This morning when I was driving to work it was raining. There was thunder and lightning and lots of rain all morning long. At noon it was still raining and kept on raining into the afternoon.
Normally I would be glad for the rain. It's been a hot summer and the cooler temperatures that come with the water are very nice.
Tonight, though, I had a concert at Red Butte Garden. It was MT's pick for the concert this summer, An Evening with Mark Knopfler, and though the RBG concerts go on rain or shine, I much prefer shine.
Finally the rain went away and the sky turned blue around 3:30 this afternoon. I knew the ground would still be wet, and the temperature was still on the cool side, but I wasn't going to get wet at or after the show and I was happy.
We packed up our picnic and our chairs. We grabbed jackets. We put on long pants and long sleeve shirts. We felt good about our choices.
Let me tell you, we were not dressed warmly enough. I wish I had brought a beanie, gloves, my puffy coat and a blanket. It was cold out there! I'm sure the temperature was in the low 60s to upper 50s and the breeze was chilly! Mark Knopfler was onstage making jokes about icicles forming on the microphone and wondering if he could play the guitar while wearing gloves. Of course the man is 70, and it was even chillier down at the stage. The breeze blows down the canyon and off the creek and it gets cool.
Other than being cold, how was the show, you ask. Well, it's like this: I thought I knew Mark Knopfler's music, but I really only know a few songs from the Dire Straits classic LP Brothers in Arms, which includes the song Money for Nothing, an iconic '80s song. Who can forget Sting singing in his falsetto "I want my MTV"? The opening guitar riff from Money for Nothing is epic. I also know parts of the song Romeo and Juliet, Sultans of Swing, Walk of Life (a joyful, bouncy tune) and So Far Away. Knopfler's solo work I am unfamiliar with, but willing to listen to. I've seen many bands this summer who I was completely unfamiliar with, so I figured Knopfler would do the songs I listed plus solo stuff.
Wrong.
He did Romeo and Juliet, then many, many songs I didn't know that were in MT's words "elevator music". He mentioned how cold it was many, many times. He took a break, came back out and did Money for Nothing and another song I didn't know, then he waved good-bye and was gone. He was done before 10:00, which is quite unusual. It felt unfinished and ended abruptly. My gut feeling is that he was really cold and just didn't want to play anymore. No Sultans of Swing. No Walk of Life. Bummer.
The amount of garbage I picked up tonight was in direct proportion to how cold it was. The show was sold out and there were 3,000 people there. When the show was over, a percentage of them abandoned their garbage and left. I picked up a LOT of trash tonight. Still, it went pretty fast because there are several people who do cleanup and the place is not huge. When I got to the car, MT had it all warmed up for me, so that was nice. We got home pretty early, so also good.
MT says he probably would have liked the show more if he had been appropriately dressed. I agree that more clothes would have been better, but the show was just all right for me. I was disappointed not to hear some of those Dire Straits hits. BUT, I was just looking at some set lists from recent shows and his set list tonight was exactly what the previous shows were. He doesn't do many Dire Straits songs. Oh well. Guess it is what it is.
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