bROTHERS iN bAND – Liquid Room

I took my son to see Mark Knopfler on his last tour at the OVO Hydro and, musically speaking, it was a fantastic evening.

Knopfler was on top form, the band were superb and the songs sounded every bit as good as I had hoped. The problem was the venue.

I’ve tried to make peace with the Hydro over the years, but there’s just something about it that leaves me cold. Maybe it’s the size, maybe it’s the atmosphere, maybe it’s the feeling that you’re watching a concert in an aircraft hangar. Whatever it is, I always seem to enjoy the music more than the venue itself.

So when I started hearing rave reviews about a Dire Straits tribute act called bROTHERS iN bAND, I was intrigued.

As a lifelong Dire Straits fan, I’m naturally sceptical of anyone attempting to recreate that music. Mark Knopfler’s guitar style alone is enough to defeat most tribute bands before they’ve even started. Still, the reviews were consistently excellent, so I bought tickets and took Emma along to the Liquid Rooms in Edinburgh to find out for ourselves.

The band did not disappoint.

From the moment they started playing, it was obvious why they had built such a strong reputation. The musicianship was exceptional and, crucially, they understood that the appeal of Dire Straits wasn’t just about copying the notes. It was about capturing the feel of the songs.

And they absolutely nailed it.

The guitar work was superb, the arrangements were spot on and the whole performance felt like a genuine celebration of one of Britain’s greatest bands rather than a simple imitation. Whether they were tackling the early pub-rock energy of Sultans of Swing or the grander moments from the band’s later years, everything was delivered with real conviction.

There was just one problem.

The audience.

Now, I’ve attended enough concerts to accept that some level of background noise is inevitable. People need drinks, people need the toilet and occasionally people need to tell their pals how much they like a particular song.

What I struggle with is the modern phenomenon of people apparently paying good money to attend a gig purely so they can have a conversation.

Throughout the evening there seemed to be a constant wall of chatter around the venue.

Not during the gaps between songs.

During the songs.

The actual reason everyone was there.

I found myself repeatedly distracted by people discussing work, holidays, football, what they were having for breakfast the next morning and presumably the geopolitical situation in the Middle East for all I know.

It drives me absolutely up the wall.

When musicians are putting that much effort into delivering a performance and audience members are talking over it, I genuinely don’t understand why they bothered buying a ticket in the first place.

To my credit, I managed to remain reasonably calm.

At least outwardly.

Internally I may have been imagining a variety of solutions that would have violated several international conventions.

Thankfully, the quality of the music ultimately won out. Every time I found myself getting annoyed, the band would launch into another classic Dire Straits tune and pull my attention back where it belonged.

By the end of the night, I was reminded just how incredible that catalogue of songs really is.

Looking back, the concert itself was outstanding. bROTHERS iN bAND more than lived up to their reputation and delivered one of the most convincing tribute performances I’ve ever seen.

The crowd, on the other hand, tested my patience more than a little.

Still, great music has a way of overcoming even the most irritating distractions.

The videos below capture some of the evening and, thankfully, don’t include quite as much of the endless chatter that accompanied the live experience. If you’re a Dire Straits fan and get the chance to see bROTHERS iN bAND, I highly recommend it.

Just bring earplugs.

Not for the band.

For the audience.