Tribute Dire Straits

Wembley Stadium has seen its share of stars, benefits and concerts, but none quite like this. Some of England's biggest and brightest stars come out to pay tribute to Nelson Mandela on his 70th birthday. This concert features full sets from Dire Straits, who was joined by Eric Clapton, Sting, George Michael, Eurythmics, Simple Minds, Peter Gabriel, UB40, Tracy Chapman, and many others…

This release includes only set with Dire Straits and Eric Clapton.

The scent of childhood. The comforting lullaby of the parents. The first kiss. How great it would be if one could preserve the magical impressions of still young life forever! Not in the form of a discoloured snapshot, but in its entire emotional essence. As it were, as an "explosion in the heart", as the lyrics of the Dire Straits song "Romeo & Juliet" say.

The Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute took place on 11 June 1988 at Wembley Stadium, London, and was broadcast across 67 countries to a worldwide audience of 600 million people. Mandela was still an imprisoned anti-apartheid revolutionary at the time of the concert, but the event is considered a pivotal step leading to the eventual release of Mandela, in February 1990, following 27 years of incarceration. Unlike the Live Aid concert a few years earlier, the 1988 concert was not primarily a fundraiser (even though it made £5million) but an event intended to raise the awareness worldwide of the injustice occurring under the apartheid regime in South Africa at the time. Most pertinently, it was staged to highlight the lengthy imprisonment of Nelson Mandela and others senior ANC members, who had been arrested and held for attempting to change the system almost in the country 30 years before.

The Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute was a popular-music concert staged on 11 June 1988 at Wembley Stadium, London, and broadcast to 67 countries and an audience of 600 million. Marking the forthcoming 70th birthday (18 July 1988) of the imprisoned anti-apartheid revolutionary Nelson Mandela, the concert was also referred to as Freedomfest, Free Nelson Mandela Concert and Mandela Day…