Tour dates

PRE-ALBUM CONCERTS 1977 - 1978

Tour line-up:


Mark Knopfler Guitar, vocals	David Knopfler Guitar, vocals	John Illsley Bass, vocals	Pick Withers Drums

In 1973, Mark Knopfler was a guitar player in the band Brewers Droop which he joined for a few months. The band also released an album called The booze brothers. Mark took up a job as a lecturer at Loughton College in Essex and went on to form a working band with friends at the college calling themselves the Café Racers. Meanwhile, Mark’s brother, David, moved to London and shared a flat with bass player John Illsley at Farrer House on Deptford’s Crossfield Estate, South-East London. During his period with Brewer’s Droop Mark had been impressed with drummer Pick Withers, so Pick was invited to the Farrer House flat and the four musicians – Mark, John, David and Pick – began doing gigs together under the name of Mark’s old band, the Café Racers. A friend of Pick’s suggested a new name for the band; Dire Straits. Before the release of their first album, Dire Straits already played quite a lot of shows. On some shows, they were the support act for Talking Heads (from 20th January 1978 to 5th February 1978), Squeeze, Climax Blues Band (from 3rd May 1978 to 13th May 1978) and Styx. Colin Bodiam (who used to design and silkscreen posters for the Albany Empire and showing a poster for the concert of 2nd July 1978 on the photo) said that Dire Straits also played at a club in Deptford called "Broadway Queen" (13th September 1977) to an audience of just to 18 people, 9 of them were guests. I have two concert tickets of Gerry Rafferty shows: 5th June 1978 and 9th June 1978. Both mentioning Dire Straits. Ed Bicknell contacted me in August 2024 and said that Dire Straits definately did not do these shows. It was Rafferty himself who cancelled the tour and Dire Straits never played at a Rafferty show. Ed Bicknell also told me: "The Styx shows were not cancelled due to illness. They hated Europe (thought it was beneath them) and fucked off when the bus driver (as a joke) told them they’d be captured by the East Germans if they went to Berlin! Idiots. A really unpleasant bunch…..Dire Straits were glad when they left." Dire Straits toured with Talking Heads as their support act from 20th January 1978 to 5th February 1978. On the last date of their tour, Dire Straits joined Talking Heads on stage to play a few songs. Click here for a picture of Chris Frantz (drums) and Tina Weymouth (bass) on stage with Dire Straits. Luckily, someone had a tape running that evening and resulted in this recording. Click here for two nice photos of their fourth public performance. Interesting to see is that Mark's Fender (serial #68354) still has the bare-wood finish here. Not much later, it was painted red. In 2009, Mark Knopfler and John Illsley attended a short ceremony in Deptford to unveil a plaque on the site of the first Dire Straits performance. The award, presented by the PRS (Performing Right Society) for music, is part of a national campaign to highlight areas where significant musical events have taken place. The special plaque has been mounted outside the ground floor of Farrer House, Church Street, Deptford where the original group once shared a council flat and performed their first ever gig in 1977. In fact, this very first concert was as under the name "Cafe Racers". When a friend saw the bands dire financial circumstances, he suggested to call themselves Dire Straits. That was the name the band used from then on and the rest is history. There is a bit of a mystery when it comes to the exact date of this first gig though. The Brothers in arms tour book says it is 9th of July 1977, but that is in fact incorrect. It was actually the day of the very first Crossfields Festival, 26th June 1977. Squeeze was the closing act of the festival and this old flyer is the proof for the exact date. Update 7th February 2022: David Knopfler found his old diary and that lists the first show a week earlier on the 18th June 1977. Now the question is: was the show actually postponed to the 26th, or was the show on the 26th cancelled? I think it is unlikely that on both dates festivals took place. He also mentioned a gig on 28th August 1977 which I added to the concert list below.

Official recordings made during this tour

Concert	Bootleg release	Official release
Leeds (30.01.1978)
Chester (19.04.1978)

► Total concerts played: 80

1977

26.06.1977     Farrer House Crossfields Deptford (London) UK
02.07.1977     Albany Empire Deptford (London) UK
28.07.1977     Albany Empire Deptford (London) UK
02.08.1977     Tramshed Woolwich UK
28.08.1977     The Nashville Room West London UK
04.09.1977     Hope & Anchor Islington (London) UK
10.09.1977     Albany Empire Deptford (London) UK (evening gig)
11.09.1977     Clapham Common Bandstand London UK (afternoon gig)
11.09.1977     Hope & Anchor Islington (London) UK (evening gig)
13.09.1977     Broadway Queen Deptford (London) UK
18.09.1977     Hope & Anchor Islington (London) UK
22.09.1977     Hope & Anchor Islington (London) UK
25.09.1977     Hope & Anchor Islington (London) UK
12.10.1977     Rock Garden, Covent Garden (London) UK
15.10.1977     Dingwalls Chalk Farm Camden Lock (London) UK
20.10.1977     Rock Garden Covent Garden (London) UK
28.10.1977     Bedford Bedford Hill London UK
01.11.1977     Dingwalls Chalk Farm Camden Lock (London) UK
02.11.1977     Rock Garden Covent Garden London UK
04.11.1977     Hope & Anchor Islington (London) UK
08.11.1977     Rock Garden Covent Garden (London) UK
11.11.1977     Hope & Anchor Islington (London) UK
12.11.1977     Leveller London UK
16.11.1977     Rock Garden Covent Garden (London) UK
18.11.1977     Hope & Anchor Islington (London) UK
25.11.1977     Hope & Anchor Islington (London) UK
28.11.1977     Rock Garden Covent Garden (London) UK
29.11.1977     Albany Empire Deptford (London) UK
09.12.1977     Front Row Festival, Hope & Anchor Islington (London) UK
13.12.1977     Dingwalls Chalk Farm Camden Lock (London) UK
15.12.1977     Rock Garden Covent Garden (London) UK
17.12.1977     Champers Wine Bar London UK
19.12.1977     Loughton College Essex UK
21.12.1977     Dingwalls Chalk Farm (London) UK
??.??.1977     Broadway Queen Club Deptford (London) UK

1978

10.01.1978     Dingwalls Chalf Farm (London) UK
13.01.1978     Rock Garden Covent Garden (London) UK
17.01.1978     Nashville Kensington (London) UK
20.01.1978     University Sheffield UK
21.01.1978     University Manchester UK
22.01.1978     Eric's Liverpool UK
23.01.1978     Outlook Club Doncaster UK
24.01.1978     Friars Aylesbury UK
25.01.1978     University Southampton UK
26.01.1978     University Leicester UK
27.01.1978     Polytechnic Newcastle UK
28.01.1978     Polytechnic Huddersfield UK
29.01.1978     Roundhouse Chalk Farm London UK
30.01.1978     Polytechnic Leeds UK
01.02.1978     Top Rank Brighton UK
02.02.1978     Barbarella's Birmingham UK
03.02.1978     Civic Hall St.Albans UK
04.02.1978     Oasis Swindon UK
05.02.1978     Greyhound Park Lane Croydon UK
14.03.1978     Marquee Club Wardour Street London UK
18.03.1978     Paris Theatre Lower Regent Street London UK
19.03.1978     Chester College UK
21.03.1978     Marquee Club Wardour Street London UK
28.03.1978     Marquee Club Wardour Street London UK
01.04.1978     Hope & Anchor Islington (London) UK
05.04.1978     Honky Tonk Wimbledon (London) UK
10.04.1978     Arts Centre Poole UK
11.04.1978     Marquee Club Wardour Street London UK
19.04.1978     Quaintway's Club Chester UK
03.05.1978     Lyceum London UK
04.05.1978     Hippodrome Birmingham UK
05.05.1978     University Lancaster UK
06.05.1978     Queen Margaret Union Glasgow Scotland
07.05.1978     Apollo Theatre Manchester UK
08.05.1978     City Hall Sheffield UK
09.05.1978     Top Rank Cardiff UK
10.05.1978     Castaways Plymouth UK
11.05.1978     Arts Centre Poole UK
12.05.1978     Town Hall Torquay UK
13.05.1978     Polytechnic Leicester UK
14.05.1978     Hippodrome Bristol UK
18.05.1978     Albany Empire Deptford (London) UK
22.05.1978     Theatre Mogador Paris France
23.05.1978     Congresgebouw Den Haag The Netherlands
24.05.1978     Musikhalle Hamburg Germany
25.05.1978     Neue Welt Berlin Germany (cancelled)
28.05.1978     Circus Krone Munich Germany (cancelled)
29.05.1978     Erlangen Stadthalle Nuremberg Germany (cancelled)
30.05.1978     Stadthalle Offenbach Germany (cancelled)
31.05.1978     Rhein-Neckar Halle Heidelberg (cancelled)
01.06.1978     Volkshaus Zurich Switserland (cancelled)

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