BY MIKE METTLER — AUGUST 3, 2020

35 years ago today, I saw Dire Straits live for the first time on August 3, 1985, at Poplar Creek in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. The ticket cost a whopping $15 — 15 bucks! $14 plus a $1 service fee (those were the days!) — and we got the tix by waiting in line at a Ticketron outlet (remember them?) at the local mall in May. Actually, it was Brian O’Gallagher and Jay Talwalker who got in line bright and early; Tom Cosbey and I showed up a bit later to join them in waiting.

Needless to say, as a huge Dire Straits fan, the show was a tremendous thrill for me. I drove everyone to Poplar Creek in my ’73 Buick Le Sabre (sadly, Tom couldn’t go, so another friend, Steve, bought his ticket), and, of course, I made sure I bought a tour shirt and tour book before sitting down. In those pre-videoscreen days, I had also brought along some binoculars so I could zero in on Mark Knopfler‘s guitar playing, but in the excitement of things, I left them at the merch stand (and they weren’t there when I checked back).

At any rate, hearing the set open with the expansive “Ride Across the River,” followed by so many highlights in their 15-song set — the moody “Private Investigations,” the guitar heroics of “Sultans of Swing” and “Money for Nothing,” the deep track “Wild West End,” the melancholy of “Brothers in Arms” and the show-closing “Going Home” — made it one of those shows I’ll never forget.

I saw the Straits once more on their On Every Street tour on February 26, 1992 at Madison Square Garden in New York City and have seen Knopfler on each of his subsequent solo tours (and have had the privilege of interviewing him a number of times over the years), but you never really forget your first time.

This show was the perfect capper to that final, wistful summer before going off to college that fall, and the band’s magic expresso touch was in full effect that entire night. Solid rock to the core, for sure!