A nice treat yesterday evening was being able to watch a live stream of Simple Minds on YouTube coming live and direct from Lyon, France. Being a total numpty it only clicked half way through the instrumental "Somebody Up There Likes You" that they were playing the 'New Gold Dream (81–82–83–84)' album in sequence. 😲 To be fair on myself though, I was also trying to follow the football at the same time. 😁
I really enjoyed the performance and I realise that a show like this lends itself to the format of the "big hitters" but it was a bit disappointing not to have at least one or two newer songs thrown into the mix just for the contrast that Simple Minds are still making new music and are not resting on the laurels of a well stocked back catalogue. Maybe that's just a me thing so I can't help but mention it.
Jim Kerr & Charlie Burchill are the only original members of the band but the rest of the team have been playing alongside them for quite a number of years (apart from the keyboardist Erik Ljunggren who is a recent addition) and man, they are a tight unit. Cherisse Osei (Drums) gets a lot of praise among Simple Minds fans and rightly so, she's like watching a fireworks display in action. As for Sarah Brown, I could listen her endlessly. Taking the lead vocal for "Book of Brilliant Things" was pretty special and also her vocals with Jim Kerr on "Mandela Day" were just lovely. Sarah, by the way, has an excellent solo album out called 'Sarah Brown Sings Mahalia Jackson', that's worth checking out. I should also give a shout out to Bassist Ged Grimes (no Bass Guitar Player Jokes please! 😉) who has been with the band since 2010. His name was always familiar to me but for one reason or another I never checked his details out until last night. He has quite the musical history starting with Dundee pop band Danny Wilson and a lot of surprises along the way (for more info check out his Wikipedia page).
Jim Kerr celebrated his 65th Birthday the day before this gig (9th July) and despite the age he still sounds good and covers every area of the stage throwing shapes as he goes. "Belfast Child" was the moment you really got to hear the power of his voice and I think that song never sounded better than at this show, though near the end of "Don't You (Forget About Me)" his voice cracked a bit. Charlie Burchill (who will also hit 65 in November) was on great form. I think he often doesn't get the credit as a good guitarist among his contemporaries as some fella called The Edge (U2) always seems to get the top spot.
As to the broadcasters, ARTE Concert, they did a superb job in capturing the sight and sounds, only one little glitch during "Sanctify Yourself" kept it from being perfect. You should check out their YouTube Channel ARTE Concert for more performances, especially the recent films from Hellfest 2024.
Set 1:
1 Waterfront
New Gold Dream (81–82–83–84) Album In Full
2 Someone Somewhere in Summertime
3 Colours Fly and Catherine Wheel
4 Promised You a Miracle
5 Big Sleep
6 Somebody Up There Likes You (Instrumental)
7 New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84)
8 Glittering Prize
9 Hunter and the Hunted
10 King Is White and in the Crowd
******
11 I Travel
Interlude (25 Minutes)
Set 2: (starts at 1hr 24.19 on the video)
12 Book of Brilliant Things (Vocals by Sarah Brown)
13 Mandela Day (Vocals by Jim Kerr and Sarah Brown)
14 Come a Long Way
15 Let There Be Love
16 Sanctify Yourself
17 Belfast Child
18 Don't You (Forget About Me)
19 Alive and Kicking
The show ran approx. 1h55min (taking out the 25 Minute Break)
Current Tour Line Up
Jim Kerr - Vocals
Charlie Burchill - Guitar
Ged Grimes - Bass
Sarah Brown - Backing Vocals
Gordy Goudie - Guitar, Backing Vocals
Cherisse Osei - Drums
Erik Ljunggren - Keyboards
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