Tribute bands are made by fans for fans, not by band members for... Whom? It's such an obvious way to abandon your dreams and make an easy living standing on someone else's shoulders, that no wonder he gets a lot of criticism.
Spoken by a true non-musician.
These bands are a way for full time musicians to earn a living.
The two bands in question were STARTED by former DS members, they weren't dragged in.
Both bands are playing to large appreciative crowds. As Mark is no longer playing the music of Dire Straits live, it's the only way for fans to hear the songs being played in concert, and in a similar context to Straits themselves - rock concert venue, loud PA, great lights etc.
I'm not particularly a fan, which is why I did it for a couple of years only.
There are thousands of fan style tribute bands, most of whom are not doing the songs justice from what I've seen.
At least you've got something like DSE trying to match the real experience of Dire Straits live.
Answering both of your posts, this is exactly why Mark said so many times in interviews that he's not sure he could "make it" as a professional musician, and not a singer-songwriter. It's so tough. Boy, it's tough. If you depend on your instrument, you have so many chances of needing to work until you fall over or needing to play in tribute bands, playing at weddings and parties all the time, or playing 365 shows a year just to make a decent living. Being a musician sucks sometimes and the music business sucks all the time, period.
I know I'll be accused of being a fanboy once again, but surely the main problem with Dire Straits tribute bands is the difficulty level of "replacing" MK. Not only do you need to be a good vocalist with a unique voice that doesn't sound like somebody's doing an expression of MK, but you also need to be proficient in improvising and getting all these unique lines right and playing and singing at the same time, while overseeing the team and making adjustments. It's like doing a tribute to Louis Armstrong — even his son couldn't do it justice if he had one.
I know there are some damn good DS tributes, and I know guys from these bands, they are awesome, and it's great to hear these songs live. I have nothing, absolutely nothing against tributes. The problem, if you noticed, is I never said anything about side musicians at all. Side musicians are merely side musicians when it comes to MK magic. Louis Armstrong would still be Louis with any decent jazz band, I'm afraid to say. And so when a side musician goes out and creates a DS tribute band, or says Mark wasn't a big part of DS anyway... Sorry, but I laugh.
