Reflections From Someone Who Couldn't Go..........

[jimbobaby]

Just impossible for me to get to any of the UK gigs this time round.  Was initially disappointed with the setlist and not overly enamoured at the prospect of seeing a seated version of our hero (though completely sympathetic as to why and hats off to the great man for soldiering on).  Having spent an afternoon listening to the Symfy recording of Hamburg (err, that should have said Frankfurt!!) uninterrupted from start to finish I have the following thoughts for what they are worth.  Nothing very novel or earth shattering I'm afraid, but here y'go:

1.  The boys are on form.  Excellent playing etc.
2.  The Simfy guys know what they are doing.  Impressive product and service.  Will buy some more when the setlist varies.
3.  The setlist does make a lot of sense when you listen to it in order, but really its aimed at the occasional attendees.
3.  Err, its terrific but its all a bit familiar to those fanatics among us.  I love it all lf course but the next tour really will need a shake up of material.
4.  Highlights for me by a long way are Coyote, Marbletown and Hill Farmers Blues.  Remarkable really as RPD is by a long way my least favourite solos offering.  Just shows what a bit of live playing and energy does for a song.
5.  Much as I love it, R&J has had its day.
6. Any version of TR that misses out my favourite electric solo after "..like a rolling river" really is an aberration.  Well, that's a bit strong, but oh how I miss that solo.  This version of TR is better than the last tour though not as strong as 2005 for me. Mind you I'm listening to the end of it again as I type this and he really rips it!
7.  MK's singing has never sounded better.  Amazing what ten years off the fags does for you!
8. A silly comment as I've not seen it in the flesh but from the videos etc I'm not sure the big screen adds much.
9. PTTE is his best song of the last few years (sorry Antwerp!) but it begs for a longer, extended solo at the end.
10. Not convinced that BR is the strongest starting song - It beats calling Elvis for me, but I loved Cannibals on the last tour. Wish the studio version of BR had more electric guitar on it!
11.  I hope he doesn't get too attached to the chair!
12. PW is an odd choice for me but I kinda like this live version.
13. I'd drop either Speedway or TR and fill in the gap with another couple of new songs.  Both are great (comment no 6 above notwithstanding), but a bit samey and done to death for me. CMG and cannibals instead of SAN - now there's a thought - I'll get my coat and slowly retreat, but hey I'd like it!.
14. I love BIA but I'm getting as bored with it as R&J - guess he feels he's got to play it though!
15.  If he ever drops sultans I'll slit my wrists (well, I won't but you get my drift).  I was a bit worried it might sound like a sad cabaret song seated and with a severely cut down arrangement this time round but I really enjoyed it.

Hey this is all getting a bit self indulgent so I'll stop! Thanks for reading if yopu've managed to get to the end.  Get lucky!

[Love Expresso]

Nice thoughts! I agree that this setlist has to be heard in a whole - it works! That is the great thing. MK sitting is not so much a problem for me.
I also thought I never would say that, but after 25 years of having heard it extensively in bazillions of versions, I must say that it might be time for MK
to skip Sultans. It has had its best days, it is just a shadow of earlier renditions, and I really feel a pain (literally) when I comes to play it and doesn't nail it anymore.

One thing:
I am sure you haven't listened to the Hamburg show from SimfyLive yet, because that one is still to come next week! You probably meant Frankfurt, which of course is also the name from something to eat for English spoken people apart from Hamburgers, so maybe... just kiddin!

And one last thing to agree: Yes, those people at SimfyLive know what they do (apart from taking a proper company name that someone is able to keep in mind). I can only speak from the London recording until today, but it sounds really great. Nobody complained about the format or the sound quality so far.

I was really wondering if I should go this time and was about to skip the tour to be honest, but I am happy that I did not! If you will have the chance to go the next time, do not hestiate, just throw all those old remembered stuff from the Straits days over board and just enjoy a really good show!

LE

[jimbobaby]

Well spotted LE - I can't tell my Frankfurters from my Hamburgers, so to speak!   

[dmg]

Some interesting thoughts there but I must take up with you with Cannibals and it's inclusion.   Speedway is being played extremely well right now and is a must for me and Border Reiver is a much better opener than Cannibals which I've often looked upon as Walk of Life's younger (and poorer) sibling!

[jimbobaby]

Hi DMG.  Yep, I pretty much agree with you about cannibals as a weak song, but there was just something about the live version from the last tour with John McCusker et al that just put me in a cheery mood. Its so infectious.   My problem with BR is that it is so nearly a great song - lyrics and story etc are good and it has a good beat etc, but there is just not enough guitar on it for me - he nearly cuts it with the live version but not quite and its a big missed opportunity cos it could have been fabulous and just isn't quite there.  I love Speedway but I find the end section of the gigs just too predictable these days - sa,me songs, same order, same arrangements.  CMG could be extended to a big crescendo ending or even something like The Car Was The One could be given a big outro and put in the Spoeedway slot- but MK doesn't seem to want to do this any more we are told - yet still get the extended SAN and TR!  I'm confused.

[superval99]

Jimbobaby,    I heard CMG in Dublin and it was really amazing and very powerful,  but I would like it included in a concert WITH Speedway, not as a substitute.  Speedway, on this tour, is the best I have ever heard it played and I wouldn't like it dropped for Cannibals, which has never been one of my favourites.  Apart from that, I agree with much of what you say, except for dropping R & J, which is my favourite DS/MK song.    

[jimbobaby]

HI Val

CMG and Speenway would be cool.  Actually I wish he'd just behave and play for 4 hours! Anybody would tbhi nk he's 60 for Goodness sake!

[ds1984]

I have not this show but the Antwerp one and I don't find the recording exceptionaly good, sound more like a live radio broadcast with a somewhat strange balance between instruments. For example, if you experienced to be in the house one night, you will immediatly ask why Mark's electric guitar sounds so flat on the end of R&J or the  power Les Paul chords by Richard on SAN are barely audible on the recording?

From that, I can say that SAN was much more enjoyable when I heard it at the RAH than through this recording.
I hope that Richard will be better mixed on another released show.


Regarding BR even if it is not my fave on the album I do prefer it 1000 time more than this WOL alike version of "Cannibals", we were far from it 1996 rendition.

[jimbobaby]

The simfy recordings are not perfect by any means - Frankfurt is very bass oriented, but when you take into account how quickly they have been produced I think they are remarkable.  I wish we had this quality of recording for some old favourites - I am alone in loving cannibals but hey I'll find a way to cope   Given MK's apparent reticence to release live stuff, I thi nk this represents a real fan pleasing move which I for one am grateful for, especially since I just couldn't make the dates work for me this yer.

[herlock]

Cannibals reminds me of WOL and WOL happens to be the only DS/MK song I really HATE. I am glad both were dropped.
BR is quite nice, there is something of "What it is" in it, it even works better live than WII does, but, agreed, it is too short, the guitar riff in the end stops where I would like it to start...
R&J is a nice song but it has been so overplayed (the only song that has been played in every single concert since its creation) that I'm done with it. TOL would be a better representative of Making Movies, IMHO, but...
Speedway works fantastic live, year after year. It's a classic, it would have been a killer during DS times, no way to drop it !
TR is my very favourite DS/MK of all time, but I'm somehow, as some expressed here, disappointed by its overly laid-back styles nowadays; watching the Alchemy version I feed the opposite - too rocking. The absolute best compromise were the 96 versions, with the 2005 ones a close second. Same for SoS, 96 versions were so great.
Anyway, I'm going to see the show tomorrow in Paris, and I'm sooooooo excited ! Last time I've seen a MK/DS show was... 18 years ago, April 21st, 1992, in Lyon. Times flies....

[Love Expresso]

Just one question: Has Sultans not also always been played from the very beginning? Are there really any concerts without Sultans? Just curious...

LE

[ds1984]

Just one question: Has Sultans not also always been played from the very beginning? Are there really any concerts without Sultans? Just curious...

LE

This is probably a joke but Mark was quoted saying that in their early days sometimes they forgot to play it during the encore.

[herlock]

Just one question: Has Sultans not also always been played from the very beginning? Are there really any concerts without Sultans? Just curious...

LE

R&J was played during the ATTR tour.
SOS was not.

[Love Expresso]

Just one question: Has Sultans not also always been played from the very beginning? Are there really any concerts without Sultans? Just curious...

LE

R&J was played during the ATTR tour.
SOS was not.

Convincing argument! 

LE

[Knopflerfan]

Many thanks for your interesting thoughts jimbobaby.

Just a few answers from us,

Regarding 'Border Reiver' well my wife and I were big fans of 'Cannibals' opening the show on the 'KTGC' tour in 2008 and even 'Calling Elvis' to a degree, but we have to agree that 'BR' is the ultimate MK 'start of show' tune now!! Espeically as there is the really nice 'smooth' MK Strat on the 'live' version which I agree should have been on the album version.

You can tell that MK and the boys love playing their music and enjoy playing it for the masses..

It wouldn't bother us if R & J was 'dropped' but to the non-committed casual fan this is perhaps what they remember from MK, and as for dropping Sultans - No way, that surely has to be his 'trademark' tune no matter how he plays it.

To some it up for us, and having done two shows this tour we don't really care what MK plays so long as he is playing! and we will look forward to the next time!! Yes he is slower but he still entertains tremendously well!!