New DS Live Box Set, 3rd November 2023!

[Chris W]

I don't think the show was 'boring' for the band, or that anyone other than Mark and John was bothered about 'cancelled' shows.
No shows were 'cancelled' in my experience. What happened was that some shows (really just Australia and America) were pencilled in (TBA) and they never went on sale.
The problem was that the top man on the tour was in a bad place. The mood starts at the top and trickles down. Important crew members who had been with DS from almost the very beginning all said it was the most stressful, least happy tour they'd ever worked on.

[dmg]

Interesting article - thanks Dusty.

At least they all got a ghetto blaster thrown in!   

[dustyvalentino]

Interesting article - thanks Dusty.

At least they all got a ghetto blaster thrown in!   

I wish I could find the magazine, the rest of the article is just as good.

MK is really grump and says something like "People can write that the Red Hot Turds or whatever are really great and Dire Straits are finished, but these kids can't go out and fill Wembley stadium". I assume he is referring to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers who did indeed go on to sell out Wembley stadium.

[quizzaciously]

I don't think the show was 'boring' for the band, or that anyone other than Mark and John was bothered about 'cancelled' shows.
No shows were 'cancelled' in my experience. What happened was that some shows (really just Australia and America) were pencilled in (TBA) and they never went on sale.
The problem was that the top man on the tour was in a bad place. The mood starts at the top and trickles down. Important crew members who had been with DS from almost the very beginning all said it was the most stressful, least happy tour they'd ever worked on.

At least Mark's last solo tour was the least stressful, happiest and most successful tour he'd ever had (according to his manager), so I guess somebody learns from his mistakes after all!

[Jules]

Interesting article - thanks Dusty.

At least they all got a ghetto blaster thrown in!   

I wish I could find the magazine, the rest of the article is just as good.

I bought a copy not long ago in Ebay, actually there are some copies still available there:

https://www.ebay.es/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p4432023.m570.l1313&_nkw=vox+magazine+dire+straits&_sacat=0

[Matchstickman]

It has always  felt odd that Mark overdid the BIA tour, grew fatigued with the band, and then did the same thing all over five years later. It must have snowballed out of control once he displayed willingness to resurrect the band. Many people and strong forces pushing for more shows and bigger venues, presumably...

[quizzaciously]

It has always  felt odd that Mark overdid the BIA tour, grew fatigued with the band, and then did the same thing all over five years later. It must have snowballed out of control once he displayed willingness to resurrect the band. Many people and strong forces pushing for more shows and bigger venues, presumably...

Exactly, that's why I'm always trying to "defend" MK, but what I mean is that anybody in his shoes would probably do the same, given the circumstances, half of which are not even known to the public. Nearly every questionable decision can be properly explained using even all that we know. And in the long run, it seems like he did everything right in the situation, that's why I may come across as the guy who thinks everything MK does is always right. He's just a smart guy, look where he's now.

History is history, but I always felt it could be a better idea to leave DS after BiA and make On Every Street the first solo album, how cool is that? As Chris said, a 14-month tour is an overkill, it's unhealthy and not normal. It's not normal to go on tour for so long that marriages and friendships get destroyed as a result of it as if it's some kind of war campaign and not just playing some popular music for people. It's like being overweight or being an alcoholic. A 14-month tour non-stop, come on.

UPD: I know Chris hasn't said it exactly like this, don't throw tomatoes at me, but it is just my interpretation of his words and a general approximation of how the tour felt for the crew. If it felt like this for a musician, I can't even start to imagine how it felt to a crew who needed to do all this shit for so long without even being face to face with "the boss" once. It's ridiculous.

[milicz]

You're justifying or explaining his actions, that doesn't make them right or wrong.  Not doing an end of tour party? Pretty shitty regardless of what was going on, that doesn't make it wrong or right.

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[2manyguitars]

I don't think it's a question of justifying anyone's actions. Sometimes there is no justification for your behavior, but there are mitigating circumstances.....

[quizzaciously]

You're justifying or explaining his actions, that doesn't make them right or wrong.  Not doing an end of tour party? Pretty shitty regardless of what was going on, that doesn't make it wrong or right.

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In this situation, I would employ proof by contradiction. Imagine, you're Mark Knopfler at the end of a long-ass tour (can't call it any other way), you're in a bad place, and everything's falling apart, everybody's exhausted. Are you going to end the tour with fake smiles and a fake hugs party? Do you need a party anyway? Just to celebrate the fact you've just wasted a year and a half playing the same thing over and over trying to escape from reality, only to return and realise nothing's changed? Mark said it himself, I'm not making this up.

I desperately want to ask Mark all this, but as you know he's not talking about these things much, probably for a reason. So all I can do is guess and try to relive the situation as if it happened to me. And the absence of a tour party is a major red flag to me indicating something was fundamentally compromised during all this. Big endeavours like this are usually celebrated at least in some shape or form, it's not a weekend in a theme park. Another question is could he do something about it afterwards? Do a tour party behindhand? But it's even worse than not doing it in the first place. It's a zugzwang.

Either way, the reality is always way, way, way more complicated, and saying "no party = Mark is an asshole" is just plain lazy to me.

[quizzaciously]

You're justifying or explaining his actions, that doesn't make them right or wrong.  Not doing an end of tour party? Pretty shitty regardless of what was going on, that doesn't make it wrong or right.

Sent from my XQ-DQ62 using Tapatalk

In this situation, I would employ proof by contradiction. Imagine, you're Mark Knopfler at the end of a long-ass tour (can't call it any other way), you're in a bad place, and everything's falling apart, everybody's exhausted. Are you going to end the tour with fake smiles and a fake hugs party? Do you need a party anyway? Just to celebrate the fact you've just wasted a year and a half playing the same thing over and over trying to escape from reality, only to return and realise nothing's changed? Mark said it himself, I'm not making this up.

I desperately want to ask Mark all this, but as you know he's not talking about these things much, probably for a reason. So all I can do is guess and try to relive the situation as if it happened to me. And the absence of a tour party is a major red flag to me indicating something was fundamentally compromised during all this. Big endeavours like this are usually celebrated at least in some shape or form, it's not a weekend in a theme park. Another question is could he do something about it afterwards? Do a tour party behindhand? But it's even worse than not doing it in the first place. It's a zugzwang.

Either way, the reality is always way, way, way more complicated, and saying "no party = Mark is an asshole" is just plain lazy to me.

More like yes, Mark was under some pressure at the time after 6 years without a proper album after a hugely successful magnum opus, not knowing what to do next, releasing miscellaneous or semi-miscellaneous stuff, playing rhythm guitar for Eric Clapton, contemplating the reunion of the band, and things snowballed out of control.

Also, Mark felt he needed to do it for his bandmates and audience, had contractual obligations, probably knew he wouldn't be able to top Brothers In Arms no matter what he was doing, and was at the wheel assembling the team of top-notch musicians and crew, writing songs, playing the guitar, singing, doing interviews, making decisions, undergoing major personal life problems, and still managed (with help of hundreds of people) to put out a brilliant show and consistent quality night after night, day after day, all without major mistakes and missing a single date, while sometimes not being aware of where you are in the world, and which city you're playing today (confirmed by Guy in his diary).

The man deserves praise more than he deserves criticism, and small things like the proverbial sausage story or the absence of a tour party are just not registering on my radar of appreciation. Try to do what he did, and 99.99999999% of people would fail without even starting. End of rant.

[Chris W]

The sob stories make my eyes roll.
Mark made a huge bounty from the OES tour. Heck, they just re-released the recordings to fill the bank balance even more.
The tour was a money making exercise, pure and simple, hence the article talking about the 'disaster' Australian tour, which actually was very successful from an audience/music point if view. Then John moaning about expensive hotels.

[Chris W]

The man deserves praise more than he deserves criticism, and small things like the proverbial sausage story or the absence of a tour party are just not registering on my radar of appreciation. Try to do what he did, and 99.99999999% of people would fail without even starting. End of rant.

Most of what you post is guess work.
In the end I don't really care about a tour party, I just brought it up as an indication of how dysfunctional Mark was during the tour.
Whatever mood you are in, it is just common politeness to thank the 150 or so people who just helped you sell out huge outdoor stadiums, making large amounts of money for your future lifestyle.

[Jules]

The man deserves praise more than he deserves criticism, and small things like the proverbial sausage story or the absence of a tour party are just not registering on my radar of appreciation. Try to do what he did, and 99.99999999% of people would fail without even starting. End of rant.

Most of what you post is guess work.
In the end I don't really care about a tour party, I just brought it up as an indication of how dysfunctional Mark was during the tour.
Whatever mood you are in, it is just common politeness to thank the 150 or so people who just helped you sell out huge outdoor stadiums, making large amounts of money for your future lifestyle.

He did thanked all the musicians and crew during the Zaragoza concert, there is an audience recording of it and you can hear how he thanks everyone but, yes, I agree that he should had made it more personally than that.

[quizzaciously]

Dear Chris, with all due respect, everything being posted here is guesswork, not just my posts. It's a forum. We don't have any financial reports and barely even have first-hand evidence from the people responsible for the tour the most. John Illsley in his book about Dire Straits described the whole tour in a couple of pages, Mark acts like it never happened at all, and we welcome the re-release of On The Night as a miracle because it's the first change since its release up until this moment in 30 years.

The wealth of musicians is greatly overrated as well. I remember people like Sir Van Morrison, Chuck Berry or even Tommy Emmanuel cutting the BS and saying clear as day "I'm still playing music to earn money". Surprise, surprise, people want to get some dough for their work and eat something for lunch, so I don't get why the tour didn't need to be a "money-making exercise" as well as a celebration of music. Dire Straits is not a charitable organization.

Thank you once again for attacking me personally ("sob stories", "guess work", etc.), I try not to take it seriously. Your insights and photos are incredibly valuable and interesting, opening a shade behind this tour a little bit. The tour itself deserves a whole movie or a book about it, not just some posting on a forum, and the fact we are still discussing it today means something. The drama behind the last DS tour is just too interesting and still has a lot of unanswered questions.