Longtime BPD member Tootsweet checks in:Mark Knopfler, now 60, wowed us with his fluid finger-picking guitar style, laid-back, easy, no-fuss manner, and seven "master musicians," as he called his touring band.Toots, happy to oblige.
The group - who included a flute player, fiddler, accordion player and at least two mandolin players - easily finessed whatever was thrown at them - rock, country, Celtic, and bluegrass.
Interestingly, Dire Straits percussionist Danny Cummings is now Knopfler's drummer.
And while there really wasn't a showman among them - Knopfler was the evening's undisputed star - he proved to be a generous leader, happily sharing the spotlight during longs jams and solos, like during Sailing To Philadelphia, where he and multi-instrumentalist Tim O' Brien traded verses.
Touring in support of his latest solo album, 2009's Get Lucky, the Scottish-born, British-raised Knopfler kicked off the night with the Celtic-tinged Border Reiver from that disc on a stripped down stage where the biggest effect all night was a backdrop of stars in the sky.
But he didn't delve too much into the record for the remainder of the evening only performing two other songs - the title track, and the poignant show-ender Piper To The End.
Instead, it was a mixed bag of songs from both his time with seminal '80s band Dire Straits, who split up n 1985, and varied older solo material like such highlights as What It Is, the bluegrass-feeling Prairie Wedding - which The Del McCoury Band has since recorded - Marbletown, and Donegan's Gone, and the rocking showstopper Speedway At Nazareth complete with strobe lights.
Still, it was the one-two punch of the Dire Straits signature songs Romeo and Juliet and Sultans Of Swing, which struck the biggest chord, the latter prompting the first standing ovation of the night for Knopfler's staggering solo, and So Far Away From Me, which prompted the second ovation during the encore.
After the show, Knopfler commented to me "They were very sweet to me". Didn't he understand how sweet he had been to us?
BPD, I can't thank you enough for allowing me to spend time with this guitar legend.
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