Simple Minds are a band that need no introduction with most people able to name at least one of their songs, the 1980s movie The Breakfast Club certainly helped the band gain more publicity when Don’t You (Forget About Me) was featured and is a track with well over 800 million streams and by far their most popular song, even taking the number one spot in the USA. There’s also the small matter of selling over 60 million records from their first release in 1979 Life In A Day to more than twenty albums later New Gold Dream, a live performance from the haunting Paisley Abbey which was recorded during the pandemic to an empty church. Tonight was going to be special and we weren’t let down.
There would have been around nine thousand gig-goers in The Hydro when Del Amitri took to the stage for an early start at 7.15pm taking our seat just in time for the first track Always The Last To Know as vocalist Justin Currie et al. warmed the crowd up for a great night of music. We were then transported back to 1989 for two tracks from the Waking Hours album, the one that brought them into the spotlight and one we fondly remember, Opposite View and Kiss This Thing Goodbye being the numbers which were both appreciated by the growing crowd unusually in an all-seated arena, which was pointless really because everyone was standing anyway! Two from their 2021 (and 7th) album Fatal Mistakes were next up – Missing Person and Lonely – with guitarist Iain Harvie showing his class on the fretboard. This provided a flashback to their 1990 performance at Barrowland when Harvie played his guitar lying across a massive speaker which was certainly a jaw dropping moment. The set ended with Stone Cold Sober and Nothing Ever Happens from Waking Hours, two lyrically outstanding songs with the latter song helping bring the band to prominence. The acoustics were backed up with an accordion player adding to the lyrics as Currie sang “Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all/The needle returns to the start of the song, and we all sing along like before”. The best of the set for sure as the band left the stage to a rapturous applause after an entertaining ten-track set and 40 minutes on stage. Justin Currie was recently diagnosed with Parkinsons and the Glasgow crowd were kind enough to donate to the charity buckets alongside many heartfelt messages of support. We hope Del Amitri will announce a headline tour in the near future perhaps as part of a fundraising drive. 8/10
This was the last night of the UK tour and the second night at The Hydro and with it being a Saturday night they would have wanted the tour to end on a high and it certainly did. Simple Minds were formed in 1977 in Glasgow with only Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill left from the original line up, however they have since added some outstanding musicians to the line up such as Sarah Brown on backing vocals showing off her vocal abilities and has been a member of the band for ten years now, more on that later. The arena built up to capacity during the half hour interval before an almighty roar went up as bassist Ged Grimes played the first notes of Waterfront, within ten seconds the place was jumping! Jim Kerr got the crowd onside straight away as he moved around the stage saying hello to the fans in each area. Throughout the night his energy levels were high which proves that age means nothing, especially for this 64 year-old as Kerr posed in almost yogic positions.
After the energetic start the band decided to go way back to the early 80s playing tracks including I Travel and This Fear Of Gods from the 1980 album Empires And Gods which quietened the crowd a little. As Kerr himself commented during this part of the set “We have to play a few diddy songs for the hardcore fans”, understandable as the wide age ranges of the audience would be influenced by the different eras of the band. Here is a band that played Live Aid in 1985 as well as campaigning relentlessly for the release of Nelson Mandela from prison so they have a wide-ranging background and a massive fanbase around the world. The 1985 album Once Upon A Time is considered one of the bands best, with the title track getting the crowd moving and two songs from this album would end the set later. Next came the highlights of the night for us as they moved on to the New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) album playing Glittering Prize, Promised You A Miracle as well as the album title track but it was Someone Somewhere in Summertime that had the crowd chanting back the lyrics to the stage, there is something about this track that tugs at the emotions and takes you back to a time when life was more simple, well it did for us anyway… The keyboard/synth work from Norwegian Erik Ljunggren was an outstanding feature of the song. Special mention to drummer Cherisse Osei as we were treated to an amazing drum solo after New Gold Dream to the delight of the crowd as they roared her on with much enthusiasm, all the while Osei had a big smile on her face, another great memory to take away from tonight. At this point it must be said that there are so many tracks that the band had to leave out from the set, for example we only got one from 1989 album Street Fighting Years – Belfast Child – which provided an opportunity for the fans to get the phones out for a song that would melt anyone’s heart with the song itself being written about the troubles in Northern Ireland, a very poignant moment.
The aforementioned Don’t You (Forget About Me) ended the main set, seeming to go on forever as the crowd continuously chanted back La La La La La to Jim Kerr commenting “We don’t have all fucking night” showing his sense of humour. They didn’t take too long to be back on the stage as backing vocalist Sarah Brown sang Book Of Brilliant Things, the second track played tonight from the Sparkle In The Rain album. Brown has an outstanding vocal range and has previously toured with some big names: Pink Floyd, George Michael, Stevie Wonder, Simply Red, Roxy Music among other. The eighteen track set ended with Alive And Kicking and Sanctify Yourself, thus ending the night on a massive high and a final dance and singalong. A very decent return for the fans as the band played for an hour and fifty minutes. We have a feeling there will be a 50th anniversary tour in 2027, lets hope so anyway! The band now have a well deserved two day rest before heading out to Europe for the next leg of the tour beginning in Luxembourg on 2nd April and continuing to the end of April. Simple Minds will play various festivals throughout the summer at home and abroad including the Isle Of Wight Festival in June. Simple Minds were … Simply The Best! 10/10
Written by: Alan Brown
