The sultan of swing

Thank you to Gavin from Dingwall, from whom I bought two Mark Knopfler tickets at face value on ebay. I always feel a moment of trepidation when I hand over the ebay tickets. The bar-scanner hovers over the ticket just that little bit too long and then... BEEP! Phew, we're in. Gavin seemed like an honest bloke from his communications (you can usually spot the touts a mile off with their thousands of ratings and impersonal sales talk and over-inflated prices) and he remains an honest bloke in terms of ebayness.

From our lofty seats up in the circle, we gawped at the magnificence of the Royal Albert Hall. It never fails to impress and its acoustics are superb. It's one of my favourite London venues.

I didn't know who was the support and I was pleasantly surprised that it was Ruth Moody. I saw her a year or so ago as part of the Transatlantic Sessions and really enjoyed her music (I even bought the album). She was fabulous tonight, and her band were fantastic, especially the slide guitar in "Cold Outside". I enjoyed her rendition of Dancing in the Dark.

Then it was the turn of the mighty Mark Knopfler. To begin with, compared to the slick and clear sounds of Ruth Moody and her band, he sounded to me like a growling, shuffling grandad. However, he soon made his guitar sing and he came into his own - I was enthralled. I'm not familiar with his latest work, but the new album sounds promising (Ruth Moody sings on a couple of tracks and he sings on one of hers on her new album). Celtic melodies pervaded many tunes especially tracks from Cal. He played versions of "Romeo and Juliet" and "Brothers in Arms", but left the best to the very last: Going Home.