SIMPLE MINDS – BRIGHTON CENTRE – 3.4.22
Simple Minds were tonight appearing live at a packed out the Brighton Centre in celebration of their 40 iconic years in music. The band, fronted by founder members Jim Kerr (vocals) and Charlie Burchill (guitar) are currently embarking on the European dates which cover 38 shows across 12 countries.
There was no support this evening as Simple Minds were going to give us two sets of music. For the first half there were 11 choice cuts and the second half was an additional 11 tunes plus a three track encore.
Prior to them hitting the stage, the music blasting out of the PA system was most enjoyable in itself. We were given such timeless classics as ‘When Do I Get To Sing “My Way”’ from Sparks, ‘(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang’ from Heaven 17 and ‘You Are In My Vision’ by Tubeway Army – that’s Gary Numan to us!
Well we have finally got here! Covid messed up the proposed original Simple Minds tour dates, so I guess we are now celebrating something like 45 years of success! This evening’s event is an all seated affair (for the mainly middle aged audience) that commenced at 8:03pm with ‘Act Of Love’.
The players this evening are charismatic Scottish frontman Jim Kerr on vocals, with the ever present Charlie Burchill on guitar and they are accompanied by Ged Grimes on bass, the talented Berenice Scott on keyboards and as we shall see later on main vocals too, the flamboyant Cherisse Osei on drums, the dude of the pack Gordy Goudie on guitar and Sarah Brown on backing vocals, who reminded me of Heather Small of M People fame – just as good and just as powerful on the vocal front.
The first impression we all got was that the lights and video screens were rather impressive and the sound on the opener ‘Act Of Love’ was powerful. The signs were most promising!
Next up, an extended version of ‘I Travel’. The hairs on my arms stood to attention in appreciation – what a belter! This was followed by another early tune, ‘Celebrate’, which was a welcomed inclusion to the set. Jim Kerr informed the crowd “It’s going to be a long night, I hope that you’ve brought cucumber sandwiches!”.
Charlie Burchill looked cool with his distinctive white Gretsch guitar, which he often traded for another guitar. Berenice Scott had dual layers of keys on the go with the lower of the two being a Roland. Half way through this first set, Sarah Brown joined the band for that added vocal oomph, even taking centre stage on her entrance.
Half way through ‘Hunter And The Hunted’ saw Berenice Scott don an impressive keytar as she took centre stage and showed us all exactly how it’s done. She looked impressive, especially when being beamed onto the two large screens either side of the stage. There were also 15 part screens positioned high up in the centre stage area.
The band closed the first half with a cover of ‘The Walls Came Down’ by The Call, which certainly had a nod to Donna Summer’s ‘Love’s Unkind’. Gordy Goudie with his shades and cap certainly knew how to throw copious amounts of guitar poses with his axe. My eyes often followed him around the stage as he busied himself.
After 1 hour and 2 minutes, part one concluded at 9:05pm. I suspect that many present would cite the U2-esque ‘Belfast Child’ as being the epic choice from this first half, but mine was ‘I Travel’.
After a 21 minute hiatus, at 9:26pm the intro music commenced and the band took to the stage for the fabulous keyboard and drums epic ‘Theme For Great Cities’. Very pleased about that tune’s inclusion. ‘Waterfront’ was up next and was rather powerful and had its desired effect in lifting the crowd to new heights. It was one of this evening’s highlights.
For me, it wasn’t all highlights though. I could have done with them choosing different tracks to ‘Dolphins’, ‘Once Upon A Time’, ‘See The Lights’, and ‘Let It All Come Down’ as they weren’t as good as the rest of the set. Maybe they could have swapped them for ‘The American’, ‘Chelsea Girl’, ‘Sons And Fascination’ and ‘Saints & Sinners’ by Johnny & The Self Abusers, which was the very early incarnation of the band.
Whilst I’m taking umbrage, I would like to flag up that the distinctive keyboards sound in both ‘Someone Somewhere In Summertime’ and ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’ was drowned out by the guitars which was a great shame. Although the latter was an extended version via the crowd’s “la la la la la” assistance. There’s certainly no complaints from this quarter regarding the last tune of the main set, ‘New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84)’, which was delivered powerfully.
The band returned without Jim Kerr after a short while and the lead vocals for a chilled out version of ‘Speed Your Love To Me’ was shared by Berenice Scott with assistance from Sarah Brown. Crumbs Berenice has got a wonderful voice!
