LONDON – Production manager Kevin Hopgood has been working with Mark Knopfler since 2006 and has developed a strong relationship with Paul Crockford, Knopfler’s manager and his team. With Hopgood’s recent move to SW19, it was a logical step for the newly formed production company to take on the logistics of Knopfler’s current tour.
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“Most people on the tour, including Paul’s team of Lauren Sass and Bree Ishikawa have been working with Mark for many years; they’re great people to work with and Mark has such a good work ethic,” says Hopgood. “We’re doing 71 shows over four months during this tour, which started in mid April and will finish at the end of July, with around five or six shows a week, most of which are back to backs. We do a residency at the RAH for six days, which normally falls in the middle of the run.”
The current tough economic climate means that the touring industry is becoming increasingly more cost conscious, but, says Hopgood, Knopfler and his team have stuck to their original ethos.
“Mark’s tours are about doing things properly, rather than the money, which is refreshing,” Hopgood says. “He makes touring decisions quite early, so there’s plenty of lead time, which is also a big help, and we had sold out a lot of shows early on. We’ve been doing some big capacity venues across Europe and people really get value for money – it’s a two hour show, which includes Dire Straits numbers as well as Mark’s own material too.”
This tour has seen some changes of supplier; Entec, with whom Hopgood has had an association for many years, is taking care of lighting for the first time, although lighting designer Simon Tutchener and the lighting crew have remained the same for a number of tours.
“We like to work with smaller companies,” explains Hopgood. “Marks’ relationship with people is strong and important to the tour, plus we feel we work better with smaller companies.”
