The Straits Charity in RAH?

[Best Brown Baggies]

Hi. I'm going on Sunday & thought I'd guess the set list.
(And no I haven't read any reviews) :-)

Starting with:
Calling Elvis

Then in no particular order:
Walk Of Life
Heavy Fuel
The Bug
R&J
Private Investigations
Sultans Of Swing
Why Worry
Tunnel Of Love
Your Latest Trick
On Every Street
Telegraph Rd
So Far Away
Money For Nothing
Brothers In Arms
Solid Rock

Last song:
Going Home

Pretty predictable I know, but just a bit of fun.
You never know, they might throw in a Communique or
a Hand in Hand!!!!!

Cheers. BBB

[Jackal]

Sounds about right. They'll probably stick to the most well-known and commercial stuff. Not sure about Heavy Fuel though. Will be fun to read your impressions from the show.

[aborille]

Some photos of the pre-show:

http://www.demotiximages.com/news/699277/straits-formerly-dire-straits-perform-gig-under-bridge

Alessandro

[superval99]

Thanks for the pictures, but I'm not too sure about them being described as Dire Straits new line-up, The Straits!  Or even The Straits, formerly Dire Straits!     

[aborille]

Thanks for the pictures, but I'm not too sure about them being described as Dire Straits new line-up, The Straits!  Or even The Straits, formerly Dire Straits!     

Finally they're showing their hand... 
Alessandro

[xxFordiexx]

That newspaper review is utter gash!

Yes, that's right people JUST the voice was missing in the gig.

OMG! Douche bags.

So were you at the gig Fordie?  How can you comment?

Erm, what do you mean "how can I comment"

This is a Knopfler forum where we can express our opinions.

My comment merely referred to the fact that anyone who honestly feels that the only thing that was missing was Marks voice is totally stupid in my opinion.

Knopflers guitar for one would be missing. Not to mention Illsleys bass for two.

Which ever way you want to look at it, it would have been a competent covers band at best.

Missing Knopfler in my opinion misses the point

[Fieneke2]

Whaauww it took ages to read all your messages of the last weeks! LOL

Well what can I say?

[Jackal]

Several clips on the Tube now. Poor sound quality, but gives you an impression. It is weird to see Alan, Chris and Phil there (Basel deja vu) without Mark and the rest of the band, but I must I'm impressed. And Reis does a scaringly good job. He sounds very much like a young Mark. More energy. And the guitar playing is really spot on. The band is of course not the real deal, but for people who want to hear the oldies and the hits the way they used to be played, more rocking, more lively, this is as good as it gets, I believe.

 

 

One more clip I found, a really nice version of Romeo and Juliette (the band unfortunately labeled as Dire Straits). Notice Chris' sax solo towards the end. Usually the word "cheesy" springs to mind, but this is truly a trip down memory lane. Alan's piano too. I guess it goes to show that there were more components to the Dire Straits sound than only Mark's voice and guitar ...

 

[superval99]

Sorry, but I thought SOS was absolutely dreadful!   Wrong notes everywhere, clumsily played - I was glad when it ended!   R&J did absolutely nothing for me either, without Mark's voice, but Chris's solo was beautiful as we would expect.  It just proves to me who was DS - Mark without a doubt!    

Jackal, you were quite right - this was as good as it gets, unfortunately!    Mark has nothing to fear from this at all!   Morer rocking, more lively?   I don't think so!  

It looked from the videos that everyone was having a good time, so maybe you had to be there!   

[Jackal]

Sorry, but I thought SOS was absolutely dreadful!   Wrong notes everywhere, clumsily played - I was glad when it ended!   R&J did absolutely nothing for me either, without Mark's voice, but Chris's solo was beautiful as we would expect.  It just proves to me who was DS - Mark without a doubt!    

Jackal, you were quite right - this was as good as it gets, unfortunately!    Mark has nothing to fear from this at all!   Morer rocking, more lively?   I don't think so!  

Can't say I was extatic by what I heard, but for people who really want to hear how the songs used to be played, I think this sounds closer to how it was than with Mark and his band these days. Even John Illsley said (http://www.performing-musician.com/pm/nov08/articles/johnillsley.htm) that he didn't like how Mark's new way of playing the old songs sounded. The memories, emotions and associations are just to strong, I guees.

I also agree that Reis' playing wasn't great always, but his sound and style is much closer to how Mark sounded in the early days, much more aggressive. Plus, as far as I understand, he never set out to play the songs note by note.

Still impressed.

[Best Brown Baggies]

I will post a review later, but my first thoughts are.....
No goosebumps, but still, what an amazing performance,
with a trip down memory lane.
I thought they played the songs with a great energy, & all
I can say is the audience loved it.
Of course it felt different without Mark, but to see & hear
Alan, Chris & Phil re-creating their memorable musical inputs
was a joy, then to meet them at the after show party was just
the icing on the cake.

Set list in following order:

Private Investigations
Walk Of Life
Telegraph Rd
R&J
Tunnel Of Love
Your Latest Trick
Brothers In Arms
Two Young Lovers
SOS
MFN
Going Home

Full report to come!
Including a great chat with Mr Ed Bicknell

Cheers. BBB

[dustyvalentino]

You have a habit of crashing the aftershows!

Glad you had a good time.

Personally I don't "get" the whole tribute band thing, with somebody pretending to be somebody else, but I know lots of people do so good luck to them.

[superval99]

Hi BBB!    I was thinking of you all last evening and I'm glad you had a good time, even sans goosebumps!  

BTW  Who were the special guests and did anyone from the band pay tribute to Mark for writing the songs?

[Best Brown Baggies]

You have a habit of crashing the aftershows!

Glad you had a good time.

Personally I don't "get" the whole tribute band thing, with somebody pretending to be somebody else, but I know lots of people do so good luck to them.

Didn't 'Crash' actually.

Whilst speaking with Slavi a few months ago, I asked as I knew she would be attending,
that, as a friend of Chris White, would she be going back stage afterwards to meet him?
When I found out she was, I kindly asked if I could accompany her as her guest.
Thanks to Slavi I could.
It was great to at last meet Alan & Phil.
I had (again thanks to Slavi) met Chris before.
Meeting Tom Petty's drummer was also a thrill.
Ed is a very funny, quick witted guy, and a pleasure to meet again, after 1st meeting with
him after a couple of Hillbilly tours in the 90's.

Cheers. BBB. (aka Rudiger)

[Jackal]

BBB,

How big was the audience? Any idea how many tickets they sold? From the videos it looked pretty full. I must honestly admit I had expected a much smaller turnout.