The long-time Dire Straits frontman's 'Get Lucky' tour rocked Caesars Atlantic City the night before Mother's Day.
Knopfler in Atlantic City May 8.
Although he was confined to a swivel chair for the duration of the concert (due to an injury), Mark Knopfler turned in one joyride of a show Saturday night (May 8) in Atlantic City.
The packed Circus Maximus Theatre crowd gave standing ovations throughout the nearly two-hour set to Knopfler, 60, who played a mix of songs from his Dire Straits years and his later solo records, especially last year’s Get Lucky.
Joined by a septet that included a talented lot of multi-instrumentalists — including Guy Fletcher, Danny Cummings, Richard Bennett, Glenn Worf, Matt Rollings, Mike McGoldrick and Tim O’Brien — which Knopfler would introduce as “master musicians,” the guitar virtuoso must have also had a few dozen instruments with him on stage including a piano, an electric ukulele and several mandolins.
The band was stellar — pulling out Irish, country, bluegrass and rock-blues sounds like it was nothing — and although it was winding up its North American tour, which came to a close the following night in Albany, N.Y., it showed no sings of weariness or complacency.
Whether Knopfler and crew were tearing into “Sultans of Swing” early in the set, creating a gorgeous, timeless moment with “Telegraph Road,” or killing the title track of his latest studio record, the band members proved to be a perfect fit for Knopfler’s individual style of singing and guitar playing.
It was a Knopfler fan's dream show, from the Irish-tinged opener “Border Reiver,” to the steel-guitar driven “Romeo and Juliet” (during which he switched guitars mid song as he would throughout the show), to the gorgeous three-song encore that included an accordion-backed “Brothers in Arms,” “So Far Away,” — both songs from the 25-year-old Dire Straits album Brothers in Arms — and a beautiful rendition of Get Lucky’s closing track “Piper to the End.”
Despite being confined to the chair — he “twanged” something a few days earlier, he told the crowd — Knopfler was jovial, quiet, gracious, and genius on the six-string. Whether it was his steel guitar, his red Stratocaster, his Les Paul model, or one of his acoustics, Knopfler was a pure joy to listen to and watch play his singular style — especially with the guitar-mounted camera, which allowed the crowd to catch several glimpses down Knopfler’s fretboard via a giant screen behind the band a few times during the show.
Although he didn’t play “You Can’t Beat the House” from his latest album, he did dedicate the album’s title track to Atlantic City, introducing it with, “Here’s a song that was written especially for this place.”
Knopfler resumes touring in Europe next week.
When an esteemed music journalist includes you in a book of collected interviews with some of the modern era’s finest songwriters — Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and Tom Waits among them — you must be doing something right.
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1. DireFan said... on May 12, 2010 at 03:58PM
“This was amazing show. I hope he comes back!!!”
2. JG said... on May 12, 2010 at 04:20PM
“Wonderful show. He is a master musician but never a self indulgent show off like many great guitarists can be. He clearly was in a lot of pain throughout the show and I found out later that he did acupuncture before the show and couldn't do the sound check. Cheers to Caesars for bringing him in and let's hope Mark and the Boys come back.”