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Author Topic: Random reflexions about Dire Straits tours  (Read 4319 times)

Offlineds1984

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Random reflexions about Dire Straits tours
« on: August 02, 2024, 11:36:20 AM »
No US LOG tour

Looking back at Dire Straits tours I did forget that Dire Straits did not perform in the US for the LOG tour.
Well a bit surprising as it was an usual gig territory.

Australia not good enough for touring in 1991

Ed Bicknell after the OES autralian leg failure was telling that Australia wasn't a good place for touring but Dire Straits already did tour there for the OLT, LOG and BIA tours, the latest one being huge success.


No day off

1982 - 22 days in a row between november 30 and december 21
1985 - 19 days in a row between june 28 and july 16
« Last Edit: August 02, 2024, 01:37:31 PM by ds1984 »
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Two weeks in Australia and Sydney striptease

Offlinewayaman

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Re: Random reflexions about Dire Straits tours
« Reply #1 on: August 02, 2024, 11:52:07 AM »
Australia wasn't a good place to tour because of the economical situation in 1991.


OfflineLove Expresso

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Re: Random reflexions about Dire Straits tours
« Reply #2 on: August 02, 2024, 12:18:42 PM »
No Log US Log tour

Looking back at Dire Straits tours I did forget that Dire Straits did not perform in the US for the LOG tour.
Well a bit surprising as it was an usual gig territory.

Australia not good enough for touring in 1991

Ed Bicknell after the OES autralian leg failure was telling that Australia wasn't a good place for touring but Dire Straits already did tour there for the OLT, LOG and BIA tours, the latest one being huge success.


No day off

1982 - 22 days in a row between november 30 and december 21
1985 - 19 days in a row between june 28 and july 16

Don't interested in another Australia DS debate and whether or not it was a success but WOW (you see?) And blimey, never was aware of that long touring stints. Just imagine!

LE
I don't want no sugar in it, thank you very much!

Offlineds1984

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Re: Random reflexions about Dire Straits tours
« Reply #3 on: August 02, 2024, 01:35:49 PM »
Australia wasn't a good place to tour because of the economical situation in 1991.

Ok got it now, heavy economical recession in Australia.
The haters are those who write shit

Two weeks in Australia and Sydney striptease

Offlinedustyvalentino

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Re: Random reflexions about Dire Straits tours
« Reply #4 on: August 02, 2024, 02:11:23 PM »
Australia wasn't a good place to tour because of the economical situation in 1991.



Ed said that to U2... but I'm not aware of U2 having any problems themselves in Australia on their tour. In fact they released a live video from a sold out Australian show at a football stadium.



It COULD be that while Ed put the disappointing ticket sales down to the economy at the time, the actual reason was diminishing interest in DS...
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Offlinestratmad

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Re: Random reflexions about Dire Straits tours
« Reply #5 on: August 02, 2024, 06:07:27 PM »
Thanks for the article. That was completely new to me! Is there a second page, too?
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Offlinedustyvalentino

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Re: Random reflexions about Dire Straits tours
« Reply #6 on: August 02, 2024, 06:50:07 PM »
Thanks for the article. That was completely new to me! Is there a second page, too?

If you do a search for Vox I shared the whole thing a few months back. :)
"You can't polish a doo-doo" - Mark Knopfler

Offlineds1984

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The haters are those who write shit

Two weeks in Australia and Sydney striptease

Offlinestratmad

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Re: Random reflexions about Dire Straits tours
« Reply #8 on: August 03, 2024, 12:15:44 AM »
Thanks a lot!! That's wonderful.
Reading all those articles, I felt catapulted back to 1992. Of course I'd read all those interviews back then, and I remembered Phil Palmer's "ogre" joke.
I've still got all the printed copies of those mags. Does that make me a Rüdiger?  :lol
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Something from the past just comes and stares into your soul...

Offlinedustyvalentino

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Re: Random reflexions about Dire Straits tours
« Reply #9 on: August 03, 2024, 01:15:53 AM »
Thanks a lot!! That's wonderful.
Reading all those articles, I felt catapulted back to 1992. Of course I'd read all those interviews back then, and I remembered Phil Palmer's "ogre" joke.
I've still got all the printed copies of those mags. Does that make me a Rüdiger?  :lol

Joke?
"You can't polish a doo-doo" - Mark Knopfler

Offlinestratmad

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Re: Random reflexions about Dire Straits tours
« Reply #10 on: August 03, 2024, 07:57:08 AM »
Joke?
Well, I hope it was one, although there were clearly some things that went wrong. But at least he didn't fire them on the spot, and they all stayed on until the end of the tour.
« Last Edit: August 03, 2024, 01:56:42 PM by stratmad »
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Offlinedustyvalentino

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Re: Random reflexions about Dire Straits tours
« Reply #11 on: August 03, 2024, 09:20:54 AM »
It didn’t sound to me like a joke. And everything we’ve subsequently learned about life on that tour backs that up.

The stuff Chris W wrote on here about what the tour did to him was genuinely heartbreaking.
"You can't polish a doo-doo" - Mark Knopfler

Offlinestratmad

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Re: Random reflexions about Dire Straits tours
« Reply #12 on: August 03, 2024, 09:38:50 PM »
Yes, very sad. But as Phil said in that article, they seem to have found different ways of dealing with it.

Here's a nice video of Phil talking about Knebworth 1990: .
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OfflineChris W

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Re: Random reflexions about Dire Straits tours
« Reply #13 on: August 26, 2024, 07:02:51 PM »
I don't know what 'ogre' is about either.
There was absolutely no issue with the playing or the musicianship on the Australian tour.
The band left Oz on a massive high in 1985. It was six years later and a lot of the casual fans had obviously moved on. The economy was in recession too.
Still, we played multiple shows in Sydney and Melbourne. They had left days for extra shows to be added and the demand wasn't there. So it was dire financially for Mark and John as they were paying for a hundred people, a hundred hotel rooms etc while not playing any shows to recoup the costs.
The only time there was a performance crisis was in America. In my opinion Mark and John were depressed about ticket sales in the USA too. We played to 1/3rd empty halls must of the time, with only the major cities sold out. So in a burst of frustration Mark called a band meeting and claimed we weren't giving it 110%. personally I was too terrified to never NOT give it 110%.
Of course the band stayed to the end, you can't replace people during a tour, especially after three months rehearsal. And the band played the music perfectly for hundreds of shows. I think John later said it was the best band they ever had (in terms of musicianship).

OnlineBanjo99uk

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Re: Random reflexions about Dire Straits tours
« Reply #14 on: August 26, 2024, 08:02:28 PM »
I don't know what 'ogre' is about either.
There was absolutely no issue with the playing or the musicianship on the Australian tour.
The band left Oz on a massive high in 1985. It was six years later and a lot of the casual fans had obviously moved on. The economy was in recession too.
Still, we played multiple shows in Sydney and Melbourne. They had left days for extra shows to be added and the demand wasn't there. So it was dire financially for Mark and John as they were paying for a hundred people, a hundred hotel rooms etc while not playing any shows to recoup the costs.
The only time there was a performance crisis was in America. In my opinion Mark and John were depressed about ticket sales in the USA too. We played to 1/3rd empty halls must of the time, with only the major cities sold out. So in a burst of frustration Mark called a band meeting and claimed we weren't giving it 110%. personally I was too terrified to never NOT give it 110%.
Of course the band stayed to the end, you can't replace people during a tour, especially after three months rehearsal. And the band played the music perfectly for hundreds of shows. I think John later said it was the best band they ever had (in terms of musicianship).
Bit harsh to blame the band for lack of ticket sales. Surely not having a big hit like MFN from the last album was a factor. Ed said recently that MK said to him that OES wasn’t a very good album. He should have gone solo after BIA in my opinion. Saying that though, I first saw you guys at Earls Court and then Woburn Abbey and I loved every minute of it. I wasn’t even a big fan back then, especially of the country music direction.

 

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