Legendary songsmith Bob Dylan delivered an energetic and enthusiastic performance on Friday night at Montreal’s Bell Centre to a near sell-out crowd. Displaying nothing short of a marketing coup, opening the show was guitar demi-god Mark Knopfler.
Though there is an obvious stylistic divergence between one of pop’s lyrical geniuses and one of rock’s most highly regarded fret-slingers, it was clear last night that these two titans share the same demographic breadth, and the thousands in attendance were treated to a relaxed evening of gem after gem.
Fronting a stellar seven-piece band full of jaw-dropping multi-instrumentalists, the aging Knopfler opened with What It Is and then Corned Beef City, a blues-driven mini-hit from his recent album. Following the first of countless guitar changes, Knopfler used an acoustic guitar to leads his compadres through the subdued bliss that is Privateering.
