DIRE STRAITS
THE CLASSIC MANDELA BROADCAST

Broadcast across 67 countries to a worldwide audience of 600 million people, the 1988 Nelson Mandela Tribute Concert, which took place on the great man’s 70th birthday at Wembley Stadium in London, featured performances from a host of top artists of the day. Simple Minds, Sting, Tracy Chapman, Stevie Wonder and numerous others all played on the day, but probably the finest performance came from Dire Straits who had recently split up, but were persuaded to reform for the event, bringing in Eric Clapton on guitar and backing vocals to accompany them. Signed on to close the show, performing a superb set made up of Dire Straits classics alongside a glorious version of Clapton’s ‘Wonderful Tonight’, the whole event was sealed by quite staggering musicianship.