Dire Straits : Alchemy Live (1984) ★★★★½
The way we experience concerts at home has significantly changed over the past 25 years because of technological advances, so the recording of this concert was very limited and, by the standards of a live performance from Madonna, Biffy Clyro, or Foo Fighters in the last couple of years is very pedestrian and orthodox. Additionally, concerts by the biggest artists are much more expensive and immersive experiences nowadays because of the amount of pyrotechnics and displays they tend to incorporate.
All that said, the real star is the music and I've listened to the album countless times since my dad (a former schoolteacher) brought a cassette home of the album which eight people had recorded for him
I'm sure I've seen the concert before, in whole or in part, as the visuals seemed warmly familiar. For me, the standout songs are Romeo & Juliet, Sultans of Swing, Solid Rock, and Going Home (Theme from Local Hero), with the finale being a wonderfully melancholic and jazz inflected variation of the version from the Local Hero soundtrack album.
I thoroughly enjoyed watching this and you intend to buy the Blu-ray release for the DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack, HD picture, and to be able to watch it without commercial breaks.
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