Photo by Tim Dwenger
The Scene: The weather couldn’t have been better for an evening with Mark Knopfler on The Rocks. The rainstorms that plagued earlier concerts at Red Rocks this summer were nowhere to be seen and the sunset was a dazzling pallet of reds, oranges, and purples. Traffic on the other hand was a different story. Although most shows at Red Rocks people shove as many people into busses and vans as possible, it seemed that the older crowd for Knopfler were coming in twos and threes and the ample parking at Red Rocks quickly filled up for the sold-out show. The traffic jam was compounded by the fact that not a lot of people came early to tailgate and showed up an hour before the show. But the traffic seemed like minor bump in the road as I entered the venue and found my seat. The sultry air from the unseasonably warm day hung around The Rocks as we readied for what was sure to be a night of fantastic musicianship.
Mark Knopfler: Knopfler has never been one to hang his hat on past successes and the opener “Broken Bones” off of 2015’s Tracker seemed to confirm that this show would be no different. Knopfler was introduced to a bit of electronic drums—further emphasizing Knopfler’s ever-changing music—with the band clapping along. The sold-out crowd went wild as Knopfler took the stage with his trademark fiesta red Stratocaster. Although he usually throws in a couple of songs, I honestly didn’t expect to hear much from the Dire Straits catalog and, as the band went into the funky shuffle of “Corned Beef City” off of 2012’s Privateering, I thought my suspicions were confirmed.
For “Corned Beef City” Knopfler slung on a black Danelectro guitar and showcased some tasty slide work. It was almost sure we would be getting a fairly contemporary set as the band cooled it down with the song “Privateering,” a poignant and yet swashbuckling song with a Celtic feel about a privateer captain who listens to “the rollers thunder” on foreign shores and dreams of lying with “pretty women” and drinking “Madeira wine.” Next came the beautiful, Celtic strains of “Father and Son” with a great intro on Uilleann bagpipes powered by bellows instead of lungs. Here I must mention that Knopfler’s band is absolutely top notch. It seems that most of them can play just about any instrument and most have been with Knopfler since he split with Dire Straits for good in 1995. “Father and Son” is an instrumental off of the 1984 soundtrack album Cal (written by Knopfler for the film of the same name) and really gave the band a chance to showcase their many talents. With a seamless transition into “Hill Farmer’s Blues” (“Father and Son” into “Hill Farmer’s Blues” is a juxtaposition Knopfler uses often) the band skillfully brought the intensity back up after the calm of “Father and Son.”
With the crowd back into it, Knopfler decided to unveil a newer song with longtime collaborator and piano player Guy Fletcher on Ukulele. Mark affectionately joked that they had urged Guy to leave his Uke at home but he “brought it anyway.” The new song, “Skydiver,” was a whimsical number with great harmonies and a great drum solo. The band got serious again with “She’s Gone,” with emotional intro duets on piano and guitar. But then it was time to do some crowd pleasers.
After seven songs released in the 21st century, save for “Father and Son” and “She’s Gone,” Knopfler slid into a block of Dire Straits songs with “Your Latest Trick” off of their biggest hit record Brothers In Arms and got a big response from the crowd as the saxophone went into the jazzy opening melody. Knopfler kept going with a gorgeous “Romeo and Juliet” and then a crowd rousing “Sultans of Swing” that brought the house down. It was a strategic place to put some classics.
Knopfler once again showed his mastery of the setlist with the ballad “Mighty Man,” a deftly penned song off Tracker telling the story of a hard working English man sung to his son who could “play his accordion and charm all the women,” and who had laid “half the roadway in England as well.” Next came the South American sounding “Post Cards From Paraguay,” with a section that made you feel as if you were flying over the Andes (although they don’t run through Paraguay) and featured Mark doing some skillful picking. Being in Colorado it was only fitting that Knopfler played the Bluegrass sounding “Marbletown” which really gave the band a chance to stretch their legs with some fiery licks traded between fiddle and keys. But it wouldn’t be Colorado either without a little psychedelia and even a little synth in “Speedway at Nazareth.” But these were just warm ups to the set closer, a raucous version of Dire Straits’ “Telegraph Road,” with Mark finally letting loose on some solos over a blistering groove jam to end the set.
Knopfler had joked earlier in the show that it was up to the band (who “run things”) whether they would do a one or two song encore, and it largely depended on whether they got a standing ovation or not. Well they certainly got one and came out with another Dire Straits song in “So Far Away” and ended with “Going Home: Theme Song From Local Hero” another one of Knopfler’s soundtrack songs. It is difficult for an artist who was in such a huge band to go it on their own; it is even more difficult for them to step out from the shadow of earlier successes while still embracing them, but Mark Knopfler seems to have done a pretty good job at it through his live performances. His solo stuff is just as solid if not more so than his work with Dire Straits and considering the quality of his recent output, he doesn’t show any signs of stopping.
Energy: B
Musicianship: A+
Sound: A
Stage Presence: B+
Set/Light Show: A
Overall: A-
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