Terence Reis of The Dire Straits Experience at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, February 2016. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

It is the shiver of expectation, the memory of mountains conquered and the marriage of saxophone and guitar, dipped in amber and the sound held out as if some lofty idyllic treasure was being presented from down upon high that makes the music of Dire Straits such a pleasurable way to spend an evening. Not that Dire Straits tour anymore, the chief of it all Mark Knopfler no longer caressing that particular avenue anymore and yet the sound of rolling thunder and expressive ambience lives on in the form of The Dire Straits Experience.

That shiver of expectation that makes its presence known, runs deep, there are big shoes and a scintillating rich history to live up to but with expectation, comes realisation, that under the stewardship of the man who brought the depth of eerie calm with such a beautiful symbolic sound from a saxophone from the Brothers In Arms world tour era, Chris White, that natural resonating sound so beloved of Dire Straits enormous fan base is in very safe hands.

As a team, the only way a band can truly be seen, the members of The Dire Straits Experience, Richard Cottle, James Powell, Paul Geary, Danny Schogger, Tim Walters, the exceptional Terence Reis and Chris White took the Philharmonic Hall on a journey through a period of time in which Dire Straits could be seen as doing no wrong in many people’s eyes; the expansive, the delicate and the downright progressive all combining to make the band one of the finest in the world at the time and certainly one of the most hauntingly beautiful.

There is not much you can ask from a group of musicians with the pedigree available to them on stage than by opening with the epic Telegraph Road, the urge to fall into some natural desire and amorous clinch notwithstanding, the music flowed as it should but with that hint of elegant danger that made it grapple with the images of the late 70s foundation and the mid 80s superstardom.

With songs such as Walk of Life, Romeo and Juliet, the unmistakable lingering touch of Latest Trick, the dynamic of Private Investigations, Brothers in Arms and Sultans Of Swing all making their authority felt, the music of a generation lived on and with the well deserved applause at the end of a very enjoyable evening resonating round the Philharmonic Hall, the past and the present joined in subtle but fantastic delight; a night of top drawer music.

Ian D. Hall