Centennial Concert Hall, Winnipeg, MB

So after the restaurant I decided, for some reason, to go back all the way up Portage Avenue to my motel, drop the car there and take the bus. I believe that what I wanted to achieve is to actually “live” the city, see the people, you know, feel a part of Winnipeg.

People told me all sort of stories and jokes about Winnipeg. I have to say that Winnipeg is not a bad place to be in, not at all. Downtown Winnipeg has lots to see and do in it, there are quite a few parks and places to rest. The downtown area is bigger than I thought, and in the summer there’s a folk festival going on there (which I didn’t attend—I had a Mark Knopfler show to attend).

Will want to visit this place again at some point.

Bus took forever to arrive at the venue. and it really arrived at the venue. The bus stop is literally right by the venue’s stairs. It was 7:20pm already, 10 minutes before Jesca’s act so I had to hurry.

Got my seat—second row, absolute center. Not bad. A few minutes and Jesca appears on the stage wearing her regular attire—that purple dress. She looks great in that dress, however I happen to prefer the other, “secondary” outfit (jeans, shirt—nothing fancy but she looks beautiful in it. That’s what she wore for the Vegas show, and some very few other shows later).

Jesca gave her standard show except for the last song (Jesca, what’s its name?) which I only heard once before in the tour. Beautiful song. Tunes her lower E string down to D, decent guitar work. I like that song.

I occasionally find myself humming “Seed of Wonder” for myself when I’m driving.

During the intermission, I got the chance to take some pictures of the venue:

I have decided to not take any pictures during the show itself this time. First, I really suck at taking pictures. Second, I remembered the show in Woodinville, where cameras were strictly prohibited, and I actually liked the idea of simply shutting my eyes for pretty much the entire show and get myself hypnotized with the music.

The band, rested after a day in Chicago, appeared very shortly after Paul’s declaration of war against recorders. Mark greeted the crowd by “good to be back”, which means that he’s been here before—I talked to some people after the show and they told me that the last time he’s been to Winnipeg were during the Dire Straits days.

I think that, so far, everybody in the band changed clothes at least once except for Mark. Same jeans, same black T‐shirt. Some people don’t like change…

The sound in the venue was very good. Sitting in second row center, I got some great sound, not too loud (not even during Speedway in Nazareth) and not too soft. Just the right volume. No audio hick‐up’s this time—all equipment appeared to have worked flawlessly.

The guys gave Winnipeg a show that’s been worth waiting for. The crowd was fantastic—people didn’t seem to be talking with one another, they listened, they cheered, they were really a part of the concert. I loved being in that crowd. Way to go Winnipeg!

I know you guys always look for the weird and unexpected. It’s really boring to hear that all shows are so great (which they are). So what’s different in the show tonight?

Well, first I should mention that in two of the songs—Hill Farmer Blues and So Far Away, it appeared that either Mark just wanted to continue playing to eternity or the band just wanted to end it already. In both songs, Mark continued playing a solo sequence when the rest of the band was going for the outro—I could see the look of “WTF” on the faces of some of the band members. When it happened during So Far Away, Mark turned to Guy, gave him a big, hearty smile, as if saying “come on, dude”. But this band being comprised of such great musicians, they recovered so quickly that I don’t think too many people noticed.

The set list was the usual. It appears that the band has decided to chuck “Shangri La” from the encore as I haven’t heard it in a while.

Guy is back to his regular concert attire, that white shirt with what seems to be red / pink flowers on it. Coincidentally, I reverted back to my own attire—the Shangri La shirt has finally been washed today.

As usual, everybody improvised and seemed very happy about it.

One of my favourite performances in the show is the performance of Going Home. Before I heard it live, I really wasn’t a big fan of the original version (from the soundtrack)—instead, I really liked the “unplugged” version that appears on the “On the Night” DVD (just guitar, keyboard and some bass, no drums). However, listening to the “fast” version live makes for a completely different experience. Mark and Richard appear to go very well together. Richard taking the Gibson and using that volume pedal at the intro really gives me the shivers as I am a huge fan of this Gibson sound and Richard’s just so good at it.

At the end, Danny appeared a bit insulted that the crowd cheers to everybody else except for him. He was rewarded by good cheers very shortly after expressing his frustration.

That’s it. Another very good show.

A shot of the venue after the show:

After the show, I had to return to my motel by bus. Now people did tell me that downtown Winnipeg is not a place to hang out at night; they appear to be right. All kind of strange people hang out there, I don’t think they’re Mark Knopfler fans. Then again, every big city has that. Toronto has that, big time—you don’t feel very secure wandering around downtown at night. Vancouver is actually OK in that respect, unless you’re talking about Downtown Eastside (East Hastings, east of Gastown) which is pretty much the scariest place to be in, at both daytime and night time.

Tomorrow is going to be my longest driving day in the entire tour. About 735km (456 miles) are between myself and the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis. I will have to leave very early so… time to sleep.

If anybody wants to get together tomorrow, or before / after any show, I should always be available by phone. Feel free to call or text‐message to (519) 635‐5003.

Night,

--
Isaac