Dire Straits Live Wembley 1985

Alnico

Utterly brilliant.

Click this and enjoy Dire Straits at their finest ever performance.

richardhomer

100% agreed.

not_the_dj

Nice one. Not sure how this passed me by, but I don't think I've seen it before. Cheers.

ICBM

It's a good performance, but I think the Alchemy concerts were better. This one has a bit more 'attitude', but it's a touch overblown in places, and I think they're playing some of the songs a bit too fast and it gets a bit ragged. I often like ragged, but I don't think it suits all the songs. Illsley throwing 'rock shapes' all the time doesn't help either…

Brothers In Arms is the highlight I think. (And obviously not on Alchemy.)

richardhomer

I think one thing it brings home to me is what a class act they were.

Knopfler is a very singular talent - great player, effective singer (by which I mean his voice perfectly suits his songs), writes and arranges beautifully - and a great lyricist.

A friend of mine used to work at a Manchester hotel which all the major bands used to stay in around this time. Some of the egos she encountered were huge - Knopfler she reports was unassuming and utterly polite.

crunchman

Thanks for posting that one up.  Not seen that before.  The full version of Alchemy is up on Youtube - that's worth watching too.

hubobulous

'85 was DS at their most popular, but I'm going to agree that Alchemy was their live pinnacle. Everything on that was perfect for me.

Alnico

Since posting this I have been back and re watched Alchemy and I agree, it is a better performance and a tighter sound.
It's made me actually go back and try to relearn all this stuff I haven't played myself in years.
It's also reminded me what a truly inspirational guitarist Knopfler is.

hubobulous

I've probably mentioned this before, but when we play Go Your Own Way live, we add the second part of the Alchemy Sultans solo after the break down, since both songs follow the same chord progression.

Its a solo that I used to play air guitar to when I was a kid, long before I picked up a guitar, so to learn it was a bit of a personal mission and great fun. I don't play fingerstyle like MK does and I use gain, so I guess its a personal take on the solo. All of it was learned by ear and I've changed a few of the licks, but essentially its the same thing. And I love playing it every single time :-)

Here's an old video of me when I'd just learned it:

Vaiai

I used to sit and play along to that Dire Straits one when it was on VHS Then I'd put on the Crossroads Duel and head to bed dreaming of guitars (and probably Nancy Wilson from Heart and Lita Ford, Sandy Saraya etc etc... )
Amazing concert.

Romeo and Juliet is a great song and I forgot how good Private Investigations is.

thomasross20

Wow, amazing gig. Next to no bum notes at all, the sounds/tones are great... just amazing.

Masterpiece. 

However, listening to it makes me reminiscent and sad for some reason!

thomasross20

I'm so tired of "the shred" now... well into more tasteful lines a la Knopfler!!!

thomasross20

This is awesome:

Aidanspaghetti

Was it boogies back then for knopfler? M an I love me some MK!

Emp_Fab

Alnico said:

Utterly brilliant.

Click this and enjoy Dire Straits at their finest ever performance.

Oooh, another opportunity for me to name drop again !

Terry Williams (Dire Straits drummer) is my cousin's husband.  .

I had to check Wikipedia that he was in the band at that concert, and it is him...  but Jesus H...  have a look at the schedule for that tour !! - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brothers_in_Arms_Tour

That's some seriously gruelling touring there.... fuck that for a game of sausages.

xSkarloey

Bloody hell @Emp_Fab, that tour schedule...

I can see now why they put DS to bed for a good while afterwards.

I can think of a fair few bands who hit big, did a massive tour and who then spent an age sleeping it off. It must be exciting but on some level very wearing too.