This is one of the best live performances of rock and roll music ever

It was layed down in July, 1983 at the Hammersmith Odeon in London.
"Hammy-O" as the Londoners called it is a music venue which was built in 1931. It seats about 3500 and has standing room for 5000 more.

At the peak of Dire Straits performing ability (with the addition of Hal Lindes on guitar and Tommy Mandel on keyboards), Knopfler decided to record a whole live album ("Alchemy Live") there on July 22 and 23.

What makes this performance so special is not only the musical talent these musicians possessed, but also their stage presence. This is what a rock and roll band is supposed to sound like and supposed to look like.

This is the long live version of "Sultans of Swing". To fully appreciate it you will need to listen to the whole performance. Watch their moves and listen to them play. Rock and roll does not get any better than this.

from wiki:

The song was written by Mark Knopfler on a rainy day in a bar in Ipswich. The inspiration came from a mediocre jazz band playing in the corner of a practically deserted pub. At the end of their performance, the lead singer came up to the microphone and announced that they were the "Sultans of Swing"


You get a shiver in the dark,
It's raining in the park, but meantime:
South of the river, you stop and you hold everything.
A band is blowin' Dixie, double-four time.
You feel alright when you hear that music play.


You step inside, but you don't see too many faces.
Comin' in out of the rain to hear the jazz go down.
Competition in other places...
But the horns, they blowin' that sound.
Way on down south,
Way on down south, London-town


Check out Guitar George, he knows all the chords.
But it's strictly rhythm; he doesn't want to make it cry or sing.
If any old guitar is all he can afford,
When he gets up under the lights to play his thing.


And Harry doesn't mind if he doesn't make the scene.
He's got a daytime job, he's doing alright.
He can play the honky tonk like anything,
Savin' it up for Friday night.
With the Sultans,
With the Sultans of Swing


And a crowd of young boys, they're fooling around in the corner,
Drunk and dressed in their best brown baggies and their platform soles.
The don't give a damn about any trumpet playing band.
It ain't what they call rock and roll.
And the Sultans,
Yes the Sultans play Creole.


And then the man, he steps right up to the microphone.
And says at last, just as the time bell rings,
"Goodnight, now it's time to go home."
And he makes it fast, with one more thing:
"We're the Sultans,
"We are the Sultans of Swing."

 
Very nice music for a rainy Monday morning.

its raining here too. this song is a fav of mine as well.

right on!

So sultanism was invented....

Bob wrote:It was layed down in July,  1983 at the Hammersmith Odeon in London.
"Hammy-O" as the Londoners called it is a music venue which was built in 1931.  It seats about 3500 and has standing room for 5000 more.

At the peak of Dire Straits performing ability (with the addition of Hal Lindes on guitar and Tommy Mandel on keyboards),  Knopfler decided to record a whole live album ("Alchemy Live") there on July 22 and 23.

What makes this performance so special is not only the musical talent these musicians possessed,  but also their stage presence.  This is what a rock and roll band is supposed to sound like and supposed to look like.

This is the long live version of "Sultans of Swing".  To fully appreciate it you will need to listen to the whole performance.  Watch their moves and listen to them play.  Rock and roll does not get any better than this.

Things I admire about Mark Knopfler'is his growth in music ability and style plus his charity work. His music ability developed to the point he played with and filmed a music video in England with Mr. Chet Atkins,

To anyone who loves great music in a great venue, I recommend a trip to Nashville to the Ryman Auditorium.  The acoustics in that auditorium are almost perfect, supposedly second in the world only to the Mormon Tabernacle. I love country music and the Grand Ole Opry is held there in the winter months, but there are a lot of other groups and types of music that are performed there.  It's well worth a trip to Nashville, JUST to see a show at the Ryman.

http://www.ryman.com/

Bob wrote:It was layed down in July,  1983 at the Hammersmith Odeon in London.
"Hammy-O" as the Londoners called it is a music venue which was built in 1931.  It seats about 3500 and has standing room for 5000 more.

At the peak of Dire Straits performing ability (with the addition of Hal Lindes on guitar and Tommy Mandel on keyboards),  Knopfler decided to record a whole live album ("Alchemy Live") there on July 22 and 23.

What makes this performance so special is not only the musical talent these musicians possessed,  but also their stage presence.  This is what a rock and roll band is supposed to sound like and supposed to look like.

This is the long live version of "Sultans of Swing".  To fully appreciate it you will need to listen to the whole performance.  Watch their moves and listen to them play.  Rock and roll does not get any better than this.

good one, Bob,They love to play.

Twelve years before Alchemy Live, this performance was rendered on August 13, 1971.
Rolling Stone says the live concert as a whole (At Fillmore East) is "the finest live rock performance ever committed to vinyl".... "no wasted notes, no pointless jams, no half-realized vocals—everything counts"

from wiki:

Gregg Allman's travails in the music business would provide the thematic inspiration for the new song, which was written quickly on an ironing board cover. He later said: "It came so fast. I didn't even have a chance to get the paper out. That's the way the good songs come—they just hit you like a ton of bricks."

Gregg had failed to make a name for himself as a musician during a late-1960s stint in Los Angeles, and was on the verge of quitting music altogether when his brother Duane Allman called and said his new band needed a vocalist. Gregg showed the band 22 songs he had written, but only "Dreams" and "It's Not My Cross to Bear" were deemed usable. Gregg, the group's only songwriter at the time, was commissioned to create additional songs that would fit into the context of the new band, and in the next five days he wrote several, including "Whipping Post".

The song acquired a quasi-legendary role in early 1970s rock concerts, when audience members at other artists' concerts would semi-jokingly yell out "Whipping Post!" as a request between numbers.


Sometimes I feel ... sometimes I FEEL
Like I been tied to the whipping post!
TIED to the whipping post!
TIED to the whipping post!
Good Lord, I feel like I'm dyin'...

Something you may not know.

You may indeed know this photo...



... and know that's Duane and Gregg Allman at the Sahara Club on Barrancas Avenue.  They played a two week gig there in August,  1966 backing some Pensacola high school girls who called themselves The Sandpipers.  

But what you may not know is that a few months later Gregg Allman was standing in a grocery store line here in P'Cola,  when he overheard a woman yelling to her young daughter who had scampered off, "Oh, Melissa! Melissa, come back, Melissa".   Which inspired the song Melissa which he wrote while in Pensacola.

http://www.pnj.com/article/20130712/ENTERTAINMENT/307120010/Gregg-Allman-wrote-rock-classic-right-here-Pensacola

Nekochan wrote:To anyone who loves great music in a great venue, I recommend a trip to Nashville to the Ryman Auditorium.  The acoustics in that auditorium are almost perfect, supposedly second in the world only to the Mormon Tabernacle. I love country music and the Grand Ole Opry is held there in the winter months, but there are a lot of other groups and types of music that are performed there.  It's well worth a trip to Nashville, JUST to see a show at the Ryman.

http://www.ryman.com/

********************************************************

I agree neko. Some years back my wife and I had the privilege of attending a 4 hour show in honor of the great Johnny Cash and let's just say they were all there . . . . great venue!

Bob, thanks for posting the video of Dire Straits in London and the history of the song. The story is similar to his vision inspiring him to write I Want My MTV. Knofler is a super cool guy who, let's say, never missed a guitar lesson . . . . omg he is awesome! Thanks again, I loved it.

knothead wrote:

Nekochan wrote:To anyone who loves great music in a great venue, I recommend a trip to Nashville to the Ryman Auditorium.  The acoustics in that auditorium are almost perfect, supposedly second in the world only to the Mormon Tabernacle. I love country music and the Grand Ole Opry is held there in the winter months, but there are a lot of other groups and types of music that are performed there.  It's well worth a trip to Nashville, JUST to see a show at the Ryman.

http://www.ryman.com/

********************************************************

I agree neko.  Some years back my wife and I had the privilege of attending a 4 hour show in honor of the great Johnny Cash and let's just say they were all there . . . . great venue!

The Ryman is special, no doubt.  We were fortunate to be able to drive up and see around a half dozen shows there during the 3 years we lived in Huntsville, AL.  The newer Grand Ole Opry House doesn't even compare.   In the summer months they have a series of "Bluegrass at the Ryman" shows.  Tickets are only around $25 per person.  I don't think there's a such thing as a bad night at the Ryman.

Mark Knopfler ends up his fabulous concert in the legendary Ryman Auditorium with Going Home, Nashville, July 15 2008.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCv0v65t_zk

Bob wrote:Something you may not know.

You may indeed know this photo...



... and know that's Duane and Gregg Allman at the Sahara Club on Barrancas Avenue.  They played a two week gig there in August,  1966 backing some Pensacola high school girls who called themselves The Sandpipers.  

But what you may not know is that a few months later Gregg Allman was standing in a grocery store line here in P'Cola,  when he overheard a woman yelling to her young daughter who had scampered off, "Oh, Melissa! Melissa, come back, Melissa".   Which inspired the song Melissa which he wrote while in Pensacola.

http://www.pnj.com/article/20130712/ENTERTAINMENT/307120010/Gregg-Allman-wrote-rock-classic-right-here-Pensacola

Bob, Charlene a former Sandpiper sings with the Reunion Band (Billy Harrell ) she is still an amazing vocalist.


Neko....I love going to Nashville.

I love Nashville.   Huntsville is a very nice town in a very pretty area of Alabama.  But really, the thing I miss most about living in Huntsville are our trips to Nashville.    And especially...the Ryman.

Ryman

The Fillmore East (opened in 1926 as the Commodore Theater).

The Ryman is a beautiful building.

You know, the Ryman  was almost torn down.   What a shame that would have been.