Review: Bob Dylan & Mark Knopfler at The O2 on October 6th 2011
Like most people probably were heading into this gig, I was curious to see if Bob Dylan and Mark Knopfler would play together at some stage during the night, mindful that Knopfler played on Dylan’s 1979 Christian album Slow Train Coming and produced 1983’s Infidels. As it turned out they didn’t jam together but a packed O2 was treated to two sets of very tight playing by two bands in a good vein of form.
Mark Knopfler plus his band of seven multi-instrumentalists were on for the first hour and a half. His set was comprised exclusively of songs from his solo albums including the hugely successful Sailing to Philadelphia and it even featured a new song, Privateering that had a lot in common with The Decemberists and their maritime folk rock aesthetic. Fans of Dire Straits were left disappointed as Knopfler didn’t touch that material, instead going for the roots rock he’s stuck with over the years and dipping into some Celtic rock as well, with an uileann piper, fiddler, and bozouki player all part of his band. While there were, predictably enough, plenty of calls for Dire Straits songs from the audience, Knopfler did cut loose several times and his exceptional guitar playing was to the fore on a number of great solos.
Dylan and his 5 piece band arrived onstage at 9:15. Kicking off with Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat, they rolled through one of the greatest back catalogues in music with consummate tight playing and a swaggering ease, particularly from Charlie Sexton who laid down some excellent lead guitar work.
Dylan himself was in great form and seemed to enjoy the occasion, shuffling and dancing behind his keyboards, taking a guitar solo on Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright and smiling away, occasionally stepping out from behind his keyboard and leaning on it to admire the skilled playing of his band. With a setlist including classics like Tangled Up In Blue, Highway 61, and Desolation Row; and newer songs such as Things Have Changed, Beyond Here Lies Nothin’, and Thunder on the Mountain, there was plenty for the band to get stuck into.
Dylan was criticised for his show in the O2 two years ago for spending too much time behind the keyboard with his back to some of the audience, but he was centre stage plenty of times on Thursday, playfully singing into the microphone, pulling his weight on guitar and hunching a bit to blast a few harmonica solos as well, seeming very sprightly for a 70 year old man who plays over a 100 shows a year. Before the band walked off the stage after a storming version of Ballad of a Thin Man he thanked us “friends” for coming out.
The encore consisted of highly charged, amped up versions of Like a Rolling Stone and All Along the Watchtower which was a great close. Ultimately the night was summed up with a lyric from Spirit on the Water which the crowd really responded to: “You think I’m over the hill/You think I’m past my prime/Let me see what you got baby/We can have a real good time”. We did and so too, I like to think, did Bob.