Pictures of Dire Straits live in Rotterdam, October 19, 1978

The radio concert of Dire Straits live at the Schouwburg in Rotterdam, October 19, 1978 was one of the earliest Dire Straits live bootlegs, and for this reason has been known for long among fans. However, I have never seen pictures of this concert (at least none with realizing that they were from this gig). Yesterday when browsing Dire Straits pictures at Getty Images I found some which were specified […]

New Theory on the Sultans of Swing Sound: DiMarzio FS-1 Pickup in the Middle Position

Mark Knopfler’s guitar sound on the first two Dire Straits albums is firmly associated to the 1 & 2 position (bridge & middle) of the 5-way switch. This position causes a special, nasal “out of phase” sound. The term out of phase is technically incorrect as both pickups are still in phase but – similar to a true out of phase wiring – certain frequencies are cancelled or at least […]

Angel of Mercy live in early 1979 – Mark Knopfler on slide guitar

Mark Knopfler never played that much bottle-neck guitar on his albums or concerts, nevertheless he occasionally did: except Water of Love from the first Dire Straits album of course, songs like The Man’s too strong (from Brothers in Arms), Do America (from Sailing to Philadelphia), Money for Nothing intro (live version 2001 tour), or Right now (All the roadrunning) come to mind. (I guess there are more, but before thinking […]

Two interesting live clips of Dire Straits Six Blade Knife

Jean-Francois wrote in a comment: I didn`t know where to post this : Somme years ago, I remember you talked on mKnews forum about Six blade Knife on 17/02/1979 in Cologne that has a longer solo in the middle than usual. I`ve never heard it. It would be very nice from you if you could send it to me, or at least put it on your blog. Also, I`ve never […]

Early Dire Straits: Which of the two red Fenders was used in which concert?

Before Knopfler changed to the Schecter Strat in 1980, he played two red Fender Strats with Dire Straits, one with a rosewood finger board (SN 68354) , one with maple (SN 80470). Rosewood Strat (68354) Maple neck Strat (80470) with white pickguard Maple neck Strat (80470) with the greenish pickguard of the rosewood Strat Have you ever wondered which of these guitars was used on which of the many bootleg […]