Man, how I would love to see a Dire Straits reunion tour...if for no other reason than to hear "Sultans of Swing" and "Industrial Disease" played live.

/props to subby for the linky, made my day

Pick? Who needs a pick?

/Fingerstyle FTW

I'll see your link and raise you Live at Wembley in 85. Missing the first minute, but it is damn good.

That is a ball of awesome.

First the Muppet thing, now this - a fine, fine video day on Fark.

Ahhhh, thanks, Subby. Now that's more like it.

Also: Old Grey Whistle Test 1978 (pops)

USA

That's awesome.

Lew Stool: Man, how I would love to see a Dire Straits reunion tour...if for no other reason than to hear "Sultans of Swing" and "Industrial Disease" played live.

add Telegraph Road and we're talking

unreal

"Mark Knopfler has an extraordinary ability to make a Schecter Custom Stratocaster hoot and sing like angels on a Saturday night, exhausted from being good all week and needing a stiff beer."

Lew Stool
Man, how I would love to see a Dire Straits reunion tour...if for no other reason than to hear "Sultans of Swing" and "Industrial Disease" played live.


Have you seen this live version of "Industrial Disease"?
It's from the 1986 Sydney Concert, final concert of the B.I.A tour.

Link (new window)

just for kicks and giggles, i'd like to hear a reformed dire straits play "Twisting by the Pool", "Portobello Bell", "Badges, Posters, Stickers and T-Shirts", and "If i had you".

on a slightly more serious side, I'd also like it if they played:
"It Never Rains", "In the Gallery", "Skate-away", and "Single Handed Sailor".

All the ones listed above and add "The Man's Too Strong" and "On Every Street".

For guitarists, here is my personal opinion on this piece. And yes I know this is stating the obvious:

No one phrase or line in this song is very difficult at all. However, stringing them all together and getting the tone and dynamics right, man, it's a biatch. There are so many unique phrases I can't remember them all properly. Of course my lack of skill is matched only by my total absence of discipline.

And give Knopfler this: unlike many guitarists, if you hear two notes of his playing you know who it is.

Hey even he farks up a note at 3:39! I feel a little better now.

My favorite mark knopfler performance.

With bonus lemmy and gilmour goodness.

If it weren't for Mark Knopfler, Kerry King, Dave Smith and Janick Gers I would have never wanted to pick up a guitar.

Subby has made my farking WEEK.

GOD--it's so slow. And so few notes per second. How did this guy make it into the music industry?

/goes in search of some vintage Malmsteen

beerrun: add Telegraph Road and we're talking

Oh, yeah. Never a better way to spend a quarter of an hour. I like how youtube has to always chop in into two pieces.

Senior_Fantastico: "Mark Knopfler has an extraordinary ability to make a Schecter Custom Stratocaster hoot and sing like angels on a Saturday night, exhausted from being good all week and needing a stiff beer."

Nice reference. RIP DA.

If Why Worry doesn't hit you somewhere deep inside, you have pig turds and sawdust where a human soul should reside.

Lew Stool: Man, how I would love to see a Dire Straits reunion tour...if for no other reason than to hear "Sultans of Swing" and "Industrial Disease" played live.

No, you wouldn't. I was in the front row for their last tour in 1996, supporting "On Every Street." It was a little bit like going to a modern-day Who show-- about 15 extra sidemen on stage, watering the band's sound down to an over-arranged, lounge-act version of the songs you used to love.

Granted, they did send everybody off mid-way through the show and legitimately rocked out "Sultans" as a 4-piece band, but then everbody came back for another snooze-inducing Act 2.

InmanRoshi: If Why Worry doesn't hit you somewhere deep inside, you have pig turds and sawdust where a human soul should reside.



My favorite stripped down version with Emmylou.

Emmylou has this uncanny ability to make even the most gruff, minimalist vocalist sound beautiful when she harmonizes with him.

this guy get permission from the acoustic guy?

Uzzah: No, you wouldn't. I was in the front row for their last tour in 1996, supporting "On Every Street." It was a little bit like going to a modern-day Who show-- about 15 extra sidemen on stage, watering the band's sound down to an over-arranged, lounge-act version of the songs you used to love.

Granted, they did send everybody off mid-way through the show and legitimately rocked out "Sultans" as a 4-piece band, but then everbody came back for another snooze-inducing Act 2.

And that is likely the biggest reason Knopfler disbanded Dire Straits. It got too big and too far away from the musical roots. Although Dire Straits made me a fan, Knopfler's current music is just as good and you can tell that he now truly enjoys what he is doing. I am sure that he would tell you it is not all about the album sales.

/them groupie girls aren't what there cracked up to be.
//RIP Chet

InmanRoshi: My favorite stripped down version with Emmylou.
Emmylou has this uncanny ability to make even the most gruff, minimalist vocalist sound beautiful when she harmonizes with him.

And Knopfler, while being an unbelievable soloist, also has the uncanny ability to team up with with musicians that are a great match for him. Emmylou Harris, and Chet Atkins, to cite a couple of obvious examples.

T.rex: this guy get permission from the acoustic guy?

The acoustic guy needs to get off this guy's lawn.

I get to Knopfler live in about a month.

Boy will it be freaking awesome.

Also, I was watching this last week and it seems as if he really doesn't want to play this song at all.

Haven't heard this song in almost 20 years.

Never occurred to me until TODAY that Mark's doing a poor Bob Dylan impression. Facepalm.

But otherwise, that guitar playing is indeed awesome.

/must be a special kind of hell to be the backing musicians playing this song every night...same chords repeating over and over again.

Does he play that in standard tuning.

Forgive the dumb question, but I can hardly play guitar...but don't tell that to the guys in my band.

phlegmography: Never occurred to me until TODAY that Mark's doing a poor Bob Dylan impression. Facepalm.

I don't know that it is an impression. He has always been compared to Dylan, but I don't think that he is trying to imitate him. Knopfler's singing has always been a weak point, and he would be the first to tell you that he is very limited by his voice. I remember an interview several years ago where he discussed that the key of many of the live songs had to be changed so that he could sing them without crashing halfway through the set.

Slu: Does he play that in standard tuning.

Yes, Knopfler plays Sultans in standard tuning.

HeadLever: Slu: Does he play that in standard tuning.

Yes, Knopfler plays Sultans in standard tuning.

Gracias...now I am off to start practicing with the video!

May I suggest Mark Knopfler Guitar Styles - Volume I. It helped me quite a bit.

/Yes, it comes with the dots.

'I see your acoustic mess of "Sultans of Swing" and raise you with the master himself'

i didnt see allan holdsworth anywhere in that video.

What's with these teabag rockers snatching up our country divas? First, Knopfler, now Robert Plant. Will Paul McCartney take up with Leanne Rimes? This has to stop, I tell you.

mahavishnunj: i didnt see allan holdsworth anywhere in that video.

IMO, there is no way to compare Knopfler to Holdsworth. They type of music they play is so different that it basically comes down to the type of music you like.

I do not enjoy jazz and shredders much, but if you like it, more power to you. The way I see it, it is basically Speed vs. Tone and I like the latter.

HeadLever: IMO, there is no way to compare Knopfler to Holdsworth.

it was a joke concerning the headline. are you new here?

Seen them in concert several times, and one of the things I like best about them is the fact that they (or, more to the point, Mark Knopfler) very rarely play the songs exactly the same way from show to show.

And a favorite song from Makin' Movies (new window)

Glenechocreek: What's with these teabag rockers snatching up our country divas? First, Knopfler, now Robert Plant. Will Paul McCartney take up with Leanne Rimes? This has to stop, I tell you.

Emmylou is over 28, doesn't look like a Barbie Doll, doesn't sing songs about puttin' a boot in yer ass and therefore doesn't get the time of day from the the American Country music industry.

Just be glad someone appreciates her.

something in my eye (new window)

Awww. But I love Monte Montgomery.

He's an Austin legend. I've seen him live a few times... amazing. You have to see his other stuff...

something in my eye (new window)

One of the two best live versions of the best song ever written. Thank you, sir.

1) Still likes Straits

2) Sultans is still they worse song

3) knopfler does NOT look like he enjoys playing to audiences.

2) Still THEIR worse song

Knopfler apparently had a bad motorcycle accident a few years back now, and I had heard that it actually significantly affected his guitar playing for the worse.

Age can't help much either (It has affected Clapton), but check out a nice little rendition of Telegraph:
Still very, very good (new window)

No mention of So Far Away? Shesh...

he's. so. patient on that farking guitar. it's mesmerizing...and it makes his phrasing, which is incredible, sound heavenly.

/nice vid.