Knopfler goes to India .. review by Harris
Mark Knopfler The Sultan of Swing, the voice, the guitar, the composer, the lyricist of Dire Straits.. little did I realize, when I first started twisting by the pool to their music in the mid-80’s that one day I would be there watching the man make his guitar talk. I had always imagined that he would be so far away from me, so far I just could hear him on tape/CD.
But there he was on March 7th at B’lore, n I wouldn't have missed it for the world. So, off we went, Girish, Althaf, Schiller, Nawaz and me, in my car, driving all of 350+ km just to hear him! We had gone like this before, drove down, I mean, but usually it was always Althaf and me but this man, has a pull on everybody, every age, every genre all walks of life!
Ok, sparing you the nitty gritties. We went to the venue at around 3pm, saw the set up. Reynolds was doing the sounds (but who else!). So Mike was there to show us around. The setup was amazing, fabulous. There were 2 grand pianos on stage, 2 sets of drumkits, the entire stage, speakers, everything I cud c, was black. There a where a lot of foreigners on stage fiddling with things. There was this huge static hum that I cud hear from the speakers. Mike told me that the speakers were picking up some magnetic field from somewhere and that they would b able to clear it within a few minutes. And clear it they did, coz when we were there for the show, there was absolutely no hum and all we cud hear was crystal clear sound.
The show started sharp at 7.45pm. One word of caution here. Many people will tell u that the tickets of any such show would be available at the venue near the actual counters for much less than the face value. They will also tell u of stories of them having got the 2500 tickets for 700 rupees etc. Don’t risk it. It may be true. We tried it this time and I lost at least 4-5 songs. Sad. The guys who still waited for the cheap tickets lost at least 10 songs, but managed to get in to the 2500 circle at 1500, 2000 etc.
Mili n me, fed up at all this and not wanting to miss another song walked in with the 1000 rupee tickets v had bought much earlier. A tad bit far from stage, but with the big screens doing a great job, we didn’t miss a note after v got in. On to the show The man started with Why aye man from Ragpicker’s Dream, played Walk of Life next, Romeo n Juliet, Sailing to Philadelphia etc. He then sat down on a sofa and went on to play Donovan’s gone, Sonny Liston’s song etc.
The man was dressed in a simple white full-sleeved shirt and blue jeans. He used his red fender start most of the time, but could be seen switching to his steel guitar at times and to another yellowish brown one. He also got a coffee served on him on stage and drank it very casually. Then sang Sultans of Swing, Boom Like that, Money for nothing.. my, u shud have heard the crowd sing along to that one. Mind boggling. He then sang So far Away, Telegraph Road and lastly did a soft, guitar only version of the Local Hero Theme.
All on all he did some 15+ songs, n I have missed a couple here and there, sorry. But by jove, what an awesome concert. His absolute mastery of the guitar was a treat to watch. The crowd really rocked. The man is the real Sultan, no two words about it there. Thanx, sponsors and organizers!
One word here, its sad that each show the organizers are simply jacking up the rates! I remember being there for Deep Purple at 600 bucks, Scorpions at 400 bucks etc. But 1000 bucks minimum was way 2 steep. And if the trend continues, the next show would have a top rate of 3000 bucks and so on. Remember Pearl Jam’s issue with Ticketmaster? Soon these guys will kill such shows for the common man and the college going crowd. If they know better, they will preserve this goose. _________________________________________________________________________________________ |
