Summertime Live

Summertime Live

Although I am immersed in my Lostboy! AKA activities over the next month, I am also looking forward to the summer and the growing number of Simple Minds concerts that are due to happen.

I suppose that I am guilty of continually going on about new peaks being reached etc, but I do think that last year’s Graffiti Soul dates in particular hit a level of quality within the performance that we had never touched previously.

A combination of things that made me believe this, the main one was the roving and expansive set list that was augmented with some very strong new songs, as well as simultaneously unearthing past treasures from the catalogue, ones that had lain untouched for decades.

The band itself was in form, and with the ‘new inclusion’ otherwise known as Sara Brown, many commented on how strong an impact this latest model of SM was capable of. Stephen Pollard’s stunning lights framed all of this, and from the little I saw captured on the screens, it seemed that the atmosphere at the shows was pretty near perfect, leaving me to suggest that the aforementioned peak.

Summer is a different game though and as normal in those months, I expect there to be quite a few out door shows, meaning that we have to deal with whatever conditions appear on the night. On one gig for example, it is possible to be struggling for breath as the heat of the summer night refuses to cool, another gig can see both band and audience try to survive the cloudbursts that made the Edinburgh castle show unforgettable.

Basically in these shows we have only our music and our determination to put it across as our weaponry. Then again with the kind of audiences we are used to playing in front of, being there to cheer us on, it is rare to feel that some sort of victory over the conditions will not always ensue.

Finally, it is only a whisper – and certainly not confirmed yet – but seems there is a chance that in addition to the Brazil shows set towards the end of summer that we will also add some Simple Minds shows in North America/Canada. A long time coming but, it’ll be worth the wait.

Fingers crossed!

Jim Kerr