Click track on the 2010 Mark Knopfler tour

We already knew from Guy Fletcher’s forum that on stage the band plays  some songs to a click track – a metronome only the musicians (or at least drummer Danny Cummings) could hear on their inear monitors – but we could only speculate which  songs these were. A click track means a steady beat at a 100% constant tempo while without there are normally little tempo changes going along with the different parts of a song, often very subtle but still a possibly different feel.

I meanwhile know from a reliable source on which songs a click track was used. These were:

Border Reiver:  precount to get into the right tempo after the intro of the song (side stick sound in quarter notes plus hihat sound in eighth notes)

What it is: side stick sound in quarter notes throughout the whole song, including the lower parts before the final solo

Sailing to Philadelphia: side stick sound in quarter notes throughout the whole song

Coyote: side stick sound in quarter notes plus “cricket sound” percussion throughout the whole song

Prairie Wedding: no click track

Hillfarmer Blues: side stick sound in quarter notes plus maracas (shaker) sound in eighth notes , switched off at final solo

Romeo & Juliet: no click track

Sultans of Swing: side stick sound in quarter notes plus hihat sound in eighth notes until first solo

Done with Bonaparte: no click track

Marbletown: side stick sound in quarter notes plus hihat sound in eigth notes in the intro (ends when Mark’s guitar starts)

Get Lucky: no click track

Speedway at Nazareth: side stick sound in quarter notes plus hihat sound in eighth notes throughout whole song

Telegraph Road: no click track

Brothers in Arms: no click track

So far away: no click track

Piper to the End: no click track

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