Seventeen years after Dire Straits breathed their last, the band's lead vocalist and talisman Mark Knopfler continues to enjoy a fruitful solo career. With five of his six solo LPs hitting the UK Top Ten (the exception was 2004's Shangri-La - a No 11 hit), Knopfler's career has continued to blossom long after he left the headband rock days of Dire Straits behind.

Headband (and most of his hair) gone, Mark Knopfler remains a uniquely talented guitarist and a songwriter with a real knack for creating hooks and atmosphere. The multi-million selling days of Brothers in Arms may have been left in the eighties but there can be no doubt that Knopfler's stock has rarely been higher.

His last album, 2009's Get Lucky reached No 17 in the US, his best solo showing there yet, and performed well across Europe and beyond. In early September, his seventh solo work, Privateering, will be released on Mercury and the influential guitarist and singer will be taking his new material on the road soon after, along with his canon of blues, Celtic rock classics.

The Privateering tour kicks off at the SECC in Glasgow on 17th May 2013, followed by a hometown gig in Newcastle, then Liverpool, Bournemouth, Cardiff, Birmingham and Brighton before taking up residency at the Royal Albert Hall for five nights between Monday 27th May and Saturday 1st June 2013. We have tickets on sale now priced from around £40.