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Thread: Dire Straits Legacy w/Trevor Horn to tour USA

  1. #1
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    Dire Straits Legacy w/Trevor Horn to tour USA

    It’s a bummer that Knopfler won’t do a proper Dire Straits reunion, but not sure how I feel about this.

    From Rollingstone.com:

    As Mark Knopfler proved this year by not even showing up*when his band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Dire Straits are never, ever getting back together. However, that’s not stopping past members, including keyboardist Alan Clark, percussionist Danny Cummings, saxophonist Mel Collins and guitarist Phil Palmer, from hitting the road in late September for a tour under the banner DSL Dire Straits Legacy. The group will be joined by Heartbreakers drummer Steve Ferrone and the Buggles’ Trevor Horn on bass along with Marco Caviglia on vocals and Primiano DiBiase on keyboards.

    “The DSL Dire Straits Legacy project was born from our love and respect for the music of Dire Straits, and to bring the music to fans who have been starved of hearing it played live by the musicians who made it, for far too long,” Clark and Collins said in a statement. “Now, after many requests, we’re coming to the US! Along with all the Dire Straits hits, we’ll also be playing one or two songs from our new album 3 Chord Trick, and a couple of other tunes we’ve been involved with. See you there!”
    Former members of Dire Straits have toured together in recent years under various names, including the Straits, but this is the first time they’ve come to North America. Their South American tour earlier in the year was packed with Dire Straits classics like “Walk of Life,” “Money For Nothing” and “Romeo & Juliet.”

    None of this has sat well with bassist John Illsley, the only member of Dire Straits besides Knopfler to endure through every incarnation of the group. “I said to them, ‘If you’re going to do it, will you please call it something else,'” he told Rolling Stone last year, referring to their incarnation as the Straits. “‘It would be like some people coming together and calling themselves the Stones or the Floyd. You can’t really do that. You were members of the band for a while, but you don’t own the name. You have no ownership. Can you please it call it something else? Call it what it is, which is basically a tribute act.’ There’s a lot of tribute acts. That’s what happens when there’s a vacuum. You just have to accept that, but I found it very difficult. It didn’t last very long.”

    It’s unclear if Illsley is satisfied now that they are called DSL Dire Straits Legacy, but the addition of Horn to the lineup does pose some intriguing questions regarding the setlist, especially since they pledged to play “a couple of other tunes we’ve been involved with.” As the frontman of the Buggles, Horn was the lead vocalist on their classic “Video Killed The Radio Star.” He also fronted Yes for their 1980 LP Drama. And with Ferrone in the lineup, there could potentially be a show that features Tom Petty’s “You Wreck Me,” Yes’ “Machine Messiah” and “Video Killed The Radio Star” in addition to all the Dire Straits tunes. As weird as that sounds, we now live in a world where Vince Gill is in the Eagles and Neil Finn is touring with Fleetwood Mac.

    As Knopfler and Illsley would be the first to point out, many members of DSL Dire Straits Legacy had very brief tenures in Dire Straits: Mel Collins, best known for his work in King Crimson, didn’t play on any studio albums and was only around for the 1982/83 Love Over Gold tour. Danny Cummings and Phil Palmer only contributed to 1991’s On Every Street and its supporting tour. Alan Clark had, by far, the longest stint in the Dire Straits, playing with them from 1980 until the final show in 1992.

    DSL Dire Straits Legacy Tour Dates
    September 26 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern
    September 28 – Riverside, CA @ Fox Performing Arts Center

    September 29 – St. Charles, MO @ Family Arena

    October 2 – St. Charles, IL @ Arcada Theatre

    October 4 – Fort Lauderdale, FL @ Parker Playhouse

    October 5 – St. Petersburg, FL @ Mahaffey Theater

    October 6 – Westbury, NY @ NYCB Theater At Westbury

  2. #2
    Studmuffin Scott Bails's Avatar
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    Horn seems like an odd addition to this.
    Music isn't about chops, or even about talent - it's about sound and the way that sound communicates to people. Mike Keneally

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    Member Camelogue's Avatar
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    Love Knopfler but would still see this group.

  4. #4
    I'd go just to see trevor horn and mel Collins regardless of what they are playing but odd itinerary two so cal shows for the entire west coast?

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    Not something I would travel all the way to Chicago to see, but if they added dates and came closer I might check it out.

  6. #6
    If it came here, and the tickets were reasonably priced, I might go. But I'm not riding Greyhound, Amtrak, or even the backseat of a friend's car across state lines for this.

  7. #7
    This is bizarre. I've seen Knopfler live several times, he's incredible. Never saw Dire Straits live. There is a show on a weekend 15 min away. I'm very tempted just out of curiousity, but I always felt that Dire Straits was a fairly pedestrian band and Knopfler was carrying 90% of the weight. But Mel Collins and Horn? hmmmm

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by DocProgger View Post
    but I always felt that Dire Straits was a fairly pedestrian band and Knopfler was carrying 90% of the weight.
    I don't know about them being "pedestrian". Making Movies and Love Over Gold are anything but pedestrian.

    But let's see, Knopfler wrote very nearly everything the band recorded, he was the lead singer, also the lead guitarist. So yeah, it's probably fair to say it was largely "his" band.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek View Post
    I don't know about them being "pedestrian". Making Movies and Love Over Gold are anything but pedestrian.

    But let's see, Knopfler wrote very nearly everything the band recorded, he was the lead singer, also the lead guitarist. So yeah, it's probably fair to say it was largely "his" band.
    The albums weren't pedestrian because of Knopfler. Your 2nd sentence confirmed (restated)my point.

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    It's a strange world.
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    Member Jerjo's Avatar
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    It seems a bizarre combination of musicians to me. Dire Straits is Knopfler as far as I'm concerned but hey, musicians have to make a buck. No one is buying CDs in sufficient quantities to keep these guys off the road. I guess that formations like this are classic symptoms of a monetary squeeze.
    I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart

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    Trevor Horn singing lead on Owner of a Lonely Heart:



    And a Straits classic:

    Last edited by Dan Roth; 11-02-2018 at 09:40 PM.

  13. #13
    Member Mythos's Avatar
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    Well I gotta say, that the guy sings in the same monotone voice Mark does and the guitar sounds close enough too, especially in a live setting, I think they are giving a fine representation...

  14. #14
    Moderator Sean's Avatar
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    They should leave Owner alone. Playing it down a 5th does it no favors.

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    Member dropforge's Avatar
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    Kind of like going to see Yes without Chris Squire. Oh, wait...

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    I think that especially bands with older musicians should -- generally speaking -- make the decision from the outset (during rehearsals) to perform at at least the song's original/well-known tempo, especially if the band has old vocal cords demanding taking the song down some number of semitones --- because both of those are factors that individually typically drain energy from the song during performance (especially when the audience is familiar already with and expect the original energy). I haven't really listened to the Dire Straits song performance in the video above here, and so I haven't checked these 2 above factors in that particular performance, but noticed occasional pauses/hesitations in rhythm-delivering members (such as rhythm guitar), which is obviously a 3rd factor they ought to be watching out for. IMO, many DS songs highly depend on -- and can easily be ruined by some performance's lack of -- the rhythm being steady/without-hesitation as well as the rhythm not being slower (and even being somewhat faster ) than in the song's familiar/well-known versions. Here they seem to be going for the studio version tempo -- the song's faster on the live Alchemy album without being too fast and so they could actually somewhat jack up the tempo in this video, without messing things up. Generally speaking -- not for this band in particular -- when energy-drain factors such as these above 3 co-happen, the net effect really piles up bad IMO.

    Again, I didn't really listen to the particular performances above of this particular band (and should) and just felt like writing a few points/factors that occur to me in live performances of bands with relatively older members (older vocal cords, perhaps increased laid-back'ness in the mind and accordingly in the muscles, etc.), and looks like the 3rd of those factors happens here in this DS song above.

  17. #17
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    I'm so little of a Dire Straits fan that I never knew anyone who was in the band except for Knopfler. Is Collins a real member, or just nabbed for this tour?

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    Quote Originally Posted by JKL2000 View Post
    I'm so little of a Dire Straits fan that I never knew anyone who was in the band except for Knopfler. Is Collins a real member, or just nabbed for this tour?
    Mel Collins played on the much famed and loved great live album Alchemy (for example he's on that video release, and so I'd say that people do indeed associate him with that era of DS generally) -- I don't know whether he was on any of the studio albums (but one can easily check Wikipedia), I think he definitely wasn't on the last two (the post-Alchemy ones). I believe Collins wasn't an "official DS member" at any point (but I could be wrong)...one can sort of conclude that from Knopfler saying during Alchemy something like "thank you to Mel Collins for joining us on the saxophone!".
    I havenn't read this thread closely or info about this tour and so I'm now finding out about this Collins thing only because you wrote about it now).....I'd better check the tour dates, it could be interesting.

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    Watched the above SoS video now after posting last night. I have no desire to complain about the drummer (even though he seems to be only keeping the beat, adding only a few very brief fills, doing basically nothing else), but I'm very used to the energy of the original and Alchemy versions of this song (the two best versions for me) -- including the interesting drumming in those versions (the drumming in 2nd is especially phenomenal and not just because of higher tempo compared to 1st) -- and so I wasn't crazy about the performance of this song in the video above, it was okay. Based on the tour dates in original post, by proximity this NY show (the one in the video) is the show I'd have considered, and, so, if this clip alone is any indication of that show it's okay I missed it. I can see in the video Alan Clark was there and performed, that would have been neat to see though, he's excellent on Alchemy. As far as Knopfler not performing at these shows, no complaints here ---- from even DS itself there were some DS song live versions I was/am not a big fan of (basically, post-Brothers live versions of some pre-Brothers songs). Overall, looks fine and enjoyable but I'm very okay I missed it.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Jerjo View Post
    It seems a bizarre combination of musicians to me. Dire Straits is Knopfler as far as I'm concerned but hey, musicians have to make a buck. No one is buying CDs in sufficient quantities to keep these guys off the road. I guess that formations like this are classic symptoms of a monetary squeeze.
    It's a bit like King Crimson without Robert Fripp.

    Some groups are defined by one key member, others are less, or have a few core members, but your milage may vary. I can't think of The Rolling Stones, without Keith Richards and Mick Jagger.

  21. #21
    I'd rather see Mark Knopfler, who'll be playing Montreal in August, 2019, and my wife & I already have our tix. I know he focuses on solo stuff, but am sure he'll play a few DS tracks...and it'll be much more credible, as (good as he is) I cannot see Horn doing DS. Sorry, he's great, I just can't see it...
    John Kelman
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  22. #22
    Member Lopez's Avatar
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    This is like Michael Clarke touring with a bunch of Byrds bit-players and calling it the Byrds (featuring Michael Clarke), which he did before he died. My one and only time seeing Dire Straits was their very first show in America at the Paradise in Boston (2/23/79), and I can live with that.
    Lou

    Looking forward to my day in court.

  23. #23
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    Trevor is a busy bee lately

  24. #24
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    This is still a thing and they are touring again, with Horn and Mel Collins still on board:

    http://dslegacy.com/shows/

    Lots of Florida, Brazil and Russia dates coming up in March

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