OK, gig's been and gone. Time to report back...

I'm really glad I went to it. I think MK is slowing down a little from his Dire Straits days (tea break in the middle of the concert!), but he's still a fantastic musician. His guitar work was nothing short of amazing, and the songs were all performed brilliantly. His backing band were also very good, particularly the piano/keyboard/accordian player.

Song-wise, a particular highlight was "Telegraph Road" which was a stunning end to the set. "Sultans of Swing" solo sadly wasn't as smooth as some of the others (and certainly wasn't up to the amazing version on Alchemy), but that's just being picky. His live performance of all the songs was much better than the recordings though. On his recent CDs he's had a tendency to omit solos and fills where a song would really benefit from them - "Speedway at Nazareth" and "What it is" are the best two examples. Playing live though, he does put in that kind of stuff, and it really improves the songs.

The sound was well done - a credit to their sound techs (and the NEC equipment, which seems to be very good). Not too loud but loud enough, and very clear. The one sad thing is that MK's voice gave out about halfway through, so there were quite a few songs where you couldn't hear his vocals - "Speedway at Nazareth" in particular. The sound tech could maybe have done with turning him up slightly to compensate.

My friend in Edinburgh told me, "The rhythm guitarist was really annoying." "How?" "He just was!" I can say that yep, he certainly was! He seems to have watched too many videos of Pete Townsend and Brian May, so he was all rock-god poses with legs spread, and big arm movements. This would be tolerable in a serious rock performance, or if he was doing anything complex. Trouble was though that he wasn't doing anything except simple strumming 4-to-a-bar for 95% of the gig - the only time he did anything else was the bouzouki line in "Done with Bonaparte" and some nice lapsteel work on "All that Matters". And you're in no position to cop a rock-god attitude when you're sharing a stage with Mark Knopfler who's doing none of that! :-)

Anyway, a great gig. Looking forward to his next CD and next tour! Hopefully him and Eric Clapton will get themselves another date at the Albert Hall, since that fell through last tour when he bust his shoulder. If that ever happens, don't try ringing my phone before I've got the tickets booked!

Graham.