Great concert but where was John McCusker?  We really like his playing and were sorry to see that he wasn't in the show.  Darn!


 

An awesome show on a perfect night at the greatest venue on the planet! I must say, however, that the opening act (Jessica Hoop) was terrible! I have no idea how she got such a killer gig, but she was really bad. Thankfully Knopfler came out and put on a great show. Telegraph Road from the 4th row was freakin' unreal..........he tore it up! Great show, but I'd suggest arriving 45 mins. after the show starts so you can miss Hoop - she was that bad. 

McCusker has visa troubles and not of the plastic card kind. Fletcher mentions it in his diary but gives no details. 

http://www.guyfletcher.co.uk/cms/index.php/page/24th%20June%20-%20Denver%20CO-%20Red%20Rocks

I agree. Telegraph Road was phenomenal. We were in the fourth row also but in front of the speaker tower so the voices seemed to me a bit distorted. The instruments however were brilliant. Especially the famed steel guitar. I wonder if they pumped up Worf's bass to mask the missing McCusker?

Stupid government.  I wonder why they didn't play much from the new CD.  I thought they would play Punish the Monkey for sure.  Now I'll have to travel if I want to see John.

Anybody have a setlist?

Richard's diary seemed to note some slight changes, and I was wondering what they might have been

Scotland's lovely this time of year although the heather has probably already bloomed. Actually, it sounded like he would only miss a few shows. Sorry you missed him. I too missed the fiddle.

He says the fans love the tried and true DS songs and from the looks of it they do. Most of them stood during them. He seems to play a couple off of the new CD and then the classics with one or two from each previous solo release. Maybe in 20 years there won't be any room in the set for Sultans of Swing.

So much music, so little time.

This was posted by Cabot on another thread.

 Cannibals
Why aye man
What it is
Sailing to Philadelphia
True love will never fade
Fish and the bird
Hill farmers blues
Romeo and Juliet
Sultans of swing
Song for Sonny Liston
band introductions
Done with Bonaparte
Marbletown
Speedway at Nazareth
Telegraph Road
Brothers in arms
Shangri-La
So far away
Going home

Killer Why Aye and What It Is last night- awesome variety on Sultans- great show.  Can't wait for the next one.

Any firm information on live high-quality downloads available like the Shangri-La tour? 

 Guy?

Thanks for a great show guys.

The show was better than expected - which really didn't seem possible. Had excellent seats thanks to markknopfler.com and it was a really high energy crowd and the musicians reacted to that by putting on a very high energy show - which is a bit of a Red Rocks tradition. :-)

The 1-2-3 opening punch was killer and it brought the majority of the crowd along for the ride. We had some yakkers behind us who thought it was OK to yell to each other through the entire show and ruin the sound, but seemed upset when people stood up to enjoy the music - go figure.

I have to say that the complete shocker of the show was the Sultans Of Swing. I've seen Mark sleepwalk through that song many, many times - but this was somethign different. The band got a great groove going and they tossed it down. Hands down the best SoS I have ever heard, Dire Straits or otherwise.

 I'd hoped for more stuff off of the new one. "Let it All Go" or "Punish The Monkey" would have been great - "In The Sky" would have been incredible. But I'm never disappointed in what Mark plays. I'd prefer he do what he wants - I'm along for the ride regardless.

Great night seeing one of the best guitarists ever at the best venue in the world.

 

 

 

 

 

Hi all,

 AWESOME show!  So lucky to make it to this one and the one in 2005! Got my spot in line a few hours early... What a performance, several were the best versions I've ever heard.
 
I bought the audio version online from the 2005 show, from Blue Raven, or rhapsody, or something... anyone know if they're doing this again? Obviously would LOVE a copy!!

Cheers,

Jeff


 

Wow...what show!  I didn't think he would play that long and with some much energy.  That was my first time seeing Mark live and it was awesome.    What a way to kick off the tour! 

ColoradoMKfan - I had a friend tape the show and will post the link when he puts it up.  The audio version you bought from 2005 was it a SBD??

 

 

I want to say it was... I'll look it up exactly.

EDIT:  It was through passalong.com - pretty sure it was a soundboard recording.  I hope they did a similar deal for this tour... haven't seen anything on it yet. 

We had 2nd row, thanks to the fan presale, and now I'm spoiled forever.  Greatest night ever at Red Rocks with a beautiful breeze.  Only thing missing was McCusker which I was really looking forward to.  I was also surprised at not hearing more from KTGC but the band made some great choices.  

A few [fuzzy] pictures, they don't begin to to tell how beautiful the entire event was!

http://picasaweb.google.com/Jeff.E.Severson/MarkKnopflerKTGCTour08RedRocks02
 

16, 18, 21, 25, 27, 30, 31 are the best, imho. 

coloradoMKfan,

 thanks for sharing the pics.  You look familiar....did you work at Cherry Hills CC by chance??