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Irish Times
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Simple Minds in Dublin: seasoned pros bring the party atmosphere
Simple Minds Trinity Summer Series ★★★☆☆ The sound of that Waterfront bassline that everybody knows, ringing out over the salubrious surroundings of Trinity College , is akin to a tank rolling across the cricket pitch. While that may well be the groundskeeper's worst nightmare, it's the perfect way to kick off a celebratory night in the company of Simple Minds, seasoned pros at this kind of party. 'We're gonna have a good time, I can tell already,' says frontman Jim Kerr in his Scottish burr, and it turned out he was right. There are, as every `Minds' fan knows, two distinct periods to their career. There's the first five albums where they were an angular and Eurocentric dance band, and then everything after that thunderous Waterfront bassline first rang out back in 1984. It's that " big music" period, most specifically 1985's stadium-tailored Once Upon A Time, that they go with on Tuesday nightbut it's music made for punching the open air to so aside from the odd grumbler, everybody's happy. READ MORE After a sparkling Glittering Prize, Oh Jungleland had a guitar sound from Charlie Burchill big enough to devour most of Dublin 2. Kerr gets down on his knees, no mean feat inskinny jeans, and then leans all the way back until he's horizontal, which is good going for a gent of his years. 'Don't try that at home,' He cautions. 'Try it in someone else's home.' [ Trinity Summer Series 2025: Simple Minds, Weezer, Rag'n'Bone Man, Amble and Marti Pellow Opens in new window ] Simple Minds: Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill Simple Minds: Charlie Burchill. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill The same man, giving his all, is down touching hands in the pit for most of Let There Be Love. Then he's up on the drum raiser, but singing from below his boots with a voice that's lost little if anything over the years, for a welcome run at the title track from 1982's still mesmerising masterpiece New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84), although that subtitle's reminder that it's been 40-something years is a bit cruel. The jangling, echoey guitar intro to Ghost Dancing sounds uncharacteristically thin until the evening's star player, bassist Ged Grimes whose fluid lines drive the best moments, joins in to give it some appropriate heft. Kerr, meanwhile, wonders if he's too old for this stuff, almost goes into Van Morrison's Gloria before thinking better of it and then reveals this as his favourite song because he gets to sit down. He then nips off altogether, possibly a bit flustered from all the lunging he's been doing, as the band go through Theme For Great Cities. Even though it was released in 1981, this instrumental sounds like it could have been recorded yesterday thanks to the ferocious attack of the rhythm section of Grimes and drummer Cherisse Osei. She then unleashes that rarest of beasts, the drum solo, assaulting with great skill a kit that has more Toms than the Mayo phone book. After that it's hits all the way with the perennial Don't You (Forget About Me). . Kerr, who still resembles Liam Brady's artier brother, milks it for all its worth, asking the crowd to sing it in French, Italian and Irish as 'La, La, La' doesn't require much translation despite his smiling assertion that it's a hard song to sing. By the time they finish with Alive And Kicking, everyone in this admirably up for it audience is grinning and roaring along as one. 'I could tell you how much Ireland means to us, how much we appreciate it every time we play here but I think you know that,' says Kerr. 'But I'll say it anyway. Thanks for coming to see Simple Minds.' Always a pleasure, never a chore. Simple Minds. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill Simple Minds. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill Simple Minds. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill Simple Minds at Trinity. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill Simple Minds. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill Simple Minds in Dublin. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill
Scotsman
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Simple Minds, Glasgow review: 'We're going to have a great night guaranteed'
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Simple Minds, Bellahouston Park, Glasgow **** Back in their mid-Eighties pomp, Simple Minds were among a coterie of bands who modernised the tradition of the stadium show, with the beefy soundtrack to match. Four decades on, they braved the rain to perform their first outdoor gig in their native city since their legendary Ibrox shows of 1986, true events at a time when Glasgow was not so blessed with open-air extravaganzas. With his usual galvanising charm, frontman Jim Kerr claimed that, despite growing up on the southside of Glasgow, he and guitarist Charlie Burchill had never visited Bellahouston Park before now. Back in their adolescence, they couldn't afford the bus fare; now, he deadpanned, they have their bus passes. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Frontman Jim Kerr led Simple Minds in a crowd-pleasing set (Picture: Jean Christopher Verhaegan/AFP/Getty) 'We're going to have a great night guaranteed,' he proclaimed with justified confidence, having opened the show with the undeniable bassline of the mighty Waterfront. However, the main body of the set was to be given over to a celebration of their 1985 hit album Once Upon A Time, which caught the band at their commercial, if not creative peak. Album tracks Oh Jungleland, Come A Long Way and Wish You Were Here were scattered through the set, not quite landing with the potency of the big anthems nor the curated cuts from the rest of the catalogue such as the eternal Glittering Prize and atmospheric instrumental Theme from Great Cities. However, drummer Cherisse Osei made almost every song sound like the big finish, while soulful powerhouse co-vocalist Sarah Brown shone on All The Things She Said and Sanctify Yourself. Kerr encouraged the audience to milk those 'la-la-las' on non-album single Don't You (Forget About Me) before dialling down the volume and upping the Celtic mysticism for Belfast Child.
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'80s New Wave Icon Sings Fans 'Into a Different Place and Time' With Hit Movie Theme Song: 'Wow 1985-2025'
'80s New Wave Icon Sings Fans 'Into a Different Place and Time' With Hit Movie Theme Song: 'Wow 1985-2025' originally appeared on Parade. Steve Kerr has still got it. The lead singer of the iconic '80s new wave sensation Simple Minds, along with original bandmate Charlie Burchill, are celebrating the 40th anniversary of their album Once Upon A Time with a world tour and live album. Videos shared to social media show Kerr has still got the pipes to belt out hits like Don't You (Forget About Me), the infectious theme song to the John Hughes-helmed classic The Breakfast a recent social media video, Kerr can be seen belting out the famous movie theme song while encouraging the crowd to sing with him. Simple Minds are playing to sold-out shows, a sign the guys are still as popular as they were in 1985 when the song was released. Fans love being brought back to 'a different place and time,' reliving the 1980s through music that is still as relevant today as it was back then. One wrote, "Wow 1985-2025." Other fans were wowed by the band's sound, calling them an 'amazing band.'And while many Simple Minds fans are seeing the band in a different light—now as parents instead of teens—some are enjoying the tour with their own teenagers, who likely know Don't You (Forget About Me) from the final scene in the 2012 comedy Pitch Perfect. The song did an accafabulous job of updating the classic. 🎬SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox🎬 '80s New Wave Icon Sings Fans 'Into a Different Place and Time' With Hit Movie Theme Song: 'Wow 1985-2025' first appeared on Parade on Jun 6, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jun 6, 2025, where it first appeared.
South China Morning Post
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
When Simple Minds first played US and why, for singer Jim Kerr, the band is ‘a crusade'
When the Scottish band Simple Minds made their live debut at the Satellite City club in Glasgow on January 17, 1978, it is fair to wonder just how big the four teenagers in the band dared to dream. 'That's a good question,' says singer Jim Kerr, who along with guitarist Charlie Burchill, are the only founding members of Simple Minds to have stayed in the band for the 47 years since that first gig. 'And it's one that we've been reflecting on a lot recently, because Charlie and I have just finished off a book on the history of the band.' At the time, Kerr and Burchill were both 18 and had been friends for a decade, Kerr says. 'By the time we became teenagers, with Brian (McGee, the original drummer), we were in the same class at school. That's when you start to identify your tribe, especially walking around with vinyl albums under your sleeve you find out, oh, these are the guys I've got something in common with,' he says on a recent call from Los Angeles, where Simple Minds were rehearsing for a US tour. Play Burchill had a guitar, McGee had a drum kit, and Kerr would have done anything to be involved with music or a band.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Two Iconic Classic Rock Bands Join Forces For Epic Colorado Concert
80s rock legends Simple Minds and Modern English recently joined forces for an epic concert in Denver, Colorado on May 27. The two bands played together as part of Simple Minds' 'Alive and Kicking' tour, which stopped at Denver's Ball Arena. The members of both bands appeared to be in great spirits and were active during the performance, really getting their rock on. 80s synth duo Soft Cell — who are most famous for their 1981 cover of "Tainted Love" — is also part of the tour. Simple Minds, who are responsible for the hit song 'Don't You Forget About Me' from the 1985 film The Breakfast Club, consists of frontman Jim Kerr, 65, and guitarist Charlie Burchill, also 65, who are the two remaining original members of the band. Joining them on tour are a group of collaborators, including Gordy Goudie on guitar, Ged Grimes on bass, Cherisse Osei on drums, and Sarah Brown on backing vocals. Modern English, who put out the 1982 hit 'I Melt With You,' consists of vocalist Robbie Grey, guitarist Gary McDowell, bassist Mick Conroy, and keyboardist Stephen Walker, all original members of the band. They are joined by Gabriel Sullivan on guitar and Richard Chandler on drums. In the coming days, the tour will play several dates in Texas and then move on to other areas of the United States through late June, where the tour will close out at the Ruoff Music Center in Noblesville, Indiana. From there, Simple Minds heads to Europe, where they will play the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, and the Netherlands through the end of July. As for Modern English, the band does not have any shows scheduled after the 'Alive and Kicking' tour just yet, at least not according to their official website. Simple Mind has released a whopping 21 studio albums since they were formed in Glasgow, Scotland in 1977, as well as seven EPs. For their part, Modern English has eight studio albums to their name and an additional three EPs since their own formation in Essex in 1979. Two Iconic Classic Rock Bands Join Forces For Epic Colorado Concert first appeared on Parade on May 28, 2025
