When Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits reissued their classic catalogue in a box set in 2020, it only covered studio recordings. Now, a companion box will feature their live material, including 29 unreleased tracks.

Live 1978-1992 will offer expansions of two classic Dire Straits concert albums (1984's Alchemy: Dire Straits Live and 1993's On the Night, one of the last releases before their dissolution), the 1993 companion EP Encores, 1995's Live At The BBC compilation and, for the first time anywhere, an album drawn from sets at The Rainbow Theatre in London at the end of 1979. The set, available on eight CDs or a dozen LPs, will include new liner notes from Paul Sexton focusing on Dire Straits as a live act.

The double album Alchemy, featuring tracks recorded live at the Hammersmith Odeon in 1983 and released a year before Brothers in Arms made Knopfler's group an unlikely MTV success, was a unique overview of the band up to that point, with many tracks given new arrangements in concert. It features two bonus tracks, "Industrial Disease" and "Portobello Belle," the latter of which was released in edited form on the band's Money for Nothing compilation in 1988. On the Night (now featuring seven unreleased tracks and expanded to two discs) and Encores were both snapshots of the group's final live outings on the On Every Street Tour, taking them across the globe in 1991 and 1992.

Live At The BBC, first released in 1995, turns the clock back to when the group were just making a name for themselves in their native England with a spirited set for BBC in Concert in 1978. The unheard Live At The Rainbow features material from just a year later, newly mixed by Guy Fletcher, a longtime collaborator of Knopfler's in the Dire Straits era and beyond. Of particular note in that concert is a closing mini-set of classic rock covers that features guest appearances by Thin Lizzy singer/bassist Phil Lynott and singer/guitarist Tony de Meur, then of The Fabulous Poodles. (He'd later gain some acclaim as an alternative musical comedian in England under the name Ronnie Golden.)

The box will be available November 3. It seems to be an import title from UMR, who operates the Dire Straits catalogue outside the U.S.; keep that in mind when perusing Amazon links.

Live 1978-1992 (Mercury/UMR (U.K.), 2023)

8CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
12LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

* previously unreleased
** previously unreleased full version

CD 1-2/LP 1-3: Alchemy: Dire Straits Live (Expanded Edition) (released as Vertigo 818 243-2 (U.K.)/Warner Bros. 25085 (U.S.), 1984)

1. Once Upon a Time in the West
2. Industrial Disease *
3. Expresso Love
4. Romeo and Juliet
5. Love Over Gold
6. Private Investigations
7. Sultans of Swing

1. Twisting by the Pool
2. Two Young Lovers
3. Portobello Belle **
4. Tunnel of Love
5. Solid Rock
6. Telegraph Road
7. Going Home - Theme from Local Hero

All tracks recorded live at Hammersmith Odeon, London, England - July 22-23, 1983
Edited version of Disc 2, Track 3 released on Money for Nothing (Vertigo 836 493-2/Warner Bros. 25794 (U.S.), 1988)

CD 3-4/LP 4-7: On the Night (Expanded Edition) (released as Vertigo 514 766-2 (U.K.)/Warner Bros. 45259 (U.S.), 1993)

1. Calling Elvis
2. Walk of Life
3. Heavy Fuel
4. Romeo and Juliet
5. Private Investigations
6. Sultans of Swing *
7. Fade to Black *
8. Your Latest Trick
9. When It Comes to You *
10. I Think I Love You Too Much *

1. You and Your Friend
2. On Every Street
3. Two Young Lovers *
4. Tunnel of Love *
5. Telegraph Road *
6. Money for Nothing
7. Brothers in Arms

All tracks recorded live at Arènes de Nîmes, France - May 19-21, 1992 and De Kulp, Rotterdam, The Netherlands - May 29-31, 1992

CD 5/LP 8: Encores (released as Vertigo 862 209-2 (U.K.), 1993)

1. Your Latest Trick
2. The Bug
3. Solid Rock
4. Local Hero - Wild Theme

CD 6/LP 9: Live At The BBC (released as Vertigo 528 383-2 (U.K.)/Warner Bros. 46053 (U.S.), 1995)

1. Down to the Waterline
2. Six Blade Knife
3. Water of Love
4. Wild West End
5. Sultans of Swing
6. Lions
7. What's the Matter Baby?
8. Tunnel of Love

Tracks 1-7 recorded live for BBC in Concert - 7/22/1978
Track 8 recorded for The Old Grey Whistle Test - 1/31/1981

CD 7-8/LP 10-12: Live At The Rainbow *

1. Down to the Waterline
2. Six Blade Knife
3. Once Upon a Time in the West
4. Lady Writer
5. Lions
6. Sultans of Swing
7. Les Boys
8. Portobello Belle
9. News
10. What's the Matter Baby?

1. Setting Me Up
2. In the Gallery
3. Solid Rock
4. Southbound Again
5. Where Do You Think You're Going?
6. Wild West End
7. Twisting by the Pool
8. Good Morning Little Schoolgirl (with Phil Lynott & Tony De Meur)
9. That's Alright Mama (with Phil Lynott & Tony De Meur)
10. Nadine (with Phil Lynott & Tony De Meur)
11. Keep On Knocking (with Phil Lynott & Tony De Meur)

All tracks recorded live at The Rainbow Theatre, London, England - December 20-21, 1979