The bridge from Romeo and Juliet into Love Over Gold was always one of my favorite pieces to play. The intro to Solid Rock, actually that whole song, was also right up my taste alley. Private Investigation was challenging with its orchestral moves. The Theme from Local Hero is so beautiful that I still find my hands playing it to this day, sometimes without me even thinking of it first! Those are a few of my favorite musical moments in the Dire Straits sets of my short period with them.
As far as a static set list, perhaps it was because there were 2 new players in the band (Terry Williams and myself) - and especially with all the detailed lighting cues, Knopfler and Chas Herrington may have felt it had to be what it was. With all the hard work and attention to details that Mark put into his arrangements, even though we practiced for weeks before we went out on the road, perhaps he felt that that this rehearsal time would be better used getting real comfortable with the set, as opposed to learning a bunch of tunes that we'd only do occasionally. I don't really know, just guessing.
