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Mike Seely posed the question: Mark Knopfler a Bigger Gay Icon Than

Published 7:00 am Monday, September 24, 2012

Erika Hobart: (When the lights went down) the men behind me took off their shirts. A woman nearly throttled me with her breast implants as she jumped up and down screaming. I'm SO HAPPY! she wailed, tears streaming down her cheeks.
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Erika Hobart: (When the lights went down) the men behind me took off their shirts. A woman nearly throttled me with her breast implants as she jumped up and down screaming. I'm SO HAPPY! she wailed, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Erika Hobart: (When the lights went down) the men behind me took off their shirts. A woman nearly throttled me with her breast implants as she jumped up and down screaming. I'm SO HAPPY! she wailed, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Then God appeared. Or, at least, the gay, English pop star version of God.
Mike Seely: There I sat, getting dumped on sans ballcap near the stage at the winery in Woodinville, having just weathered word of the Sonics' imminent departure and Chateau Ste. Michelle's inane will call system, where a runner must fetch every ticket from some secret vault a football field away from the entrance. I needed consolation. I needed wisdom. I needed my Dad.
Instead, I got Mark Knopfler, which turned out to be what I needed and more.
Highlight: At one point, Michael appeared onstage in a shiny police uniform, causing men and women surrounding me to nearly go into cardiac arrest. Rainbow lights shot into the sky. I'm not fucking kidding you.
It was gay. It was grandiose. It was totally Michael.
Let me start with my lone regret about the former Dire Straits' frontman's exceptional set list: he didn't play Tunnel of Love, which, as I've said before, usually brings me to tears, or close to it.
Knopfler is prone to long, slow-burn finger-picking jams, and he'll drop them into songs of any tempo.
And he got the demographics down, too. Who's a fan of the eighties? Michael called out to an eruption of cheers.
Who was born in the eighties? About a dozen people (the Key Arena seats 18,000ish) cheered. That's frightening, he remarked.
Last night, Knopfler's most important attribute may have been the patriarchal trust he exudes.
Dressed schlubbily in a flannel shirt and jeans with those hound dog eyes and slack jaw, he made me want to curl up in his lap after the show and have him read me long children's stories about castles and frogs.
And sure, his prime was in the '80s. But Michael still gets a crowd riled up.
After two encores (seriously), Michael ended the night with Freedom to which we all wailed like banshees and waved our arms. I'm so glad I called in sick! someone happily sighed to his friend. That was amazing. Indeed.
Last night, Seattle needed coddling -- Seattle needed Dad -- and the winery in Woodinville was one big, cozy den. Thanks, Pop.

Mike Seely posed the question: Mark Knopfler a Bigger Gay Icon Than George Michael? The bands played. The photos, and reviews, are in. On Wednesday, July 2, Michael played KeyArena, Knopfler at Chateau Ste Michelle.Published on July 3, 2008

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