MARK KNOPFLER : NEWCASTLE 2019

 

Disc One (62:52)

  1. Why Aye Man
  2. Corned Beef City
  3. Sailing To Philadelphia
  4. Once Upon A Time In The West
  5. Romeo And Juliet
  6. My Bacon Roll
  7. Matchstick Man
  8. Done With Bonaparte

Disc Two (59:23)

  1. Heart Full Of Holes
  2. She's Gone/Your Latest Trick
  3. Postcards From Paraguay
  4. Silvertown Blues
  5. Speedway At Nazareth
  6. Money For Nothing
  7. Piper To The End
  8. Going home

Label : MarkKnopfler.com

Venue : Utilita Arena, Newcastle, UK

Recording Date : May 19th, 2019

Quality : Soundboard recording (A+)

Concert Review (Chronicle Live) : He was never going to struggle to shift tickets for Newcastle. And Mark Knopfler's packed homecoming was as Geordie-friendly a gig as you'll get (even if his guitar was red and white). 'Times were tough in Geordieland' echoed through the venue as his two-hour long set kicked off with Why Aye Man. But rather than setting the tone for a raucous welcome home party for the former Dire Straits mainman, the theme tune to Auf Wiedersehen, Pet - which I half expected would have had the Utilita Arena crowd slapping their knees and launching bottles of Dog in the air in delight- did little to move anyone. Now, you ain't going to see Knopfler for a pogo. Approaching 70, neither is he. But Sunday's gig just didn't feel like I expected it to. It did sound like I'd hoped. Knopfler's unmistakable clean guitar tone can still give goosebumps, even in the often unwelcoming acoustics of the arena. And I'll get this out the way now: Romeo and Juliet was totally lush, Knopfler's crystal clear playing and vocal delivery melting even the hardest hearts. That whispery vocal style of his - which at times can sound like he's commentating on snooker - did at times get a bit lost in the music. But on the softer stuff - particularly the penultimate Piper to the End - it is dynamite. And there are few who tell stories through song like Knopfler. His solo stuff, while not as reconignisable or stadium friendly as his Dire Straits hits, is often almost on par. Sailing to Philadelphia - sans James Taylor - was aired, the lyric "I am a Geordie Boy" one of several early reminders that the former Gosforth Grammar School pupil was back in Toon. But you wouldn't have thought it looking out to the static audience. One woman near me, clearly keen for a boogie with her dad, spent half the show rightfully complaining in my ear that she had been scolded by the bald bloke in front of her for having the audacity to clap. And looking out at the seated rows below, at times the lifeless audience looked more like that seen at a North Korean military parade than a rock and roll concert. Granted, large chunks - particularly much of the stuff from his solo catalogue - are best enjoyed and absorbed sat down. But it shouldn't have had to get to encore Money for Nothing to get the crowd pumped. Mid-way through, the sexy sax of Your Latest Trick - a stone cold Dire Straits classic - should have had the place swinging. ....Nowt. After this, it felt to me like the band had also slightly given up on making it a party. The energy levels seemed to wain on stage, with the band doing some half hearted clapping during a Postcards from Paraguay in a failed bid to try and inject some life into the place. The track itself is decent, and reminded me lyrically a bit of Warren Zevon's immense Lawyers, Guns and Money. However, its possibly not the best choice so late in the set. What was though - as obvious a choice considering the location - was the NUFC anthem itself, Going Home. The theme tune from Local Hero, it is in the blood of the city Knopfler was raised in and which welcomed back unquestionably its greatest guitar talent - just perhaps not with the energy you'd have expected.