screens. I don’t like being forced to watch something that the video director has decided to put up for a few moments. I like to look around, see what all the band members are doing, watch the crew scurry around, etc. I felt bad for Mr. Saggers (MK’s guitar tech) because usually MK will walk to ‘guitar alley’ and switch out guitars after each song, but since he couldn’t walk because of the pinched nerve, the guitars had to be brought to him. Mr. Saggers had to bring a guitar stand to put the guitar he is taking away on the stand while he secured and pluged in the new guitar and then had to run back stage to turn on the new guitar (thanks to Guy’s diary for explaining the procedure).
Most of the band members have been playing with MK for a while now. In fact, two members go back to the Dire Straits days. Most others have been playing with him since his first solo record in 1996. Since the usual violin player and flute player (John McCusker) couldn’t join them in the US, they got the fabulously talented Tim O’Brien to take over for the US leg of the tour. Tim sang the James Taylor part in Sailing to Philadelphia. I saw a YouTube clip of an early show on the tour and Tim forgot the words and I felt bad for him. He was spot on for Foxwoods though. After an amazing guitar solo on his signature Hot Rod Red Fender® strat, the band launched into Coyote, which has recently become one of my favorite MK solo songs. It’s (I think) about the struggle between the coyote and roadrunner, and how the coyote will never outsmart the roadrunner no matter how hard he tries. After Coyote, MK did his usual banter and hellos and explained why he was sitting and why he was not “doing his usually high jumps.” That got a laugh from the crowd. He also explained that the medication he is on for his ailment is causing him to secrete a strange liquid from his body. This explained why he had a towel on his lap and was wiping his hands off after each song and sometimes during a guitar break in a song. He also had a little bottle of powder he would occasionally put on his hands. He mentioned that this is where the requests start coming in and I heard some bonehead behind me yell “I want my MTV.” MK introduced Prairie Wedding and said that Del McCoury recently covered this song and said Del sang it an octave higher and agreed that that was the right approach. Next up was Hill Farmer Blues which (I think) is about a farmer preparing to get even with an unfaithful wife. I keep saying “I think” because it’s so hard to tell what his songs are about sometimes, you may not get the meaning all the time, but you know they are so f-ing good that it doesn’t matter.
For the die hard Dire Straits fans, he did a few songs, Romeo & Juliet and Sultans were the first of the selection, back to back. Romeo started with the well known guitar line on the National (the steel resonator guitar). His guitar is from the 1930’s. MK finished the song and the solo on his signature strat. For Sultans of Swing, it was really cool because he had a wireless video camera attached to the headstock pointed down at the neck. During the rocking guitar solo, on the big screens, they switched to the video from the guitar cam and you could see down the neck as he played a kick ass solo. For a man that was in pain and sitting down, it really didn’t affect his guitar playing in the least.
One reason I respect MK is that he’s the most “anti-celebrity’s” there is. He doesn’t like the attention and is a very private person. When he’s not in the spotlight, he lives a quite and simple life. Also, while Dire Straits gave him his fame and fortune, he doesn’t feel like he has to play a Dire Straits show. He does 5 Straits songs out of the 16 he does during the night. Not to keep going back to Macca, but I think sometimes Paul believes people won’t come to see him if he doesn’t do all Beatles songs. MK seems to play what he wants, and when he gets tired of a song, he will put it away for a bit (Money For Nothing).
MK referred to Sultans as a bit of “four piece frivolity” (since the band strips down to a foursome for Sultans). Then MK strapped on his black and white Danelectro guitar, which was a cheap 1950’s era electric guitar to play Donegan’s Gone. These guitars although “cheap” are well suited for playing electric slide guitar on. The re-issues are anything but cheap now, and I’m sure he plays an original one from the fifties. MK plays fantastic slide guitar on this song, which was written about MK’s folk hero Lonnie Donegan who died in 2002 (hence, Donegan’s Gone). After this song, he dons one of his signature Martin acoustic guitars (if I remember correctly, it was the one from the early 2000s) to play the title track off the new album, Get Lucky. I believe this song was dropped for the European dates. Staying in the acoustic mode, they played Marbletown. I am still not a big fan of this song and hope it goes into ‘retirement’ for the next tour. Speedway at Nazereth, a song about Nascar, builds to such an incredible crescendo at the end. Next up is the behemoth Telegraph Road coming in at a whopping 15 minutes most nights. He plays the tail end guitar solo on his custom Pensa from 1992-ish. Rudy Pensa in addition to owning a cool guitar store is also a master luthier/guitar builder.
Since MK can’t really walk too much, instead of doing the traditional bows and leaving of the stage before the encores, a stagehand brought out a tray with cups (with some sort of alcoholic drink, I’m guessing, thanks again to Guy’s diary) and handed them out to the band members while the audience clapped. After a few minutes, the crowd quieted down and the MK started the signature opening line to Brothers In Arms. Per Guy’s website, they had to bring the Ernie Ball volume pedal that MK uses up in height to match the height of the chair he sat on, so they used an instrument case to raise the pedal to a satisfactory level for MK. After he switched guitars, he started So Far Away, another Straits classic. He did not however insert the name of the town into the first line of the song “Here I am again in _____ town” probably because Mashantucket would not fit with the lyrics. Or maybe because this was the first time he played here. Last time he played Connecticut was in 2001 for the “Sailing to Philadelphia” tour. He played what ever they are calling the Oakdale now. The last song he played was Piper to the End, which (I think) he wrote about an Uncle of his that did not return from WWII. It’s a very touching song and a great way to end a great two hours of entertainment.
It’s amazing that sixteen songs can fill up two full hours. The show was over a few minutes after 11pm. I really regretted not bringing my camera, because I know Foxwoods is very strict about taking pictures even when the artists allow them, but they seemed to be very relaxed for this show. According to Guy, MK really wants people to enjoy themselves and gets upset when the local venue inhibits the crowd form standing and rushing the stage at the end. I snapped a few on the old iPhone, and a few came out good.
After the show I was mulling around checking out the merch table. MK has lithographs made up. Basically it’s a picture of him with all the guitars that he used on the new album and he hand signs each of them in a silver sharpie. Didn’t have any cash, so I ran out to the ATM grabbed 100 bucks and a $5.50 ATM fee and was on my merry way with a hand signed MK lithograph. What a splendid concert that was only improved with my seat upgrade. This show made me want a signature series Hot Rod Red Mark Knopfler Fender® Stratocaster. It was worth the 4 month wait, and it made such a nice Christmas give to myself last year!
I had a great epiphany during this show. I realized that you don’t always have to know all the songs and be seeing a “name” person to enjoy yourself. Not everyone knows who Mark Knopfler is, but if you say “the lead singer from Dire Straits,” they know exactly who you’re talking about.
Set list:
Border Reiver
What It Is
Sailing to Philadelphia
Coyote
Prairie Wedding
Hill Farmer Blues
Romeo & Juliet
Sultans of Swing
Donegan’s Gone
Get Lucky
Marbletown
Speedway at Nazareth
Telegraph Road
Brothers In Arms
So Far Away
Piper to the End
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| Caught right before MK slapped Glenn the bass player on the ass. Let it be known from Guy's diary about this gig that because of a short in Glenn's in ear monitors that they all wear, Glenn played most of the Foxwoods show without being able to hear anyone else, no monitors!! What a sport! |
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