The Brothers in Arms Tour was a concert tour by British rock band Dire Straits. The tour promoted and supported the group's fifth album, Brothers in Arms, which was released in May 1985.
The tour started on 25 April 1985 in Split, Yugoslavia and ended on 26 April 1986 in Sydney, Australia. It included dates in the Balkans, Israel, Europe, North America, and Oceania. The tour included 248 concerts in 23 countries and 118 cities. More than two and a half million people attended the tour. With 900,000 tickets sold in Australia and New Zealand it was the biggest concert tour in Australasian music history, until it was overtaken in 2017–2018 by Ed Sheeran on his ÷ Tour.
Description The tour lineup included Mark Knopfler (guitar and vocals), John Illsley (bass, backing vocals), Alan Clark & Guy Fletcher (keyboards), Terry Williams (drums), Jack Sonni (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), and Chris White (saxophone, flute, tambourine, backing vocals).
During the tour, Dire Straits performed "Money for Nothing" with Sting and "Sultans of Swing" at the Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium on 13 July 1985. Their performance was included on the DVD release of that event. The final concert on 26 April 1986 in Sydney, Australia was broadcast on television in a live "simulcast" event.
The band's concert of 10 July 1985 at Wembley Arena, in which they were accompanied by Nils Lofgren for "Solid Rock" and Hank Marvin joined the band at the end to play "Going Home" (the theme from Local Hero), was partially televised in the United Kingdom on The Tube on Channel 4 in January 1986. Although never officially released, bootleg recordings of the performance entitled Wembley does the Walk (2005) have been circulated. In addition, three soundboard recordings were made in San Antonio, Houston, and Ohio, which have also circulated as bootlegs.
Selected tracks from the San Antonio show at the Municipal Auditorium on the 16th August 1985 were officially released for the first time in May 2025, when 40th anniversary editions of the "Brothers In Arms" album were released. These appear on the five LP box set, and triple CD editions.
The Brothers in Arms Tour consisted of four legs: Europe and Israel North America Europe Australia and New Zealand
Tour dates + List of 1985 concerts Date (1985) City Country Venue 25 April Split Yugoslavia Gripe 30 April Jerusalem Israel Sultanpool 1 May Tel Aviv City Park 2 May 6 May Athens Greece Sportspalace 7 May 8 May Montreux Switzerland Golden Rose Festival 9 May 10 May Belgrade Yugoslavia Pioneer Hall 11 May 12 May Zagreb Dom Sportova 13 May Ljubljana Tivoli Hall 14 May Graz Austria Eishalle 15 May Vienna Stadthalle 16 May Brno Czechoslovakia Stadion Za Lužánkami 17 May Budapest Hungary Sportshall 18 May 19 May 20 May 22 May Eindhoven Netherlands P.O.C. 23 May Arnhem Rijnhal 24 May Amsterdam Jaap Edenhal 25 May Rotterdam Ahoy 26 May Genk Belgium Limburghal 27 May Brussels Forêt Nationale 28 May Caen France Palais des Sports 29 May Brest Parc De Penfeld 30 May Nantes La Beaujoire 31 May Bordeaux Patinoire 1 June Bilbao Spain] Plaza de Toros Vista Alegre 3 June Madrid Estadio Román Valero 5 June Barcelona Municipal Velodrome 6 June 7 June Toulouse France Palais des Sports 8 June 10 June Monaco Stade Louis II 11 June Orange France Theatre antique d'Orange 12 June Grenoble Palais des Sports 13 June Geneva Switzerland Patinoire 14 June 15 June 16 June Zürich Hallenstadion 17 June 18 June Basel St. Jakobshalle 19 June 20 June Dijon France Palais des Sports 21 June Luxembourg Luxembourg Patinoire de Kockelscheuer 22 June Deinze Belgium Brielpoort 23 June Paris France Palais Omnisports de Bercy 24 June 25 June 28 June Birmingham England National Exhibition Centre 29 June 30 June 1 July 2 July Brighton Brighton Centre 3 July 4 July London Wembley Arena 5 July 6 July 7 July 8 July 9 July 10 July 11 July 12 July 13 July Wembley Stadium Wembley Arena 14 July Wembley Arena 15 July 16 July 23 July Montreal Canada Montreal Forum 24 July Ottawa Civic Centre 25 July 26 July Toronto Varsity Arena 27 July 28 July 29 July 1 August Saint Paul United States Roy Wilkins Auditorium 2 August Milwaukee Auditorium 3 August Hoffman Estates Poplar Creek 4 August Clarkston Pine Knob 5 August Cuyahoga Falls Blossom Music Center 6 August Pittsburgh Syria Mosque 7 August Philadelphia Mann Music Center 8 August Columbia Merriweather Post Pavilion 10 August Atlanta Fox Theatre 11 August Nashville Tennessee Performing Arts Center 13 August Oklahoma City Zoo Amphitheater 14 August Dallas Reunion Arena 15 August Austin Coliseum 16 August San Antonio Municipal Auditorium 17 August Houston Southern Star Amphitheatre 3 September Morrison Red Rocks Amphitheatre 4 September 6 September Tempe Activity Centre 7 September San Diego State University 8 September Costa Mesa Pacific Amphitheatre 9 September Los Angeles Greek Theatre 10 September 11 September 12 September 13 September San Francisco Concord Pavilion 14 September 15 September Sacramento California Exposition 17 September Portland Civic Auditorium 18 September 19 September Seattle Seattle Center Coliseum 20 September 21 September Vancouver Canada War Memorial Gym 22 September Victoria Memorial Arena 23 September Vancouver Pacific Coliseum 24 September Edmonton Northlands Coliseum 25 September Calgary Olympic Saddledome 26 September Edmonton Northlands Coliseum 27 September Calgary Olympic Saddledome 1 October New York City United States Radio City Music Hall 2 October 3 October 4 October Providence Civic Center 5 October Boston Wang Theatre 6 October 7 October Portland Cumberland County Civic Center 8 October Boston Boston Garden 9 October Hartford Hartford Civic Center 10 October 11 October Uniondale Nassau Coliseum 12 October New York City Madison Square Garden 13 October East Rutherford Meadowlands Arena 22 October Drammen Norway Drammenshallen 23 October 24 October Stockholm Sweden Café Opera 25 October Johanneshov 26 October 28 October Helsinki Finland Ice Hall 29 October 31 October Brøndbyvester Denmark Brøndbyhallen 1 November 2 November Hamburg West Germany Alsterdorfer Sporthalle 3 November Groningen Netherlands Martinihal 4 November Hanover West Germany Eilenriedehalle 5 November West Berlin Deutschlandhalle 7 November Vienna Austria Stadthalle 8 November Munich West Germany Basketball-Halle 9 November Wels Austria Eishalle 10 November Graz Eishalle 11 November Linz Sporthalle 12 November Innsbruck Olympic Hall 14 November Lyon France Parc Des Expositions 15 November Clermont-Ferrand Maison Des Sports 18 November Nuremberg West Germany Frankenhalle 19 November Stuttgart Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle 20 November Frankfurt Festhalle 21 November Cologne Sporthalle 22 November Essen Grugahalle 23 November Leiden Netherlands Groenoordhal 24 November 25 November Brussels Belgium Forêt Nationale 27 November Paris France Palais Omnisports de Bercy 28 November 29 November 30 November 3 December Newcastle upon Tyne England Newcastle City Hall 4 December 5 December 6 December 7 December Manchester Manchester Apollo 8 December 9 December 10 December 11 December Deeside Deeside Leisure Centre 12 December 13 December Shepton Mallet Showering Pavilion 14 December 15 December Birmingham National Exhibition Centre 16 December 17 December London Hammersmith Odeon 18 December 19 December 20 December 21 December 22 December 23 December 29 December Edinburgh Scotland Edinburgh Playhouse 30 December 31 December
+ List of 1986 concerts Date (1986) City Country Venue 7 February Hobart Australia KGV Oval 8 February 12 February Adelaide Football Park 14 February Melbourne Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Centre 15 February 16 February 17 February 18 February 19 February 20 February 21 February 22 February 23 February 24 February Sidney Myer Music Bowl 25 February 26 February Olympic Park Stadium 1 March Auckland New Zealand Mount Smart Stadium 2 March Western Springs Stadium 4 March Wellington Athletic Park 7 March Christchurch Lancaster Park 10 March Sydney Australia Sydney Entertainment Centre 11 March 12 March 13 March 14 March 15 March 16 March 17 March 18 March 19 March 20 March 21 March 22 March 23 March Sydney Cricket Ground 24 March Sydney Entertainment Centre 25 March 27 March Brisbane Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Sports Centre 29 March Rockhampton Rugby Park 31 March Mackay Mackay Showgrounds 2 April Townsville Townsville Showground 4 April Cairns Cairns Showgrounds 8 April Darwin Darwin Showgrounds 11 April Ularu Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park 13 April Perth Perth Entertainment Centre 14 April 15 April 16 April 17 April 18 April 19 April 20 April 23 April Sydney Sydney Entertainment Centre 24 April 25 April 26 April
Setlists 25 April 1985 (Split) - "Ride Across the River", "Expresso Love", "So Far Away", "Romeo and Juliet", "Private Investigations", "Sultans of Swing", "Walk of Life", "Why Worry", "Six Blade Knife", "The Man's Too Strong", "Two Young Lovers", "Money for Nothing", "Portobello Belle", "Wild West End", "Tunnel of Love", "Brothers in Arms", "Solid Rock" 13 May 1985 (Ljubljana) - "Ride Across the River", "Expresso Love", "So Far Away", "Romeo and Juliet", "Private Investigations", "Sultans of Swing", "Why Worry", "Walk of Life", "Two Young Lovers", "The Man's Too Strong", "Money for Nothing", "Wild West End", "Tunnel of Love", "Solid Rock", "Going Home: Theme from Local Hero" 16 May 1985 (Brno) - "Ride Across the River", "Expresso Love", "So Far Away", "Romeo and Juliet", "Private Investigations", "Sultans of Swing", "Why Worry", "Walk of Life", "Two Young Lovers", "The Man's Too Strong", "Money for Nothing", "Wild West End", "Tunnel of Love", "Brothers in Arms", "Solid Rock", "Going Home: Theme from Local Hero" North American Leg - "Ride Across the River", "Expresso Love", "One World", "Romeo and Juliet", "Private Investigations", "Sultans of Swing", "Why Worry", "Walk of Life", "Two Young Lovers", "Money for Nothing", "Wild West End", "Tunnel of Love", "Brothers in Arms", "Solid Rock", "Going Home: Theme from Local Hero" 26 April 1986 (Sydney) - "Ride Across the River", "Expresso Love", "Industrial Disease", "So Far Away", "Romeo and Juliet", "Private Investigations", "Sultans of Swing", "Why Worry", "Your Latest Trick", "Walk of Life", "Two Young Lovers", "Money for Nothing", "Tunnel of Love", "Brothers in Arms", "Solid Rock", "Going Home: Theme from Local Hero"
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