Venue:
Manchester Apollo
Date: 10/04/2015
I have an odd relationship with Simple Minds. They were one of the first bands I got into as a teenager along with U2 (they seemed to come as a pair) and my entry point was Sparkle In the Rain and the (somewhat maligned) Once Upon a Time. Then they went of on one of those epic gaps that hugely successful 80s acts liked to do and by the time they returned I was swept up in Madchester and electronic music and the ‘Street Fighting Years’ was the last thing I wanted to hear.
I can’t bear to listen to U2 nowadays, I can’t fathom what I saw in them but I’ve dug back into Simple Minds over the years and caught up with those startling early albums. Like them, I’ve struggled to reconcile the eye-liner years – that extraordinary run of art-rock albums – with the Stadium Rock bombast that became their stock in trade. However I’ve heard they are on good live form these days, and as on this tour they are playing smaller theatres rather than outdoor gigs or enormodomes, so this seemed the right time to finally see them live and see where they’re at now.
From the off, it’s hard not to be swayed by the sense of theatre, the lights go down and Ravel’s Boléro booms over the speakers and as the band file on it’s fascinating to watch Jim Kerr at work putting his years of working a crowd to use. New songs, and songs from lesser celebrated albums pepper the set and it’s here that he works extra hard, making sure that handclapping and singalong opportunities are not missed regardless of whether it’s an old favourite or not. He even gets me handclapping (almost unheard of).
They have a considerable challenge tonight which is promote the new album (Big Music), play the hits and span their uneven career without too many clunky gear changes. I’m seriously impressed with they way they pull this off. It works, and hipster anthems like Love Song, I Travel and New Gold Dream rub shoulders happily with newer songs. Tracks lifted from the wilderness years like Let There Be Love work better in this fresh context. The crowd respond to the extra push that the new songs get, Big Music being particularly impressive and it’s hard not to be swept up by the enthusiasm eminating from the stage. Even an acoustic interlude (surely the most tired of cliches for bands of Simple Minds’ vintage ) works well not least because of a joyful version of The American which comes alive with a new, sparse arrangement.
The set is split in half with an interval – the first half ending with a mass singalong of ‘Don’t You Forget About Me’ . The second half begins in a rather brave and audacious fashion with guest vocalist Sarah Brown taking the lead while Jim takes an extended breather. It works surprisingly well, the crowd go with it, and she breathes fresh new life into Book of Brilliant Thing and East at Easter which are transformed into arty, sultry electronica.
A disco version of Riders on the Storm is a peculiar and only partially sucessful curveball but I can’t help but sing along to the final Alive & Kicking, not least because everyone else is and it seems a shame not to join in the singalong.
The audience:
Happy, clappy and up for it. Much taking of selfies. They like the hits, they like the new album and they like the Stadium Rock era stuff, even the 90s stuff – they’re not that fussed about hearing stuff off Empires & Dance or Real to Real.
It made me think..
Charlie Burchill has had some dental work done. His teeth were so bright and gleaming they could have switched off the (very impressive) light show and just pointed a spotlight on ’em. He’s also a really very good guitarist, not flashy – solos are brief, melodic and sharp. Mel Gaynor’s snare walloping (which is now very much back in vogue) is quite something and while nobody can touch the mighty Derek Forbes, ex-Danny Wilson man Ged Grimes does a cracking job and manages to play slap bass without looking like a dick.
Ultimately Simple Minds seem comfortable with who they are now. They cut an effortless swathe across their back catalogue but seem keen that we don’t dismiss their and their stadium rock years and 90s nadir- I think Jim and the band’s heart lies not in being a lofty touchstone for hipster bands but in just giving people a good night out but with some depth, quality and heart (and on this tour they’ve done just that… from Grimbsy to Llandudndo). Good on ’em. I’m impressed.
A well written review from the good Doctor. … the bit about Burchill’s teeth made me snort into my morning coffee. Well bowled sir!
Splendid review, Doc. Like you I have had a problematic relationship with Der Minds, from seeing them five times in six months around the New Gold Dream release to feeling I would not open my curtains if they set up across the street. However I somehow still felt the siren call of that box of their first albums where it came out t’other year, and once again am well disposed to the old chaps.
As long as they didn’t play Belfast Child.
I saw them a couple of weeks ago at Grimsby auditorium. Although I have never been a massive fan, I liked them enough to be really looking forward to it (having bought the tickets last year). I agree with just about all you say, excepting that I would say that I enjoyed riders on the storm more than I think you did.
To all those people yet to see them & are considering it, go, they are an excellent night out, & they are seriously good crowd pleasers.
Excellent review – New Gold Dream and Sparkle in the Rain were often played at the time – tempted to dust them off for a trip down memory lane.
Good review Doc, the much maligned Minds (unjustly IMHO) deserve a little more time in the sun. It was a good show.
Thanks guys! No Belfast Child, although according to SetList FM it was played earlier in the tour on some european dates.
It was a really well paced and carefully put together set in Manchester, I like watching a good frontman as well – hardly any bands I see these days have a singer who just sings – as everyone is multi-tasking to keep touring costs down, but it really does help having a dedicated vocalist up- front throwing some shapes and working the room rather than looking down at a guitar or fiddling with synths.
You’re on form, Doc! I can never think about the Simpletons without recalling a friend who, some years ago, happened to say of Jim Kerr, ‘He seems to have made a career out of punching the air in slow motion and going ‘Whoooooaaaaa – ooooooh!’ It struck me as an instant ring-of-truth. That and the (perhaps caricature memory) that all their songs at one point – must be that stadium era – went ‘Kah-chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!’ followed by a snare drum crack that went on for about 5 minutes.
It was a truly horrible time, and a horrible sound, but your review made me half interested in seeing their show, now that the 80s are but a nightmarish memory.
I too have a varied time with Simple Minds – I lived in Edinburgh when they were first starting, and used to see them and chat to them at Bruces Record Shop in Rose St (Bruce Findlay was their manager) – loved all the albums up to and including Once Upon a Time…..
…and then I saw them at Murrayfield. I think I published the set list from that gig on the previous Aftwerword, as it was the worst gig I have ever had the misfortune to attend – every song (including BC) was 12 mns long with three false endings – truly miserable.
Still play some of the early stuff but too scarred to see them live again.
I saw their very first gig as Simple Minds (I never saw Johnny and The Self Abusers) and I was at their Mars Bar residency almost every Sunday throughout 1978. It was the one and only time I’ve ever watched a band rise from a bar to being ‘big’.
Have seen them loads of times over the past 30 years but decided to sit this tour out. I’m still of the view that they can deliver in a live setting. However, the band was never quite the same after Mick MacNeil (keyboard player) jumped ship to become a crofter or some such.
Also, most of my favourite songs come from their first 5 albums and it’s unrealistic to expect too many from that era (the 5 x 5 tour being the happy exception). I still get a thrill hearing Promised You A Miracle but this is tempered when they fire up the dirgeful See The Lights