New DS Live Box Set, 3rd November 2023!

[Chris W]

Chris you are amazing in Telegraph Road. Not only in the Telegraph, but now I'm listening to the Telegraph once again:)

Thank you.

[Marnix]

I think it was definitely played most on the North America leg.
In my mind it certainly wasn't a regular in the set, albeit I agree, it pops up on other legs from time to time.
The repetitious solos I'm talking about are the songs that go back further. The solos evolved over several tours, they evolved less from week to week on the 92 tour.

Did someone from the crew also made recordings during the rehearsals/ soundcheck/ concert from the soundboard to listen to the songs you played to improve the playing or change the arrangements for example?

[ds1984]

I think it was definitely played most on the North America leg.
In my mind it certainly wasn't a regular in the set, albeit I agree, it pops up on other legs from time to time.
The repetitious solos I'm talking about are the songs that go back further. The solos evolved over several tours, they evolved less from week to week on the 92 tour.

I checked On Every Bootleg site

The '91 european leg is featuring 32 gigs recorded panning from 23rd August 1991 in Dublin to 14th October 1991 in Zurich

PONO appear in 100 % of the recordings
Always performed on the first quarter of the show.
Fifth position is usual number - and I would say it was 90% of the time.
When not in fifth position, it was between the third and seventh position.


We have only two recordings from the  down under leg, PONO was still there.


For the '92 US leg 27 gigs are featured
For the first 16 available recordings, PONO appear 15 times always performed in fifth position.
The only recording where PONO is not featured is said being the full show - third US recording -  5th February 1992  - Sports Arena, San Diego, USA.

The 17th recording (2nd March 1992 - Spectrum, Philadelphia, USA) is very partial show and do not feature PONO

The last ten recordings are full or almost full.
 
From 4th March 1992 - War Memorial, Syracuse, USA to 4th April 1992 - Center Coliseum, Seattle, USA

PONO is performed 6 times
The first two ones at the usual fifth position
The las four ones at various position within the third quarter of the show (ie between SOS and TYL).

Then the 1992 european leg where it was still on the setlist but more and more on a random basis.

Edit : I checked and only available recording is Paris April 27.

I still mourn missing the '91 leg because PONO is my fave song of the show and I feel sooooo unlucky only witnessing PONOless gig in '92.

[Chris W]

I am skeptical about set lists on the web.
One popular site had us playing Calling Elvis fewer times than we played shows, even though we opened with it at EVERY show.
Another site claims there were no encores at 55 shows, when we played at east one encore at EVERY show.
PONO obviously wasn't played in the block before the recording and filming for 'On The Night'.

One set list site says PONO was played 67 times in 229 shows, which seems about right to me.

[ds1984]

I am skeptical about set lists on the web.
One popular site had us playing Calling Elvis fewer times than we played shows, even though we opened with it at EVERY show.
Another site claims there were no encores at 55 shows, when we played at east one encore at EVERY show.
PONO obviously wasn't played in the block before the recording and filming for 'On The Night'.

One set list site says PONO was played 67 times in 229 shows, which seems about right to me.

I am not talking about setlist but actual recordings.

On Every Bootleg is very trustable, not 100% error free but 99%

I don't trust setlist.fm and the info I post don't come from them.

And please note what I wrote : during the '92 european leg PONO was still featured in the setlist but more and more on a random basis.
Edit : I have striked what I previously wrote as Paris 27th is the ONLY known recording from the '92 european leg featuring PONO.
So the accurate word is not "random" but "dropped" until new recordings will surface and prove this wrong.

What I can add is that PONO was played at Bercy in '92 at least one night (27th April 1992) and we don't know which night(s) was\were recorded with the studio mobile.

Yes at the time of the filmings for OTN, from the available audience recordings PONO seems to be a permanently dropped song from the setlist - but I did not check all the available recordings made before or after Rotterdam and Nimes.

[iorch82]

I am skeptical about set lists on the web.
One popular site had us playing Calling Elvis fewer times than we played shows, even though we opened with it at EVERY show.
Another site claims there were no encores at 55 shows, when we played at east one encore at EVERY show.
PONO obviously wasn't played in the block before the recording and filming for 'On The Night'.

One set list site says PONO was played 67 times in 229 shows, which seems about right to me.

I am not talking about setlist but actual recordings.

On Every Bootleg is very trustable, not 100% error free but 99%

I don't trust setlist.fm and the info I post don't come from them.

And please note what I wrote : during the '92 european leg PONO was still featured in the setlist but more and more on a random basis.

What I can add is that PONO was played at Bercy in '92 at least one night (27th April 1992) and we don't know which night(s) was\were recorded with the studio mobile.

Yes at the time of the filmings for OTN, from the available audience recordings PONO seems to be a permanently dropped song from the setlist - but I did not check all the available recordings made before or after Rotterdam and Nimes.

Do you have any 92 EUR leg example of PONO other than the two Bercy examples? By the way, my favourite song from the tour as well.

[ds1984]

After checking Jeroen's site the only available recording of PONO during EUR '92 leg is Paris 27th April 1992.

[Brunno Nunes]

After the version on April 27, 1992, in no other available recording we have PONO, implying that this was the last version that was played. From May onwards, (the period in which OTN was recorded) she was no longer on set, unfortunately.

On the other hand, PONO is a song that was played much more on the tour than Iron Hand, Fade to Black, When it Comes to you, YTILTM, even Wild Theme, as it was present in the set of that tour between August 1991 and April 1992, practically nine months..

[Chris W]

I am not talking about setlist but actual recordings.

Well I was just saying we didn't play the song that often, and the figure of 67 times in 229 shows seems about right. A large amount of that 67 would be the North American tour.

[Chris W]

On the other hand, PONO is a song that was played much more on the tour than Iron Hand, Fade to Black, When it Comes to you, YTILTM, even Wild Theme, as it was present in the set of that tour between August 1991 and April 1992, practically nine months..

Somehow the 'Wild Theme' was missed by these sites, or renamed on some set lists. From my memory we always closed the show with Mark, Alan and Guy playing the theme from Local Hero.
Some set list sites have us playing 'Calling Elvis' fewer times than shows, but we always opened with it. We always played at least one encore, while set lists sites claim we didn't play an encore at 55 shows.
It is an error of information gathering, that's all.
All the other songs you list above were (yes) hardly ever played. After the initial UK leg, which felt experimental, there was pretty much a core set with two or three songs coming in and out of the set from time to time.
Core songs:

Calling Elvis

Walk of Life

Heavy Fuel

Romeo and Juliet

The Bug

Private Investigations

Sultans of Swing

Your Latest Trick

On Every Street

Two Young Lovers

Telegraph Road

Tunnel of Love

Money for Nothing

Brothers in Arms

Wild Theme/Local Hero/Going Home - whatever you call it....Mark playing a theme from Local Hero accompanied by Guy and Alan.

[ds1984]

I am not talking about setlist but actual recordings.

Well I was just saying we didn't play the song that often, and the figure of 67 times in 229 shows seems about right. A large amount of that 67 would be the North American tour.

I assume that PONO was performed 43 times in 1991 in europe alone.
We had have 32 night available and the score is 100% on these 32 recordings.

The US tour was 52 shows
We have 27 seven recordings
PONO is featured 21 times

I can't speak about Ocenia in between as we are lacking recordings from that leg.

And PONO was dropped after the US leg.
 

[Chris W]

Anyway..... all I said was that it was 1) a new song and 2) was not played often enough to cement in a repeated guitar solo.
Going back to my earlier point.... Mark's solos seemed to me to follow a repeated pattern for the most part, rather than an evolving improvisation.

Don't really know why anyone is arguing about that.

[Chris W]

Regarding PONO - it was slow and rather cerebral. It never went down incredibly well, especially in the larger stadiums. Which in my memory os why it wasn't played a lot and was finally dropped.
Maybe we played it at Paris Bercy in case it could go on the live album?
Lots of different sets were tried between Leg 1 (UK/Europe), Australia and North America.
By the time we started the home stretch (Easter 1992, Metz) I think the song selection was perfect for the outdoor stadium shows.

[Love Expresso]

Arguing is the nature of a Fan forum . 

If you are too critical about MK around here, it will give some people bad mood. This is from MK fans for MK fans, not a neutral music/guitar/drum forum..  however, freedom of speech is the highest rule here.

I think all members are VERY happy to have you around as it is just a perfect occasion to get information from someone who was so close to MK and worked in the band.

About solos, you are certainly right. MK is going for the safety net in every aspect of his career, you could say he is a control  freak for sure, so any other way of doing guitar solos would have been very astonishing.

"The song is the king" is his mantra and it seems a too self indulging solo would be something that sets a spotlight on the player too much and distracts from the song. I personally find that attitude rubbish.

The live recordings from 2013 for example show some evolvement of solos over the course of 80+ shows though. Hill Farmer's Blues, Kingdom of Gold are some good examples.

LE

[Chris W]

I dunno.
He seemed to me a very cerebral, calculating kind of guy. Solos seemed constructed rather than off the cuff.
Nothing wrong with gradually working your way towards the perfect solo.
The older songs with long solos had evolved over many years and several tours. The OES song solos started based on the studio solos and only slightly evolved from there (in my opinion).