Venue: Amfiteater Camerini / Piazzola sul Brenta / Italy
Concert date: 08.07.2010
Attendance: 12000
Ticket price: €65
Last Friday, a cheerfully fired-up RockLine expedition once again headed off toward Italy. The location was already familiar: the central courtyard of the Camerini amphitheater, tucked into the peaceful heart of the little town of Piazzola sul Brenta, which really isn’t skimping on excellent concert events this year. The reason for another “quick excursion” was Mark Knopfler’s show. The main driving force of the officially never-deceased Dire Straits had rolled down the hill to the Po plain, and we caught him alive and well right behind the walls of the Camerini amphitheater.
Unlike our last meeting with him (RockLine report here), Knopfler’s visit to Padua played out in a slightly mellower key. Mark was in great spirits and crowned it with a genuine connection to the audience, to whom he didn’t forget to offer a few quick words at the very start of the evening about the easy delight he traditionally feels on every visit to Italy. Who could blame him? The Camerini amphitheater is a gorgeous spot, practically tailor-made for the guitarist’s refined musical expression. Knopfler spent most of the night sitting on a swivel stool (he joked that he can see much better when he sits). It’s well known that he has been struggling with back trouble for a while, so he had to cut physical activity on stage down to a minimum. The helpful stage crew handles his frequent guitar swaps (Mark trades one six-string buddy for another after nearly every song).
The on-stage sound of the former Dire Straits “mainman” is anything but a one-man show of a musical master these days; it’s first and foremost teamwork by an eight-piece band with clearly divided roles. On his latest album, Get Lucky (RockLine review here), Mark Knopfler swapped the country leanings of recent years for a laid-back exploration of the charms of island folk music, and he leans on his backing band’s musical input more than ever before. Taking hold of folk motifs and kneading them into a recognizable form, a colorful bunch of instruments in harmonious orchestration pitches in, from violin, double bass and flute to the endearingly homey sound of the accordion. Leaning on the band’s rich sonic palette, the guitarist constantly provoked dialogues, leaving plenty of room for the wind section, for instance, with whom he most liked to get tangled up in relaxed, drawn-out conversations. At the peaks of all this playfulness, Knopfler unfolded his trademark minimalism, which keeps seeming like an inexhaustible well of musical magic and intimate feeling. With guitar playing this charming, we were ready to forgive even his voice’s at times rather distracting raspiness, which over the years has cheekily nestled itself into thick layers of melancholy and sorrow.
Mark Knopfler treated a crowd of several thousand to the highlights of his solo career. A few glimpses of the current album were a must, and he also threw in a bit of slightly predictable digging through the Dire Straits legacy. Let’s pause on the latter for a moment first. Mark predictably reached for “Telegraph Road”, “Brothers In Arms”, “So Far Away” and of course “Sultans Of Swing”, which came across as by far the most restrained of the bunch. The rest amounted to a routine revival of nostalgic memories. What truly delighted was the interpretation of material from the post-Dire Straits era. With the usual “What It Is”, “Hill Farmer’s Blues” and “Sailing to Philadelphia”, Mark scattered his proverbial guitar brilliance around, steadily tinged with sentimentality.
The highlights of Mark Knopfler’s live shows haven’t been found in reheating old stuff for a long time, no matter how much dust of enthusiasm and emotion it kicks up. They’re in the fresh songwriting approaches, which these days squeeze far more genuine life energy out of the musician on stage. The evening spent with a legend behind the walls of the central concert venue of the by-now-familiar Piazzola sul Brenta confirmed exactly that. Mark Knopfler concerts undoubtedly remain a guarantee of a great musical experience, one that every music gourmand should treat themselves to at least once a year.
Photos: Mojca Perdih
Setlist
1. Border Reiver 2. What It Is 3. Sailing to Philadelphia 4. Coyote 5. Prairie Wedding 6. Hill Farmer’s Blues 7. Romeo & Juliet 8. Sultans of Swing 9. Done With Bonaparte 10. Marbletown 11. Monteleone 12. Speedway at Nazareth 13. Telegraph Road —encore— 14. Brothers in Arms 15. So Far Away 16. Piper to the End
Photo gallery
