Dire Straits: On The Night (1993)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Powerful

Absolutely Fantastic

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Concert footage from Dire Straits' concerts at Nimes, France, and Feyenoord Stadium, Rotterdam, Holland in May 1992. Tracks include: Calling Elvis; Walk of Life; Heavy Fuel; Romeo and Juliet; The Bug; Private Investigations; Your Latest Trick; On Every Street; You and Your Friend; Money for Nothing; Brothers in Arms; Solid Rock; Local Hero – Wild Theme.The benchmark for Dire Straits concert films, and for most concert films, is their 1983 film Alchemy. Atmospheric with superb music, great virtuoso performances, excellent arrangements, well filmed. On The Night has the excellent musicianship but is quite up to the standard of Alchemy in the other departments. The music has the obligatory overweight to tracks from their latest album, On Every Street, which is easily their worst album. The Bug and Heavy Fuel are pretty good but Calling Elvis must be their worst ever recording and the other two, You and Your Friend and On Every Street, are so-so. As a result, not much by way of pre-Brothers in Arms stuff, which harms the quality.This also impacts on the arrangements. Their earlier stuff was long, wonderfully structured and majestic (Telegraph Road springs immediately to mind). The Brothers in Arms and On Every Street stuff was shorter and more commercial. So instead of these wonderfully long, structure-based songs we have more short and sharp ones.Filming is fine, though pretty standard. Alchemy seemed to capture the essence of a live concert while this feels a bit more perfunctory. Overall: very good, but not among the top concert films you'll ever see.

Mark Knopfler and the boys give a concert in the Netherlands in 1992. This is a combination of material from a couple of albums (CDs), combining some of the older stuff with his new (at the time) material. While this concert isn't as good as Knopfler's "A Night In London," it's pretty solid. It's a bit more mellow and the group isn't very animated, yet the concert is a pleasing one. Good crowd shots help pump up the interest, and a fast number does come on, the impact is all the more. The crowd, despite a lot of rain, was into it here, giving great support. Europe has to have some of the best rock crowds in the world. They are dedicated fans who love their music.The best song on this tape is probably the first one: a 10-minute "Calling Elvis" version. Great stuff, but Dire Straits was always a great band and Knopfler's guitar work is about as good as it gets.

This concert is recorded in two places-Rotterdam ,Holland and Nimes, France in May 1992-the last Dire Straits tour-On Every Street. It presents Dire Straits like one of the best live performance group ever.Mark Knopfler discloses his great talent like guitar player and singer in this concert. They plays their most popular songs in other versions with different instruments and style-Walk of Life, Brothers in Arms, Your Latest Trick,On Evert Street, Money for Nothing and the beautiful Romeo and Juliet. Here you can listen other excellent musicians like Alan Clark and Guy Fletcher(keyboards), Chris White (saxophones), Paul Franklin (pedal steel guitar)...etc.Amazing concert!!

Recorded during Dire Straits' last tour in 1992, in France, this concert confirms well a thing: Mark Knopfler is one of the most talented guitarists of his generation. He had formed his legendary band, fifteen years ago, and after all this time, he didn't lose anything from his inspiration, his sharpness and his talent. Maybe, you can blame him for not being rousing enough for the faster songs such as "money for nothing" or "the bug" but he knows very well how to be peaceful and calm for the gorgeous ballads "on every street", "brothers in arms". Moreover, he's supported by a handful of musicians in great form, especially the drummer and the percussionist. The concert unanimously acclaimed by the fans,reaches its highest point with the wistful and entrancing "local hero". At the end, a good but a bit listless concert. Nevertheless, Dire Straits' fans will find something in it.