AN ACCLAIMED tribute act for Dire Straits are set to perform their Alchemical Tour at Oswestry's Holroyd Theatre this spring.

“DS:UK - in tribute to Dire Straits” are the UK’s finest tribute show to Dire Straits and they’re back performing their tour on Friday, March 22.

Dire Straits’ first live album, “Alchemy”, was a double album recorded over the final two nights of the band’s first worldwide 1982 tour to promote their “Love over Gold” album, and brought together many songs from the first few Dire Straits albums that fans now consider to be quintessential in the band’s extensive catalogue.

”Brothers in ’85 was fantastic and we were expecting On anoTHEr NIGHT to be great but we weren’t expecting it to be as well received as it was”, remembers the band’s leader Dave Phillips, “Our followers and audiences gave us so much love and energy and it was great to have so many full seats - it was humbling.”

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Established in 2016, DS:UK have been performing their shows in theatres since 2018 and have quickly established a firm reputation as a tribute show that pays the highest of respects to Mark Knopfler and his legacy.

Their 2021-22 and 2023 Brothers in 85 and ON anoTHEr NIGHT tours were incredibly well received by fans, with many of the shows across the UK selling out, providing much need patronage for live music venues and the musicians alike.

This year will be the second time that DS:UK have toured the Alchemy Album, the first being in 2019 which resulted in the band having to re-brand themselves from “Dire Straits:UK” to simply “DS:UK…in tribute to Dire Straits” following a letter from Mark’s Lawyers, insisting that no other bands be allowed to have“Dire Straits” in their name.

Similarly, Mark also barred the band from using the word “Alchemy” in relation to their tours.

The band are touring their 2024 show under the clever title of “Alchemical”, which means “related to…Alchemy”, allowing them to inform their audience what the show is about, without offending their agreement with Mark.

Just like every other musician over 2020 and 2021, the six members of the independently run DS:UK show were drastically affected by the COVID-19 pandemic but they weathered the storm and were able to continue their popular “Brothers in ’85” tour through to a triumphant conclusion in December 2022, followed by their high successful ON anoTHEr NIGHT tour in 2023.

Dave added: “We love playing those classic early songs - Romeo and Juliet, Sultans of Swing, Lady Writer, etc and the audiences love them too

“TheAlchemical Tour also allows us to bring out some favourites from Communiqué and Love over Gold that the true fans are very fond of, and we’ve also included a legendary track that Mark didn’t include in his releases which we hope everyone enjoys.”

You can buy tickets for DS:UK’s “ON anoTHEer NIGHT” show at the Holroyd Theatre from their website.