| Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris in Toronto - WOW!
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My wife and I saw Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris in Toronto last night at the outdoor Molson Amphitheater. This was the first concert in the North American leg of the “All the Road Running Tour”.
In addition to Emmylou, Knopfler was accompanied by six crack accompanists: guitarist Richard Bennett, keyboard players Guy Fletcher and Matt Rollings, bassist Glenn Worf (with Knopfler for 10 yrs), drummer Danny Cummings (from Dire Straits), and Stuart Duncan on fiddle and mandolin.
Emmylou Harris added some nice vocal counterpoint to the familiar gravelly Knopfler lyrics and she was showcased with back up from the band on a few songs of her own. Her voice still has that etched with pathos quality, and she sounded strong and clear.
The concert showcased most of the tracks from the recent album of duets plus some vintage Knopfler solo efforts and one or two laid back numbers from the Dire Straits catalogue. The enthusiastic crowd was tipped more to the Knopfler side of this performing duo with a couple of Knopfler tunes getting standing ovations.
The tone of the show overall, was in keeping with the latest album, poignant, country-tinged roots music with the regular splash of superlative guitar work from Knopfler. They did get it moving a couple of times and "This is Love" was a real treat.
One of the highlights of the evening was “Speedway at Nazareth” from the “Sailing to Philadelphia” album. The band really kicked it up for this number with droning violin, two electric guitars roaring, Cummings heavy on the big toms, Harris strumming in the background and two genuine Hammond C3’s in full Category 5 overdrive. I got chills.
This was an extremely pleasurable evening, that was rich in harmony, emotion and punctuated by Knopfler’s signature licks.
Bass Geek stuff: Glenn Worf used a combination of Fender Precision, Guild double cutaway semi-hollow, and a jazz-type 4-string (whose headstock shape I didn’t recognize) bass guitars and also a double bass. Avalon DI’s were used for FOH and the amplifier was an Ampeg SVT (2 of them) with one 8x10 Ampeg cabinet. Worf’s sound was a little subdued. He provided good foundation but he was a little indistinct with the bass sounding pillowy with bloom and size as opposed to defined and articulate. He stayed in the pocket most of the night but stepped out on one or two songs with some tasteful upper fret work.
Between Knopfler, Worf & Cummings, these three lay down some serious groove. You could NOT stop your feet from tapping.
Just thought I’d pass along a little bit of Shangri-La from last night to the brethren. If you get a chance to catch one of this show’s upcoming US dates it’s well worth it.
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