News 2006

Sunday Express ‘Neon Lights’ giveaway

The Sunday Express (UK) were today giving readers the chance to get their hands on a copy of ‘Neon Lights’ for a mere £1.97. The special reader offer carried a front page tease that contained a picture of Jim Kerr from 1991

Aotea Centre, Auckland 17th May 2006 review

Promised you a miracle… and that was the promise back in the 80s, when Scottish new wave band Simple Minds were one of the biggest stadium-fillers in the world. After a handful of dazzling, adventurous albums, Jim Kerr and co stepped back until last year’s release of a pretty average record. But then a miracle of sorts happened here on Wednesday night and Simple Minds proved the power of nostalgia, filling the Aotea Centre with an air-punching, screaming, dancing crowd, mainly of a certain age group but with a healthy proportion of teens and 20s as well.

They weren’t there to hear the songs from that new album, Black and White, although Kerr did deliver some of those, moments which occasionally flattened the energy levels. No, it was the soundscape anthems of Simple Minds’ classics like New Gold Dream, Sparkle in the Rain and Sons and Fascination that people had come to hear, to relive those moments when the band broke big in New Zealand and we learnt the words to Don’t You Forget About Me.

The promoter shouldn’t have bothered with support band, Donald Reid, whose warm-up felt like 30 bludgeoning minutes too long. All was forgiven when Kerr, looking fit at 48, bounded on stage, waving, grinning, shaking hands, before ripping into Speed Your Love to Me with super-guitarist Charlie Burchill’s shimmering chords a reminder of how first-rate this band could be.

Mark Taylor provided plenty of atmosphere on keyboards and longtime drummer Mel Gaynor and bass player Eddie Duffy established a stonking rhythm, with a nice surprise later in the night with an appearance by Kiwi music producer Malcolm Foster, their bass player for six years.

The oldies and goodies were all there: Love Song, one of their biggest hits, Waterfront, Up on the Catwalk, Alive and Kicking, Promised You A Miracle, She’s A River, All the Things She Said, Someone Somewhere, interspersed between some obscure later numbers. Halfway through, Kerr noted, in his delicious Glaswegian accent, that it had been 17 years since they last played in Auckland, and “you’re here and as mad as ever”, before dedicating the next song – Gloria – to “a girl I met here”. And they were mad for it.

But by 10pm, the Aotea Centre’s limitations as a venue for a huge rock sound were becoming painfully obvious. Simple Minds need a big space where the sound can travel, not bounce back in on itself. The glories of Sanctify Yourself and New Gold Dream were muddied by the centre’s confines and Burchill’s efforts to “freshen” up the classics by playing in different keys didn’t always work. Why muck-up the greats? But overall, Kerr and his band could not have happier with what was never less than an adoring bunch of longtime fans. And, at last, came Don’t You Forget About Me and the complete crowd sing-along.

Linda Herrick, Herald on Sunday

Black & White live bundle 03

The latest installment of the Black & White live bundle series is now available to download from Bundle 03 contains some real gems including Sleeping Girl and Factory, the full track listing is as follows:

Black & White live bundle 03

• Sleeping Girl
• East At Easter
• See The Lights
• Speed Your Love To Me
• Glittering Prize
• Factory

Touring (video interview)

Fav live songs (video interview)

In the beginning (video interview)

Influences (video interview)

To purchase Black & White Live Bundle 03 visit www.tunetribe.com. Payment can be made via credit card or PayPal, due to the extra tracks/interviews the price has risen to £3.99.

Black & White live bundle 02 is still available from www.tunetribe.com for a mere £1.99, track listing as follows:

Black & White live bundle 02

• All The Things She Said
• Underneath The Ice
• Colours Fly & Catherine Wheel
• First live show (video interview)
• Why play music? (video interview)

Simple Minds to headline opening World Cup party

Simple Minds will headline the opening World Cup party in Berlin on June 7th at the capital’s signature Brandenburg Gate. The German capital is throwing a huge party to start a month long cultural festival that will run alongside the greatest show on earth. The band are expecting to play a four song set infront of such footballing legends as Péle and Bobby Charlton.

Brandenburg GateWorld Cup 2006 logo

State Theatre, Sydney May 7th 2006 review

Don’t You Forget About Them

Who in their right minds would pay good money to see Scot-pop has-beens Simple Minds 20 years after their peak? Children of the ’80s? Ageing fans of the original new wave? Geeks? Shouldn’t these people have, like, moved on, or something? As it turns out, it doesn’t matter what the answers are. Simple Minds should also be irrelevant, but their live sound, refined in stadiums back then, remains huge; many of their era-defining hits still sparkle; and the songs from the so-so current album Black & White fit into the set more comfortably than you’d expect.

It’s sometimes quite difficult to watch. The tanned, slightly balding singer Jim Kerr strikes ludicrous rock’n’roll poses only his yoga guru would applaud, and actual dancing remains, uh, one of his weaker suits, but he enjoys every second, and it’s contagious. Similarly, his fellow band founder and long-time writing partner, Charlie Burchill, looks as unlikely an axe hero as he ever did, yet still makes his guitar soar with skyscraping riffs.

After a worrying opening, including the swift realisation during a failed singalong of Home that most of the adoring crowd don’t know the new album, the band get them on their feet for a history-acknowledging Love Song (it was their first chart hit here, and anywhere) and barely give them a chance to sit back down. The blueprint remains technicolour walls of synth and Burchill’s sometimes shimmering, sometimes pealing guitars, backed by powerhouse drummer Mel Gaynor (the only other member of the five from the peak-period line-up), with the band’s more earnest and/or overblown songs (Belfast Child, Mandela Day) happily omitted in favour of the disturbingly enjoyable, fist-pumping anthems.

As Ghostdancing greets the crowd like an old friend, so, too, does an adventurous Kerr as the audience, surrounding him, cry such apt lyrics as “boy, I believe in you” back at him. Don’t You (Forget About Me) remains irresistible. Even the occasional duff track (Let There Be Love, She’s a River) can be forgiven thanks to the appearance of the rampant sway of Waterfront or the techno pulse (!) of New Gold Dream. Only the hardest-hearted cynic would refuse to enjoy such a show.

George Palathingal, Sydney Morning Herald

Friday April 21st 2006

Black & White Live Bundle 01 > Black & White World Tour Heads East > Crashing Beats & Fantasy Lack Of Activity >

Black & White Live Bundle Available To Download

simpleminds.com have launched an ‘Exclusives’ package which enables fans to purchase bundles via TuneTribe for just £1.99. The monthly offer will contain live tracks and exclusive video interviews with the band, the full simpleminds.com black & white live bundle 01announcement is as follows:

“simpleminds.com has got off to a successful start with the launch of our exclusive downloads. The “Black and White Live Bundle No1” is only a first of many such releases and gives a taste of what can be expected of future releases. In fact throughout the remaining months of the current tour new “bundle releases” will be available on a fortnightly basis, before once again returning to a monthly basis once the tour ends. Hopefully that is not too complicated! Although initially the tracks available for downloads will for the most part be taken from various dates on the current tour, some of the bundles will however also feature rare studio/soundcheck/hotel room recordings made on the spot during this tour!

In addition live tracks from the more recent touring past will also feature eventually. Recorded by live sound engineer Patrick Demoustier and mixed in turn by producer Jez Coad, guitarist Charlie Burchill and keyboardist Andy Gillespie. This is the genuine article i.e. – music made, recorded and mixed by Simple Minds – and in turn officially sanctioned by the band as being both worthy of release and purchase price. Finally, the best way to experience Simple Minds is still of course to go and see them play live. No recording is equal to the effect of being in the venue when Simple Minds are on stage. That is the real thing! We are however confident that these recordings represent the next best thing and look forward to making many more available here at simpleminds .com. Thanks for your support!”

“Lead singer Jim Kerr commented “The launch of SIMPLEMINDS.COM EXCLUSIVES is not only an exciting development within our official site but even more than that I feel it is a significant development within our band history. And the reason for that is that finally we feel that we have the right conditions to be able to independently produce and distribute our work when and however we feel.

We are delighted with the quality of material on offer and have tremendous hope that our fans will be equally impressed enough to support us with this new venture.” With the opportunity for so much more music and information set to become available through SIMPLEMINDS.COM EXCLUSIVES the already strong link that the group has with fans worldwide is set to become even stronger. All involved with Simple Minds look forward to the upcoming months and years ahead as this exciting facility develops.”

Black & White Live Bundle 01 contains:

• Stay Visible
• Someone, Somewhere (In Summertime)
• Don’t You (Forget About Me)
• Black & White Video Interview
• Home from Home Video Interview

To purchase Black & White Live Bundle 01 visit www.tunetribe.com. Payment can be made via credit card or PayPal and the file size for the bundle is just over 47mb, enjoy.

Black & White World Tour Heads East

Simple Minds leave Europe and head East as the hugely succesful Black & White World Tour next stops off in Hong Kong. The band performed just under 60 shows in 23 countries since the end of January and will next perform at Hong Kong’s 3,600 capacity Queen Elizabeth Stadium on the 28th of April before heading to Singapore and the highly anticipated Australian and New Zealand shows in May. Full up-to-date tour dates can be found here.

Jim Kerr @ Gothenburg

© Asa Johansson 2006

Crashing Beats & Fantasy

As regular visitors to these pages will have noticed, there has been a distinct lack of activity of the last eight weeks. Due to work and increasing business commitments my spare time has been somewhat sparse resulting in very few updates. I am now back on course so regular updates will be made to these pages once Simple Minded news has become available. Several sections of the website are being worked on at the moment inluding, a ‘2005-2006 Gallery’, lots more ‘Reviews & Articles’, a re-vamped ‘Lyrics’ section and an updated ‘Discography’. Many thanks to all the emails and messages received from the Minds community, as always they were very much appreciated.

Monday February 13th 2006

The Dome, Brighton Set List > Academy 1, Manchester ‘Manchester Evening News’ Review > Carling Academy, Glasgow ‘Scottish Sunday Mail’ Review>

Speed Your Love To Me and Seeing Out The Angel made a welcome return in Brighton last night at the expense of Book Of Brilliant Things and Let It All Come Down. The band are receiving rave reviews from fans and the media alike for their breathtaking performances so far, all reviews and articles re-produced within the News section will be added to the Reviews/Articles section soon.

The Brighton set list was as follows:

Intro

1. Sleeping Girl
2. Home
3. Stay Visible
4. East At Easter
5. Up On The Catwalk
6. Love Song
7. See The Lights
8. Big Sleep
9. All The Things She Said
10. Waterfront
11. Jeweller To The Stars
12. Underneath The Ice
13. Someone, Somewhere (In Summertime)
14. Speed Your Love To Me
15. Don’t You (Forget About Me)
16. Dolphins
17. Different World
18. Seeing Out The Angel
19. New Gold Dream
20. Glittering Prize
21. Stranger
22. Alive & Kicking

Academy 1, Manchester Review, Manchester Evening News 13th February 2006

Still Going Strong

There was a chorus of adulation from the Academy crowd as a sprightly, denim-clad Jim Kerr walked on stage. It has, after all, been 30 years since Simple Minds first inspired a generation with brilliant songwriting and musicianship. And, while the group may have shied away from climbing to the dizzying heights of one-time contemporaries U2, they are still as relevant as they ever were. A two-hour set brimming with old and new tracks proved that. Opening track, Sleeping Girl, was thrust on the crowd by Kerr, guitarist Charlie Burchill, long-time drummer Mel Gaynor and bassist Eddie Duffy, with determined energy.

Clearly, those looking forward to an evening drenched in 80s nostalgia were in for a big surprise. This was more than a trip down memory lane. The backbone of the set was provided by classic tracks: early Simple Minds fans being treated to gems such as Love Song, East Is Easter, Up On The Catwalk, See The Lights and Don’t You Forget About Me. A deafening roar exploded as Kerr began calling card, Waterfront. More impressive, however, was that songs from the recent Black And White album provoked the crowd just as much.

And while the soaring electro surge of title track Black And White echoed vintage Simple Minds, Dolphins enveloped the room with a more experimental edge. Kerr simply grinned. The crowd grinned back, acknowledging what is something of a spiritual time in the careers of the Glaswegian veterans. It was necessary, then, to end with Alive And Kicking. And while not wanting to play on such an obvious pun, that is exactly what Simple Minds still are.

Belinda Hanks, Manchester Evening News Carling Academy, Glasgow Review, ‘Scottish Sunday Mail’ 12th February 2006 Simple Minds have always been Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill but add in Mel Gaynor on drums, Eddie Duffy on bass, Mark Taylor on keyboards and 30 years on, they still sell out tours. They treated fans to classics Speed Your Love To Me, New Gold Dream, Waterfront and a cracking rendition of East At Easter. And it was good to see an outing for the excellent Colours Fly And Catherine Wheel. Newer songs A Life Shot In Black & White and Stay Visible showed they can still craft a decent tune but on the night it was the older songs that hit the mark.

Linda McLean, Scottish Sunday Mail

Carling Academy, Newcastle Review, The Evening Chronicle 7th February 2006

Simple But Effective

The majority of the audience were 35-plus, but that didn’t stop a fair number of them forgetting their age and jumping up and down like there was no tomorrow. The last time I saw Simple Minds was back in the early 1990s when they played Gateshead Stadium. This is a much, much smaller venue, and just as well, as Kerr’s voice simply isn’t as strong as it used to be.

Several times during the gig you struggled to hear his recognisable tones, and now and again you thought the vocal chords may even give up. But the consummate professional, he persevered and at times the magic of old returned as thought it had never left. Kerr, give him his due, was on stage for just under two hours, showing terrific stamina – though the beads of sweat were evident from just minutes into the concert. A great workout, though!

The gig mixed plenty of new material with a smattering of the old stuff. Waterfront was the first number to really get the crowd going, but Someone Somewhere (In Summertime), Up On The Catwalk, See The Lights and Love Song were equally well received. Now and then the gig lost momentum when the pace slowed down with some of the newer material, and it took a good two minutes for the fans to get behind the anthemic Don’t You (Forget About Me).

That said, the night ended on a high – after two, lengthy, encores – to the strains of Alive and Kicking. Something that Jim Kerr and the band obviously are very much still. Gordan Barr, The Evening Chronicle February 8th

Carling Academy, Newcastle 6th February 2006 Set List

Stay Visible returned as the opening number in Newcastle last night after Home aptly opened the set in Glasgow on Sunday night. Hypnotised replaced Hunter & The Hunted whilst Stranger and Different World swapped places within the 22 song set, the set list was as follows:

Intro

1. Stay Visible
2. Home
3. East At Easter
4. Up On The Catwalk
5. Love Song
6. See The Lights
7. Big Sleep
8. Colours Fly & Catherine Wheel
9. Hypnotised
10. Waterfront
11. Different World
12. A Life Shot In Black & White
13. Someone, Somewhere (In Summertime)
14. Speed Your Love To Me
15. Don’t You (Forget About Me)
16. Dolphins
17. Stranger
18. Seeing Out The Angel
19. New Gold Dream
20. Factory
21. Underneath The Ice
22. Alive & Kicking

The Sunday Express (UK) were today giving readers the chance to get their hands on a copy of ‘Neon Lights’ for a mere £1.97. The special reader offer carried a front page tease that contained a picture of Jim Kerr from 1991

Aotea Centre, Auckland 17th May 2006 review

Promised you a miracle… and that was the promise back in the 80s, when Scottish new wave band Simple Minds were one of the biggest stadium-fillers in the world. After a handful of dazzling, adventurous albums, Jim Kerr and co stepped back until last year’s release of a pretty average record. But then a miracle of sorts happened here on Wednesday night and Simple Minds proved the power of nostalgia, filling the Aotea Centre with an air-punching, screaming, dancing crowd, mainly of a certain age group but with a healthy proportion of teens and 20s as well.

They weren’t there to hear the songs from that new album, Black and White, although Kerr did deliver some of those, moments which occasionally flattened the energy levels. No, it was the soundscape anthems of Simple Minds’ classics like New Gold Dream, Sparkle in the Rain and Sons and Fascination that people had come to hear, to relive those moments when the band broke big in New Zealand and we learnt the words to Don’t You Forget About Me.

The promoter shouldn’t have bothered with support band, Donald Reid, whose warm-up felt like 30 bludgeoning minutes too long. All was forgiven when Kerr, looking fit at 48, bounded on stage, waving, grinning, shaking hands, before ripping into Speed Your Love to Me with super-guitarist Charlie Burchill’s shimmering chords a reminder of how first-rate this band could be.

Mark Taylor provided plenty of atmosphere on keyboards and longtime drummer Mel Gaynor and bass player Eddie Duffy established a stonking rhythm, with a nice surprise later in the night with an appearance by Kiwi music producer Malcolm Foster, their bass player for six years.

The oldies and goodies were all there: Love Song, one of their biggest hits, Waterfront, Up on the Catwalk, Alive and Kicking, Promised You A Miracle, She’s A River, All the Things She Said, Someone Somewhere, interspersed between some obscure later numbers. Halfway through, Kerr noted, in his delicious Glaswegian accent, that it had been 17 years since they last played in Auckland, and “you’re here and as mad as ever”, before dedicating the next song – Gloria – to “a girl I met here”. And they were mad for it.

But by 10pm, the Aotea Centre’s limitations as a venue for a huge rock sound were becoming painfully obvious. Simple Minds need a big space where the sound can travel, not bounce back in on itself. The glories of Sanctify Yourself and New Gold Dream were muddied by the centre’s confines and Burchill’s efforts to “freshen” up the classics by playing in different keys didn’t always work. Why muck-up the greats? But overall, Kerr and his band could not have happier with what was never less than an adoring bunch of longtime fans. And, at last, came Don’t You Forget About Me and the complete crowd sing-along.

Linda Herrick, Herald on Sunday

Black & White live bundle 03

The latest installment of the Black & White live bundle series is now available to download from www.tunetribe.com. Bundle 03 contains some real gems including Sleeping Girl and Factory, the full track listing is as follows:

Black & White live bundle 03

• Sleeping Girl
• East At Easter
• See The Lights
• Speed Your Love To Me
• Glittering Prize
• Factory

Touring (video interview)

Fav live songs (video interview)

In the beginning (video interview)

Influences (video interview)

To purchase Black & White Live Bundle 03 Payment can be made via credit card or PayPal, due to the extra tracks/interviews the price has risen to £3.99.

Black & White live bundle 02 is still available from for a mere £1.99, track listing as follows:

Black & White live bundle 02

• All The Things She Said
• Underneath The Ice
• Colours Fly & Catherine Wheel

First live show (video interview)
Why play music? (video interview)

Simple Minds to headline opening World Cup party Simple Minds will headline the opening World Cup party in Berlin on June 7th at the capital’s signature Brandenburg Gate. The German capital is throwing a huge party to start a month long cultural festival that will run alongside the greatest show on earth. The band are expecting to play a four song set infront of such footballing legends as Péle and Bobby Charlton.

Brandenburg GateWorld Cup 2006 logo

State Theatre, Sydney May 7th 2006 review

Don’t You Forget About Them

Who in their right minds would pay good money to see Scot-pop has-beens Simple Minds 20 years after their peak? Children of the ’80s? Ageing fans of the original new wave? Geeks? Shouldn’t these people have, like, moved on, or something? As it turns out, it doesn’t matter what the answers are. Simple Minds should also be irrelevant, but their live sound, refined in stadiums back then, remains huge; many of their era-defining hits still sparkle; and the songs from the so-so current album Black & White fit into the set more comfortably than you’d expect.

It’s sometimes quite difficult to watch. The tanned, slightly balding singer Jim Kerr strikes ludicrous rock’n’roll poses only his yoga guru would applaud, and actual dancing remains, uh, one of his weaker suits, but he enjoys every second, and it’s contagious. Similarly, his fellow band founder and long-time writing partner, Charlie Burchill, looks as unlikely an axe hero as he ever did, yet still makes his guitar soar with skyscraping riffs.

After a worrying opening, including the swift realisation during a failed singalong of Home that most of the adoring crowd don’t know the new album, the band get them on their feet for a history-acknowledging Love Song (it was their first chart hit here, and anywhere) and barely give them a chance to sit back down.

The blueprint remains technicolour walls of synth and Burchill’s sometimes shimmering, sometimes pealing guitars, backed by powerhouse drummer Mel Gaynor (the only other member of the five from the peak-period line-up), with the band’s more earnest and/or overblown songs (Belfast Child, Mandela Day) happily omitted in favour of the disturbingly enjoyable, fist-pumping anthems.

As Ghostdancing greets the crowd like an old friend, so, too, does an adventurous Kerr as the audience, surrounding him, cry such apt lyrics as “boy, I believe in you” back at him. Don’t You (Forget About Me) remains irresistible. Even the occasional duff track (Let There Be Love, She’s a River) can be forgiven thanks to the appearance of the rampant sway of Waterfront or the techno pulse (!) of New Gold Dream. Only the hardest-hearted cynic would refuse to enjoy such a show.

George Palathingal, Sydney Morning Herald

Friday April 21st 2006

Black & White Live Bundle 01 > Black & White World Tour Heads East > Crashing Beats & Fantasy Lack Of Activity >

Black & White Live Bundle Available To Download

simpleminds.com have launched an ‘Exclusives’ package which enables fans to purchase bundles via TuneTribe for just £1.99. The monthly offer will contain live tracks and exclusive video interviews with the band, the full simpleminds.com black & white live bundle 01announcement is as follows:

“simpleminds.com has got off to a successful start with the launch of our exclusive downloads. The “Black and White Live Bundle No1” is only a first of many such releases and gives a taste of what can be expected of future releases. In fact throughout the remaining months of the current tour new “bundle releases” will be available on a fortnightly basis, before once again returning to a monthly basis once the tour ends. Hopefully that is not too complicated! Although initially the tracks available for downloads will for the most part be taken from various dates on the current tour, some of the bundles will however also feature rare studio/soundcheck/hotel room recordings made on the spot during this tour! In addition live tracks from the more recent touring past will also feature eventually.

Recorded by live sound engineer Patrick Demoustier and mixed in turn by producer Jez Coad, guitarist Charlie Burchill and keyboardist Andy Gillespie. This is the genuine article i.e. – music made, recorded and mixed by Simple Minds – and in turn officially sanctioned by the band as being both worthy of release and purchase price. Finally, the best way to experience Simple Minds is still of course to go and see them play live. No recording is equal to the effect of being in the venue when Simple Minds are on stage. That is the real thing! We are however confident that these recordings represent the next best thing and look forward to making many more available here at simpleminds .com. Thanks for your support!”

“Lead singer Jim Kerr commented “The launch of SIMPLEMINDS.COM EXCLUSIVES is not only an exciting development within our official site but even more than that I feel it is a significant development within our band history. And the reason for that is that finally we feel that we have the right conditions to be able to independently produce and distribute our work when and however we feel.

We are delighted with the quality of material on offer and have tremendous hope that our fans will be equally impressed enough to support us with this new venture.” With the opportunity for so much more music and information set to become available through SIMPLEMINDS.COM EXCLUSIVES the already strong link that the group has with fans worldwide is set to become even stronger. All involved with Simple Minds look forward to the upcoming months and years ahead as this exciting facility develops.”

Black & White Live Bundle 01 contains:

• Stay Visible
• Someone, Somewhere (In Summertime)
• Don’t You (Forget About Me)
• Black & White Video Interview
• Home from Home Video Interview

To purchase Black & White Live Bundle 01 Payment can be made via credit card or PayPal and the file size for the bundle is just over 47mb, enjoy.

Black & White World Tour Heads East

Simple Minds leave Europe and head East as the hugely succesful Black & White World Tour next stops off in Hong Kong. The band performed just under 60 shows in 23 countries since the end of January and will next perform at Hong Kong’s 3,600 capacity Queen Elizabeth Stadium on the 28th of April before heading to Singapore and the highly anticipated Australian and New Zealand shows in May. Full up-to-date tour dates can be found here.

Jim Kerr @ Gothenburg

© Asa Johansson 2006

Crashing Beats & Fantasy

As regular visitors to these pages will have noticed, there has been a distinct lack of activity of the last eight weeks. Due to work and increasing business commitments my spare time has been somewhat sparse resulting in very few updates. I am now back on course so regular updates will be made to these pages once Simple Minded news has become available. Several sections of the website are being worked on at the moment inluding, a ‘2005-2006 Gallery’, lots more ‘Reviews & Articles’, a re-vamped ‘Lyrics’ section and an updated ‘Discography’. Many thanks to all the emails and messages received from the Minds community, as always they were very much appreciated.

Monday February 13th 2006

The Dome, Brighton Set List > Academy 1, Manchester ‘Manchester Evening News’ Review > Carling Academy, Glasgow ‘Scottish Sunday Mail’ Review> Speed Your Love To Me and Seeing Out The Angel made a welcome return in Brighton last night at the expense of Book Of Brilliant Things and Let It All Come Down. The band are receiving rave reviews from fans and the media alike for their breathtaking performances so far, all reviews and articles re-produced within the News section will be added to the Reviews/Articles section soon. The Brighton set list was as follows

Intro

1. Sleeping Girl
2. Home
3. Stay Visible
4. East At Easter
5. Up On The Catwalk
6. Love Song
7. See The Lights
8. Big Sleep
9. All The Things She Said
10. Waterfront
11. Jeweller To The Stars
12. Underneath The Ice
13. Someone, Somewhere (In Summertime)
14. Speed Your Love To Me
15. Don’t You (Forget About Me)
16. Dolphins
17. Different World
18. Seeing Out The Angel
19. New Gold Dream
20. Glittering Prize
21. Stranger
22. Alive & Kicking

Academy 1, Manchester Review, Manchester Evening News 13th February 2006

Still Going Strong

There was a chorus of adulation from the Academy crowd as a sprightly, denim-clad Jim Kerr walked on stage. It has, after all, been 30 years since Simple Minds first inspired a generation with brilliant songwriting and musicianship. And, while the group may have shied away from climbing to the dizzying heights of one-time contemporaries U2, they are still as relevant as they ever were. A two-hour set brimming with old and new tracks proved that. Opening track, Sleeping Girl, was thrust on the crowd by Kerr, guitarist Charlie Burchill, long-time drummer Mel Gaynor and bassist Eddie Duffy, with determined energy.

Clearly, those looking forward to an evening drenched in 80s nostalgia were in for a big surprise. This was more than a trip down memory lane. The backbone of the set was provided by classic tracks: early Simple Minds fans being treated to gems such as Love Song, East Is Easter, Up On The Catwalk, See The Lights and Don’t You Forget About Me. A deafening roar exploded as Kerr began calling card, Waterfront. More impressive, however, was that songs from the recent Black And White album provoked the crowd just as much.

And while the soaring electro surge of title track Black And White echoed vintage Simple Minds, Dolphins enveloped the room with a more experimental edge. Kerr simply grinned. The crowd grinned back, acknowledging what is something of a spiritual time in the careers of the Glaswegian veterans. It was necessary, then, to end with Alive And Kicking. And while not wanting to play on such an obvious pun, that is exactly what Simple Minds still are.

Belinda Hanks, Manchester Evening News Carling Academy, Glasgow Review, ‘Scottish Sunday Mail’ 12th February 2006 Simple Minds have always been Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill but add in Mel Gaynor on drums, Eddie Duffy on bass, Mark Taylor on keyboards and 30 years on, they still sell out tours. They treated fans to classics Speed Your Love To Me,

New Gold Dream, Waterfront and a cracking rendition of East At Easter. And it was good to see an outing for the excellent Colours Fly And Catherine Wheel. Newer songs A Life Shot In Black & White and Stay Visible showed they can still craft a decent tune but on the night it was the older songs that hit the mark. Linda McLean, Scottish Sunday Mail Carling Academy, Newcastle Review, The Evening Chronicle 7th February 2006

Simple But Effective

The majority of the audience were 35-plus, but that didn’t stop a fair number of them forgetting their age and jumping up and down like there was no tomorrow. The last time I saw Simple Minds was back in the early 1990s when they played Gateshead Stadium. This is a much, much smaller venue, and just as well, as Kerr’s voice simply isn’t as strong as it used to be.

Several times during the gig you struggled to hear his recognisable tones, and now and again you thought the vocal chords may even give up. But the consummate professional, he persevered and at times the magic of old returned as thought it had never left. Kerr, give him his due, was on stage for just under two hours, showing terrific stamina – though the beads of sweat were evident from just minutes into the concert. A great workout, though! The gig mixed plenty of new material with a smattering of the old stuff. Waterfront was the first number to really get the crowd going, but Someone Somewhere (In Summertime), Up On The Catwalk, See The Lights and Love Song were equally well received.

Now and then the gig lost momentum when the pace slowed down with some of the newer material, and it took a good two minutes for the fans to get behind the anthemic Don’t You (Forget About Me). That said, the night ended on a high – after two, lengthy, encores – to the strains of Alive and Kicking. Something that Jim Kerr and the band obviously are very much still.

Gordan Barr, The Evening Chronicle February 8th

Carling Academy, Newcastle 6th February 2006 Set List

Stay Visible returned as the opening number in Newcastle last night after Home aptly opened the set in Glasgow on Sunday night. Hypnotised replaced Hunter & The Hunted whilst Stranger and Different World swapped places within the 22 song set, the set list was as follows

Intro

1. Stay Visible
2. Home
3. East At Easter
4. Up On The Catwalk
5. Love Song
6. See The Lights
7. Big Sleep
8. Colours Fly & Catherine Wheel
9. Hypnotised
10. Waterfront
11. Different World
12. A Life Shot In Black & White
13. Someone, Somewhere (In Summertime)
14. Speed Your Love To Me
15. Don’t You (Forget About Me)
16. Dolphins
17. Stranger
18. Seeing Out The Angel
19. New Gold Dream
20. Factory
21. Underneath The Ice
22. Alive & Kicking