<img class="size-full wp-image-932 alignleft" alt="mark-knopfler-albert-hall(m" src="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/mark-knopfler-albert-hallm.jpg" width="150" height="200" />We'd booked the tickets many months ago and we had worried over which seats to get because the Albert Hall can be a bit of a lottery, even the most expensive seats don't always give a good view.

We travelled down to stay with Jane's brother and after spending a sunny afternoon drinking tea we headed off across London arriving at the Albert Hall in time to eat a snack in the pleasant surroundings of Kensington Gardens before finding our way into our seats for 7.30pm. For the first time we were sitting in the arena area about 20 rows from the front and had a really good view of the stage.

The supporting act was <a title="Ruth Moody" href="http://www.ruthmoody.com/" target="_blank">Ruth Moody and her band</a>. She was very good however it was difficult to hear all the words and most of her songs seem to be telling a story so a lot was lost in translation. As is usual with supporting bands the sound system is rarely tuned to their particular needs and so it was a shame.

<img class="alignright size-full wp-image-931" alt="mark-knopfler(may13)" src="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/mark-knopflermay13.jpg" width="200" height="150" />Just before 9pm Mark Knopfler came on stage to a standing ovation and uproar. For the next two hours he kept the audience in raptures and we loved every second. The set list consisted of the following tracks:

What It Is;  Corned Beef City;  Privateering;  Father and Son;  Hill Farmer's Blues;  I Dug Up a Diamond  (Mark Knopfler &amp; Emmylou Harris cover) (with Ruth Moody); Seattle  (with Ruth Moody); I Used to Could; (with Nigel Hitchcock on sax); Romeo and Juliet  (Dire Straits song) (with Nigel Hitchcock on sax); Sultans of Swing  (Dire Straits song); Haul Away;  Postcards from Paraguay;  Marbletown;  Speedway at Nazareth;  Telegraph Road  (Dire Straits song);

Encore: Our Shangri-La  (with Nigel Hitchcock on sax); Going Home: Theme from Local Hero  (with Nigel Hitchcock on sax)

We walked back to the South Kensington tube station with a spring in our steps, a tear in our eyes and a warm feeling

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