Saturday, July 19, 2008

Telegraph road, Telecaster, Knopfler Concert (July 17)




I was 8 and at a Christmas party when I first heard a Dire Straits song. Walk of Life, hit from their album Money of Nothing that was released earlier the same year. One of my dad's friends performed and from what I can recollect, he did a fantastic job at the guitar and the vocals.

20 years later, in another life, another city I finally saw Mark Knopfler live at a concert on Thursday. Can't believe I've waited 20 years to see the man play live. It was amazing. He still got the voice, and the signature guitar strokes. This concert was to promote his new album Kill to get Crimson. He started off with a few new ones, followed by the classic Dire Straits tracks like Romeo and Juliet, Sultans of Swing etc. I was really hoping he would play Tunnel of Love or something from his Shangri-La album.

As the notes played out, each song, an ode cried for a lost memory..Remember listening to that album in our empty apartment in Scarborough? Lady Writer, Romeo and Juliet, Tunnel of Love, Brothers in Arms... Darling Pretty (Golden Heart) .. a song for each... minus one. When he started playing Telegraph Road, something flashed through a series of fail-safes put in place carefully over the years.. and the floodgates burst open... the diffused swam into focus, everything was just obvious... nothings that complex. Nothing is ever completly futile. Nothing...


You know I'd sooner forget but I remember those nights
When life was just a bet on a race between the lights
You had your head on my shoulder you had your hand in my hair
Now you act a little colder like you don't seem to care
But believe in me baby and Ill take you away
From out of this darkness and into the day
From these rivers of headlights these rivers of rain
From the anger that lives on the streets with these names
cos Ive run every red light on memory lane
Ive seen desperation explode into flames
And I dont want to see it again. . .

from all of these signs saying sorry but were closed
All the way down the telegraph road
...........


EDIT: The pictures of Knopfler were originally taken by a gentleman who was at another one of his shows. These are some amazing pictures, and he has very generously allowed me to use one or two. For more
pictures here is a link to his site


YouTube video of the above song :

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