Hello everyone, rare poster here. For a while, in private, once in a while when I'm free, I've been doing a sort of re-imagined Mark Knopfler solo live career, from his 1996 tour to the most recent shows. This idea was born from the news that MK will not be touring anymore, which led me to wonder about all the songs he hasn't played through the years. I have started to think about ''what if MK was to have a more varying set of songs through the years, with more balanced overall song stats than what it is right now.'' So I started to do it, it was either last year or this year, can't remember. I haven't done it in a while, but I've made it all the way to the 2008 tour for now. I plan to continue. However, a recent topic here on the forum ''why did Mark Knopfler quit playing Solid Rock and Private Investigations live'' led me to believe that there may be more interested people in this subject along with me.
So I came here to offer my project to you guys. I plan on doing it here, on this topic, hoping that you guys enjoy it. You may also chime in with requests. I consider what I have typed in or written so far in my series as ''liable to change''.
I want to try and give you guys a unique experience, if you're of course willing to use your imagination along with me. I would like to take you back to 1996 and MK's first solo live shows, where we would, together, begin a brand new journey. I will provide as many detailed info as possible on performances and arrangements of songs. you may always ask questions about it and I will try to answer.
This is not an attempt to in any way discredit Mark's already amazing live career as a solo artist - I am a big fan of it and wouldn't change a thing. But at the same time, knowing how amazing he is or was throughout the years, I would've liked to see more songs attempted in a live setting. With that being said, I don't promise that all songs will be played in this series, including the Dire Straits songs and Mark's solo efforts. Maybe they will. I'll let there be as much mystery and as many surprises as possible. This is all for fun anyway, and I hope you will be able to see it.
If this topic is not in the right place, you may move it elsewhere where it fits - like I said I am a rare poster here and am still not quite up-to-date with all the forum rules probably, but I am willing to learn.
Also, I will be as dynamic as you want me to be. I can post one show at a time and leave you wondering about the next show. Hopefully there'll be enough anticipation.
My idea is to start with the 1996 tour that promoted the album Golden Heart. In my series I have originally started with the Galway show, which was the first tour show. I completely excluded the promotional shows on TV or radio, that MK occasionally does. But if you want me to do those too, let me know, I'll consider that as well.
By the way, all the studio releases in this hypothetical series is the exact same as in real life, it's just that the show setlists will likely be different and maybe by a lot. We'll see. However, not everything will be similar as in real life. In my series, I don't plan to end it with the ''Down the road wherever'' tour in 2019. I have noticed that many people are hoping for more once-in-a-while shows (like in RAH for example) instead of tours which were taken away from us. In this universe, MK might do a few charity shows or something along those lines which will be early post-pandemic shows I guess, before the release of the new album. However, maybe there'll be a tour, in this universe, to promote the new album in 2024. We'll see. But, it'll take a while until we get there.
We're starting with 1996 and have a bunch of shows to go. I hope you'll be interested enough that we can take this series all the way.
You may of course leave your critiques as well, whether for me or for hypothetical MK for not playing some of your favorite songs. Enjoy this as much as you can and have all the fun you need.
P.S. I know that we live in a world of AI that might re-imagine certain songs live, but I don't know if it has gotten to that part yet, that it has developed enough to be able to do that, especially since MK is not really that much of a mainstream guy especially with his solo stuff for AI to know about him that much. I do admit that I myself don't use AI that much, and don't plan to use it, but if someone manages to create something for this series in that regard, they may share it here with the rest of us.
You may ask me all the questions you need and give me as many suggestions you need, before I can start sharing it with you - if you're of course okay with the idea. I sincerely hope that you are.
