Dire Straits
Mark Knopfler: guitar & vocals
David Knopfler: guitar & vocals
John Illsley: bass
Pick Witers: drums

Orpheum Theater
Boston, Mass. U.S.A.
September 8, 1979
performance quality: A-
recording quality: B+
source: 1st generation audience tape
runtime: 88:34 (minutes/ seconds)

setlist:
1: down to the waterline 5:46
2: six bladed knife 4:37
3: lady writer 4:01
4: once upon a time in the west 6:34
5: news 4:27
6: Bernadette 3:54
7: what's the matter? 3:19
8: in my car 4:55 (end applause spliced, tape flip)
9: portobello belle 4:18
10: wild west end 5:08
11: in the gallery 6:28
12: lions 5:46
13: sultans of swing 6:38
14: setting me up 3:09
15: southbound again 4:17
16: where do you think you're going? 5:28 (end spliced, tape change)
17: eastbound train 5:15
18: twisting by the pool 4:31

lineage: unknown mikes (pretty good ones) >
Sony 152 cassette deck (dolby B on) >
TDK-SA 90 min. master cassettes >
my copy (Maxell XLII-S, no dolby used) >
flac (sb's aligned) > torrentially yours.
thanks to tiedye for making the recording. he did a good job.
do not sell this recording.
share freely, losslessly and gaplessly.
these are dire times for many of us,
and dire times call for some Dire Straits.

notes:
this was Dire Straits 2nd visit to Boston (as far as I know)
after a 4 sold out shows in 2 nights stop at the Paradise club
earlier in the year. I've never heard any of those. This would
be Dire Straits 1st theater show in Boston, with another fine
show the next year at Berklee P.C. Their history in Boston
started off with a very warm welcome that never really wore off.
at this time sultans wasn't a big stage production number. It
sounded like the song that all the fuss over it was about, a
nice song to hear in a barroom while shooting a game of pool,
or while bowling. the recording has some problems in the master,
some parts are not real clear, others are as clear as a
portabello belle. It's a nice recording, most of the non-music
and usual crowd noises are between songs. the master had some songs
abruptly edited, probably to save tape space or batteries, but I
spliced in some applause to make it not too abrupt between those songs.
Not a real long concert, but I think this is all of it, and it was
a very good show, Mark sounded very inspired and in a good upbeat mood.
This is still fresh and early Dire Straits. I think there was a post
with 2 tracks of this concert pasted in with most of another show,
I don't remember seeing any more than that from this show posted.
this was the 1st Dire Straits live recording I heard, other than the
BBC radio one which was earlier. It's still one of my favorites.
this is now all of Mark Knopfler and his most famous group. Lots
of songs to like in here, I especially like tracks 1, 3, 4, 7 and 8
most in this show, but they are all tight performances from some of
this band's most vibrant times.