Dire Straits was launched with Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing". After the "Brothers in Arms" tour ended Mark Knopfler took a break from Dire Straits and during 1987 he concentrated on solo projects and film soundtracks. Dire Straits regrouped in 1988 for the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert staged on 11 June 1988 at Wembley Stadium, in which they were the headline act. They were joined for their set by Eric Clapton who performed his hit "Wonderful Tonight" with the group and played rhythm guitar on the other songs performed by the band, while guitarist Jack Sonni was absent. Soon afterwards,
Sultans of Swing: The Very Best of Dire Straits features the music videos of all the songs on the first disc, in addition to short interviews with Mark Knopfler about each song. All songs were written by Mark Knopfler, except track 9, written by Knopfler and Sting. The following tracks were recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall on 23 May 1996 by Mark Knopfler. Sultans of Swing: The Very Best of Dire Straits Sultans of Swing: The Very Best of Dire Straits is the second greatest hits compilation by the British rock band Dire Straits, released on 19 October 1998 by Mercury Records internationally, and by Warner Bros.