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.
No, you are completely correct. The only one that comes close, by being himself and organically sounding more like Mark, is Terence Reiss.
The guitar playing is extremely tough, but as Reiss is playing what Mark played, and not trying to improvise something new every show, I also think he gets very close.
I saw the Straits in Brussels back in 2011.
Great sounding venue of 1.500 - 2.000, I think, but there were not many people, the place was far from being full and the venue was made "smaller" with huge curtains hiding the seated part.
I was dead center, front row and very close to AC and CW.
I had the feeling they were disappointed by the lack of people.
But back then the band was just beginning and there was not much publicity, if I'm not mistaken.
In the end it was a great experience and you could feel they were all very talented musicians.
They brought back the sound of DS (that I had seen in '92... in a 60.000 venue !) very close to the original.
I was really impressed by Terrence who could reproduce quite well the guitar technique of MK.
I was less impressed by his singing, not bad at all but not MK's which along his guitar is part of the DS magic.
