DIRE STRAITS - Tunnel Of Love (Alchemy Live at Hammersmith Odeon 1983) | FIRST TIME REACTION

[@KNOPFLERSGOD]

An amazing performance from Dire Straits, the whole Alchemy concert is wonderful. Mark Knopfler giving an absolute lesson in building a melodic solo. Mark Knopfler is one if the greatest guitarists of all time, he is huge,also one the greatest songwriters ever.

[@ShawnSalvadori]

And of course his unique, smooth voice

[@KNOPFLERSGOD]

@CriticalReacts Yes, and his voice has got even better with age. It sounds great on his solo albums.

[@colinstevens2691]

My favourite outro of any song ever. Five minutes of absolute guitar genius!

[@carinvanhummel8621]

Yeah an absolute eargasm🎸🔥

[@chrisbanks5925]

Mark Knopfler grew up in Newcastle, which is in Northern England and is acknowledged as one of the greatest guitarists of all time.

[@andrewlaird9496]

There is not, will not, ever! Be another band who can touch Dire Straits. Nobody but nobody will ever be able to make a guitar sing like Mark Knopfler can. IMHO the best and most unique guitarist you will ever hear! I am now 65 yrs of age and my claim to fame is playing a few games of pool with Mark's drummer (Terry Williams) in a bar in Swansea England such a down to earth guy, didnt realise who he was until my friend told me later! Just as well really as I was probably their biggest fan in the uk at that time. Yes band is British through and through, Mark is from Newcastle England and still lives there, he has a strong geordie accent and such a great genuine guy. So humble.

[@davidlukey5189]

Has to be Telegraph Road from this same concert next. You'll be blown away.

[@johnm506]

You reacted as you should young man because this is music and music musicianship at its finest. As a 68 year old man that was in that audience at Hammersmith Oden West London back in 1983 for the Alchemy concert aged 29. I can assure you that you’ll never see or hear the like of ever again. This night along with Led Zeppelin Earls Court London 1975 and Queen Wembley Stadium London 1986 will be without doubt the three greatest musical experiences of my life

[@alabhaois]

You were there?? Fantastic!!! 🎸😎👍💕

[@musashimiyamoto586]

I always felt like those long drawn-out masterpieces describe my life entire. If I could describe my time on this earth it would be a Dire Straits song. Leaves me speechless every time.

[@peter9910]

Well played sir. Once Upon a Time in the West, Telegraph Road and Sultans of Swing are also good from this Alchemy Concert as well as Brothers in Arms from Mandela live

[@raycornford283]

One of the greatest live concerts of all time.

[@georgesheffield1580]

Mark has never played anything exactly the same ,and he has played much of his music many many times ,he is that good to have it always sound excellent

[@HarvH]

The great terry williams on drums

[@xxFORDIExx]

The fingerpicking king. Clawhammer style. No style can this man not play. He's up there with the best. Certainly my hero. He is a virtuoso tbh. Legendary musician and band. Mark Knopfler canmot be pigeonholed. Hes such a wonderful craftman with lyrucs, melody, guitar work and live performance. Genius. I look forward to you dusvovering more work from one if the greatest guitarists to be on thus earth. Sold millioms and rightly so. Love the reaction.😮

[@georgesheffield1580]

And a legendary story teller too .

[@richardgoddard37]

Pick any song from this concert and I guarantee you'll be blown away. The version of Sultans of Swing from this concert takes it to a whole new level, so don't skip it.

[@aidiess]

Yes ! Sultans and Telegraph Road are my two favourites from the Alchemy live album !

[@seanstevenson9891]

Great reaction. Telegraph Road from the same concert. Storytelling at its best, with some amazing guitar solos. 🎸

[@mamaflush9945]

I'm so glad you enjoyed this tune, yes Mark Knopfler is one of the guitar G.O.A.T's. He played a Fender Strat, I read once that he used his 1961 Stratocaster to play the solo in his song "Sultan's of Swing." Mark Knopfler is definitely from the UK. He was born in Scotland but was raised in England. Nice reaction If you would like to see another live performance, then I'd suggest. *"Dire Straits - Romeo & Juliet [Alchemy; Live ~ High Quality]"*🎶

[@xxFORDIExx]

He also does use a pick on some songs. Check his masterful solo works too. There will only ever be one Mark Knopfler.

[@RedmanRC]

tunnel of love in wembley 1985 is a master piece

[@skyscraper7474]

The sax intro, is one of the greatest musical moments ever.

[@lewismaddox4132]

He's commented many times that one of his idols and a guitarist he tries to emulate is Chet Atkins, a country music legend. He goes even further and says it was Atkins who taught him to make his guitar speak and sing, thus you'll notice a lot of call and response between his vocals and guitar. Some say his guitar has a much better voice. I love em both.

[@georgesheffield1580]

Another hero / mentor of his is HANK MARVIN Who he has played with

[@georgesheffield1580]

He told Chet he finally got one of Chets tunes down and played it for Chet . Chet said that was played by two guitars .

[@samlawrence4670]

He’s really just one of the best guitarists ever that simple. My favourite of them all and dire straits easily the best gig I ever went to 32 years after the fact. Enjoy all their music and marks solo stuff is great too.

[@imgoodatmoaning9561]

This album is great and mark himself said the album has no overdubs which really impresses me.

[@grimreaper-qh2zn]

When you get through loads of Dire Straits remember Mark has done 9 solo albums after he split DS. Plus loads of film music. Mark was brought up in Newcastle in the North East of England. This song is basically about his youth going to the Spanish City and it's Amusement Park in Whitley Bay. The Opening of Tunnel Of Love is from the Musical Carousel. I have watched loads of reaction to the Alchemy concert without any Copyright problems.

[@derekfleming3095]

Mark was born in Scotland Moved to Newcastle in the north of England at a young age

[@imgoodatmoaning9561]

Such a lovely intro to this song.

[@roberteberle2305]

Tunnel of Love is my favorite song on my favorite album that contains say 4 or 5 of my favorite songs of all time.

[@jjc5407]

Mark Knopfler's playing style has it's roots in a 'claw hammer' technique where you play 4 beats to the bar on the bass strings with your thumb and play notes on the top strings in between to pick out a melody using your fingers. Being the genius he is though, Knopfler breaks 'the rules' all the time by using his thumb to pick top strings and fingers on the base strings and has a tremendous repertoire of additional techniques. As a result he seems able to play almost any style of music, but that signature sound on tracks like this one is what he is best known for. It's truly wonderful.

[@nancyholm2160]

This was nominally the end of the set, but after this song they played as an encore Telegraph Road, which you already know they nailed.

[@RandyHall324]

Mark Knopfler (Singer and guitarist) is an amazing guitarist, who's style is distinctive and immediately recognizable. One of the few out there who doesn't use a pick (Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac, and Paul Westerberg of the Replacements are a couple more). There are lots of great Dire Straits songs - I'd recommend Brothers in Arms, Telegraph Road, and Romeo and Juliet, and Skateaway. Enjoyed your reaction!

[@ShawnSalvadori]

Thanks for the suggestions and happy you enjoyed the reaction!

[@aliampb6949]

The night my friend and I were there they came back on with Telegraph Road as the encore. Utter utter joy.

[@jjc5407]

There's a great documentary series called Life On The Road where Brian Johnson of AC/DC meets up with various musician friends and talks to them about their careers, with a particular focus on their early days and experiences touring. In the episode with Mark Knopfler, Dire Straits' lead singer, guitarist and songwriter and all-round musical genius, the two visit some of their old haunts in the North East of England where they both grew up including the Spanish City which inspired and is referenced in this song. When they renovated the site a few years ago they embedded the lyrics "Girl it looks so pretty to me, like it always did. Like the Spanish City to me, when we were kids." in the mosaic in front of the entrance.

[@ShawnSalvadori]

That would be so amazing to see one day, what an honor for Mark

[@jjc5407]

@@ShawnSalvadori there are several clips on the "Brian Johnson TV" KZbin channel including the section above (as well as lots of others from other episodes). 😃

[@aaronherbison7316]

Great documentary 👍

[@AnneDowson-vp8lg]

It's a good documentary. Mark did not know this had been done, and is surprised and delighted. The local council didn't even tell him. They should have asked him to unveil it. That's local government for you! And I used to work for one!

[@hmichaelr1]

Their live performances are remarkable, even more so if you already know the lyrics to the songs. Mark doesn't always enunciate clearly on stage so I hope you listen to the studio version of this to hear the lyrics clearly - it's one of my favorites!

[@zoyao]

I love Dire Straits

[@neilpearce711]

Going Home from Alchemy is beautiful - you should listen to that

[@petervenkman69]

So Mark Knopfler is considered one of the greatest guitarists, and was 44th on the Rolling Stones list of top 100 Guitarists of all times. As well as being the Lead Vocalist/Guitarist and song writer for Dire Straits, he also wrote the music for a number of films including Local Hero, Cal, The Princess Bride and Wag the Dog. After Dire Straits broke up in the 2nd time (they initially called it quits in 1988, but got back together from 1990-1995)... Dire Straits put out 6 studio albums, and 3 live albums and 3 compilation albums, and Mark Knopfler has put out 9 studio albums of his own (not including sound tracks and collaborations). The latest being in 2018. Mark Knopfler announced he would be retiring from touring, and his last concert was on 14 October 2020. Mark Knopfler also produced for other people including Bob Dylan, and wrote the song "Private Dancer" for Tina Turner. Mark Knopfler uses a number of different guitars for very different sounds. The guitar he used on Tunnel of Love and Sultans of Swing is a 1961 Fender Stratocaster. On Money for nothing and Brothers in Arms he uses a Gibson Les Paul On Romeo and Juliet he used National Style "O" Guitar. (This iconic guitar features on the cover of the "Brothers in Arms" album.) Because of needing to change guitars so often during shows, he had a custom Pensa made called the Mark 1 or MK-1 ... it was able to sound similar to both the Strat and the Les Paul.

[@AnneDowson-vp8lg]

I know Mark has every right to a well-deserved retirement, but I am a little disappointed, as I live in Bradford, West Yorkshire, and the council has just taken 20 to build a proper music arena, and all my favourite bands and singers are either dead or retired. I'm 72 and wouldn't pay 2p to see most of the modern lot, but I'd walk through fire to see Mark Knopfler!! I hope he's enjoying his retirement.

[@petervenkman69]

@@AnneDowson-vp8lg I get where you are coming from. There are a handful of modern bands I like, (and they tend to have an older style) - but yeah, I missed out on seeing Mark live and that is one of my life's biggest disappointment.

[@StevenQ74]

Mark Knopfler is one of the best guitarists and songwriters ever. He wrote so many great songs with Dire Straits and in his solo career after Dire Straits: Telegraph Road,Brothers in arms, Calling Elvis, Romeo and Juliet and many more. Mark also worked togerther with some of the biggest names like Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan and Sting and he wrote "Private Dancer" for Tina Turner. Another great performance is "I think I love you to much" wich he played at Knebworth together with Clapton, Mark never recorded that song himself but he gave that song to Jeff Healey. kzbin.info/www/bejne/iHiymJeGhLWUeJo

[@jjc5407]

I second the recommendation of "I think I love you too much" from the Knebworth '90 concert! A great blues number with two legends trading solos. Glorious! (Mark also provided backing vocals and played second guitar on The Jeff Healey Band's recording, although they were never together in the same studio.)

[@fredericknalaremah939]

Always amazing Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler the ultimate guitarist. Can I suggest the groups hit song that always sits deep, particularly through the current times we are facing...'Brothers in Arms' from their 'On the Night live' show in 1993. Amazing! BTW Another incredible performance was 'Cutting Crew', live at Rockpalast in 2007 with 'Died in your arms'!

[@rxlxviii]

This song is probably the most underrated Dire Straits songs as you'll see many songs recommended before this one is. This would be the last song of every concert and is played slightly differently in every tour. My two favorite versions of this song are the Alchemy version and the 1985 Wembley version. Mark did a little booboo in the Sydney concert version. I would say among the rock industry and true Dire Straits fans, Mark Knopfler is probably considered one of the greatest guitarists of all time. But for the general public who only know the songs Money For Nothing and Walk Of Life, they really don't know much about his guitar playing skills.

[@stuarthastie6374]

He is from a suburb of Newcastle, Tyneside, so has a slight Geordie accent. I. worked at the Spanish City briefly. Itt still is a pretty landmark.

[@derekfleming3095]

You need to listen to brothers in arms by dire straits. Pure class and very moving

[@derekfleming3095]

Brothers in arms is about a dead soldier. Very moving, brilliantly written, as usual from them

[@coxfire]

Mark Knopfler fingerpicking playing style is well renown. He is one of the most tasteful player out there. He is so good even Clapton played rythm for him (kidding, they admire each other!). But yeah, he is recognized for his unique guitar tone

[@jjc5407]

Only sort of kidding. I mean they did actually play rhythm for each other, Clapton with Dire Straits on a number of occasions most notably when he stood in for Jack Sonni (whose wife had just given birth) when they headlined the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute Concert and Knopfler on Clapton's 25th anniversary tour. Wonderful every time!

[@jamesvomsaal3814]

Princess Diannas favorite band.....she had great taste

[@scottblaney8134]

Many people also don't realise that they also wrote 'Private Dancer' for Tina Turner

[@garylogan3640]

One of my favourite songs by them, other great ones would be Heavy Fuel and Industrial Disease.

[@petebanham4916]

Finger picking with very light strings with hammering on and off, being naturally left handed gives a strong fretboard presence.

[@intothesunset3]

Fantastic reaction, thank you😊

[@ShawnSalvadori]

Glad you enjoyed! 😁 Mark is brilliant! Some other great talents up in the stage with him as well!

[@jjc5407]

@@ShawnSalvadori Mark has always surrounded himself with other talented musicians. You'll be hard-pressed to find many other bands who can match the standard of Dire Straits live or Mark's solo band regardless of who the members are (and there have been quite a few different members over the years).

[@vincentkerr1819]

When the second album didn't do very well mark knopler struggled to write anything and his manager Ed bicnell asked him to write something about growing up in Newcastle and he produced this masterpiece 👌.

[@MrSudeepdas]

From The Warning to Pink Floyd to Dire Straits - you are my kind of guy 😂😂😂 Check out Dire Straits by Dire Straits - their 1st album. While I have commented at length about the girls I won't for Floyd & Straits.

[@jjc5407]

Is Mark Knopfler "well known in the community of guitarists"? Um, just a little!

[@MinistryOfDarkness11]

Hi loving your channel. I think you'll really like the song Calling Elvis from DIRE STRAITS Live ON THE NIGHT 1993. Love your reactions. Cheers from Australia 👍🎸🎸🎸

[@intothesunset3]

Yes--that's a great one!

[@ShawnSalvadori]

Thanks for the suggestion and happy you are enjoying the reactions

[@stephenmclaughlin5191]

He's a 'picker', one of the best along with Lindsey Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac).

[@malcolmhardwick4258]

You have watch Telegraph road same alchemy concert its epic !

[@reptarshane]

The style you're talking about is sweeping. Much easier with a pick, but it sounds far better without. I love doing it, but it sounds NOTHING like Mark doing it. :)

[@shard841]

Try Tunnel Of Love live Wembley. Much better version the best imo. This has to be one of the best live Albums every.

[@gilbert7253]

Héllo de France Bonsoir regarder le live de Wembley 1985 Tunnel of love encore mieux 😊😊

[@williamlovett619]

Ten Years After - I'm Going Home

[@shard841]

Try Live In Wembley Arena better version.

[@lindascott6902]

Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Dire Straits are all English bands. AC/DC is Australian.

[@Pomdownuder]

Summer City is an amusement park (the "carnival ride" music was played on the Waltzer ride) in Whitley bay, and Colourcoats holiday seaside towns in the North East England very near to Mark's hometown of Newcastle upon Tyne. A lot of his songs are about life going on around him or pertaining to events in the world at the time, be it growing up, war, travel, music etcetera. He is a minstrel of the modern era.

[@tcanfield]

Nice comment . One thing I’ll add is how Mark’s ability to describe stuff must be related to his journalism studies in college. I read he even was a newspaper reporter for a short time. Obviously he brought those skills into his songwriting, like the way he wrote “Money For Nothing” after taking notes from an overheard conversation at an appliance store. He’s such a keen observer !

[@kathymitchell7896]

No pic for Knofler!

[@frankiefourfingers6717]

Zeppelin - Pink Floyd are not American mate they are British

[@kathymitchell7896]

Dire Straits and Pink Floyd are Brits!

[@leighplant3593]

Led Zep Dire Straits American are you serious

[@malcolmhardwick4258]

The chords are the same as Sultans of swing !

[@ericmorgan204]

Thank you for explaining what was depicted on the video ‘plucking strings’, as it was dull as to be all but useless. Not your issue dude, I get it, it sucks what you have to do to remain “YT Legal”.