Phil Emmanuel with the "Phil Emmanuel Band" - Sultans of Swing live (Dire Straits)

August 2022 marks the 10 year anniversary of a 3 show tour I did for Phil Emmanuel and his band as FOH mix engineer.

I decided to multi track record the final show of the tour at the Coffs Harbour RSL Sat 11 Aug 2012.
What an incredible show it was too, which showcased Phil's amazing electric guitar playing.

The venue was packed out - I remember thinking I didn't have enough PA that night - just a single stack of ARX per side. (I needed 3 times that)
but I got it cranking and it sounding pretty cool.

Phil's show comprised of 2 halves both carefully arranged by him & Col Chapman - the first half was songs by The Shadows - the second half was Dire Straits music.

The Phil Emmanuel band was Mick Melit (the Major) on lead vocals and 2nd electric guitar, Col Chapman (the Colonel) on bass, Ben Davis (Murph) on keyboards and Peter Longden on drums.

Incredibly the console I toured was a cheap Presonus Studio Live digital desk (1st gen). I mixed off an iPad out the front. (At the time this was relatively new tech.)
I remember Phil making jokes over the PA to the crowd - "Grand Angus, just phone the mix in will you" and also commenting about my position walking around the venue through the audience. "Where is he now?"

What you are listening to is totally live with no overdubs or tuning.
Phil & Col’s awesome arrangement of the Dire Straits song Sultans of Swing.

Phil's playing is just incredible as you would expect, and the band backed him up beautifully. The solo just keeps going and going with the Major doing harmony guitar parts that Phil taught him in places.

Mick sang on a Beyer M88 - a great choice as the stage sound was pretty loud and they have really good isolation and a tight polar pattern.

Mixed by me (Angus Woodhead) Aug 2022 at Glasshouse Studios.
Mastered by Darren Ziesing at Millennium Mastering.

Please enjoy this live recording of Sultans of Swing and feel free to comment and share.