In the Presence of Greatness
I have been very lucky in my life to be able to share in moments with true greatness. Most recently Andie and I went to Red Rocks to see Mark Knopfler in concert. In our culture superlatives are tossed around like they are stocked in a condiment bar or perhaps given out with the same casual disregard as Taco Bell sauce (I mean really, do you imagine I need 27 packets of fire sauce for my one burrito!) but I digress. In the interest of full disclosure, the blunting of the English language by arbitrarily assigning meaning to words that already have perfectly good meanings all their own is a huge pet peeve of mine. So when great and awesome and... are trotted out to describe the truly pedestrian I get my hackles up to start. The lack of critical thought and discrimination (the good kind) displayed makes me very sad.
All that being said, Mark Knopfler was the essence of greatness. He makes a guitar cry and sing at the same time. I summarily dismissed Rolling Stone's list of the hundred greatest guitarists when I saw he was not in the top five. His sound is unique, tasteful, understated and spectacular. And live this triples. His marvelous ability to turn solos into conversations with other instruments is simply beautiful. He played for several hours without speaking much or drawing attention to himself. I have to admit I generally don't have much patience for music I don't know in concert. He played only three Dire Straits standards, didn't play the signature song from his newest album so the entire night was new to me, and yet Andie and I both thought - Any chance he'll stay and play all night. We both grudgingly went off to the restrooms during the show because we didn't want to miss any of the revelations. We were three rows from the stage so got an intimate view of every move he made. It was a small slice of heaven.
If you love guitar, or even just music and he comes your way - get tickets - and pay the extra to be up close where you can watch his hands.
All that being said, Mark Knopfler was the essence of greatness. He makes a guitar cry and sing at the same time. I summarily dismissed Rolling Stone's list of the hundred greatest guitarists when I saw he was not in the top five. His sound is unique, tasteful, understated and spectacular. And live this triples. His marvelous ability to turn solos into conversations with other instruments is simply beautiful. He played for several hours without speaking much or drawing attention to himself. I have to admit I generally don't have much patience for music I don't know in concert. He played only three Dire Straits standards, didn't play the signature song from his newest album so the entire night was new to me, and yet Andie and I both thought - Any chance he'll stay and play all night. We both grudgingly went off to the restrooms during the show because we didn't want to miss any of the revelations. We were three rows from the stage so got an intimate view of every move he made. It was a small slice of heaven.
If you love guitar, or even just music and he comes your way - get tickets - and pay the extra to be up close where you can watch his hands.
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