Almost in Dire Straits

Mark Knopfler playing at the Albert Hall tonight. 

I like a lot of his solo stuff, although his latest album is not one of the best. He surrounded himself with talented musicians and pursued his interests in history and country music. Sadly however, the acoustics of the hall worked against the band and the pieces were confused and badly balanced. Knopfler's voice was even worse than usual and he rather mumbles his words. However, much to my surprise they launched into the classic Romeo and Juliet, Sultans of Swing and a full length Telegraph Road. Fortunately these seemed to work much better, possibly because of the rather fuller 'Dire Straits' sound. I never thought I would ever experience Telegraph Road live - one of my favourites.

The concert was rounded off with a bouncy adaptation of Local Hero which went down very well. His new stuff would work better in a smaller hall, but was hugely better at the RAH than at the Wembley Arena where I last saw the Straits play.