These days he gets his kicks for twee
Former Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler on stage at the RDS, Dublin
Thursday May 22 2008
Clearly a man with a weak spot for Celtic schmaltz, Mark Knopfler arrives on stage accompanied by a flutter of old-timey violins and weeping mandolins.
He goes on to lead his band through several rounds of sub-Waterboys trad-rock, and then delivers a dewy-eyed reading of 'She Moves Through The Fair'. It isn't quite Ronan Keating, but rendered in the former Dire Straits frontman's radio-friendly rasp, it sounds like a long-lost Rod Stewart B-side.
The only surprise is that he doesn't summon a phalanx of 'Riverdance' hoofers from the wings as accompaniment.
Like many ageing rock stars, Knopfler (59) has sought late-career refuge in the understated authenticity of roots music.
He is nowadays to be found collaborating with country-rock royalty (in 2006 he cut a CD with alt-country legend Emmylou Harris) or writing quiet, personal albums, ripe with mid-life melancholy.
For fans old enough to remember his reign as an MTV doyen, this takes a little getting used to -- seeing Knopfler lead his five-piece ensemble through the wistful 'Sailing to Philadelphia' (the title track from 2000's 'comeback' record), you may find yourself wondering whatever happened to the headband sporting guitar wizard of 'Money for Nothing' and 'Sultans of Swing'.
Still, Knopfler hasn't quite abandoned his crowd-pleasing ways.
Following an ambling refresher course in his recent solo output, the singer slips dutifully into juke-box mode.
To cheers of joy (and perhaps relief), he trots out mellow re-workings of Dire Straits staples 'Brothers in Arms', 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Sultans of Swing' -- a song once derided as the embodiment of major-label smugness but which nowadays seems to crackle with glee and twinkling wit.
- Ed Power
