That Voice. That Guitar.

Sunday 18 May. The Edinburgh Playhouse. Seats so high up the steep tiers that binoculars were necessary to see the finger-work on the guitar. Whose finger-work? Mark Knopfler’s finger-work!

That voice. That guitar. Those songs.

Lessons learned:

1. Buy tickets early. This involves “being in the know” regarding when tickets go on sale and having fingers poised over the keyboard for the second that sales open. Said lesson has just been successfully put into practice to buy Tom Waits tickets.
2. When people from Newcastle fail to observe Lesson 1, they have to travel to Edinburgh to see Mark Knopfler.
3. When people from Edinburgh fail to observe Lesson 1 and all the tickets have been sold to Geordies, they have to travel to Ireland.
4. When people from Ireland fail to observe Lesson 1 and all the tickets have been sold to Edinbuggers…. Well, it’s a vicious circle, people. Learn Lesson 1, is all we’re saying.
5. Don’t park in the parking garage right next to the Playhouse. The queue to pay at the ticket machines after the concert was longer than the queue at any point to get into the concert.
6. The Playhouse bars decant beer into plastic cups. Because Mark Knopfler fans are so rowdy. Bloody rock ‘n roll hooligans. Got to keep them under control.
7. Beer in plastic cups makes Alien Wally gloomy.
8. Alien Wally moaning about beer in plastic cups makes Mags gloomy.
9. The use of the words “Edinbuggers” and “bloody” is going to get this post blocked by Mags’ Mommy’s company’s spam filter again for “violating the use policy on profanity”. Mags should know better than to use rude words. Sorry Mommy.
10. Although Alien Wally and Mags took along their binoculars, if you don’t own a pair of binoculars or you forget yours, the seats right at the top of the top tier have binoculars attached to them, which you can rent for 50p.
11. Going to a Mark Knopfler concert, with an average audience age of 50, can make you feel young precisely when you need it (looming 32nd birthdays, anyone?).
12. Mark Knopfler’s bald patch doesn’t shine as brightly in the stage lights as Mags thought it would, given that she and Alien Wally were looking straight down onto it from their elevated seating positions.
13. Mark Knopfler is a musical genius. We are so not worthy.