Simple Minds - Sydney - February 8 2024

It was suppose to have taken place in 2020 but something happened and it was postponed for a year. Then twelve months later, in 2021 that something was still happening and the tour was cancelled. It’s taken Simple Minds a further two and a half years to return to Sydney, the one consolation being a better venue than that planned in 2020/21, resulting in a much better view for me. Being a bit of a puritan when it comes to song versions, I’m not entirely convinced by last year’s reimagining of “New Gold Dream”, but I respect the band’s right to tinker with songs that they’ve been playing live for over 40 years. And I have to admit Jim Kerr, Charlie Burchill and the others who have joined the band in more recent years, brought all the songs to life beautifully. Jim was in fine vocal form. And Cherisse Osei, one of the newest members, drove them all with machine-like precision, never missing a beat. From a total of 16 songs, I recorded these seven: I Travel (00:08) Love Song (04:54) Promised You a Miracle (09:40) Someone Somewhere in Summertime (14:08) Theme for Great Cities (19:20) Amazing Grace (24:45) Alive and Kicking (27:15) This was the first performance of two on the same night, but there was no sense that the band were pacing themselves for the long night ahead, and it went longer than I expected, with the band only having about 50 minutes to catch their breath before doing it all again. It may have taken Simple Minds a couple of extra years to get back to Australia but that only added to the excitement of the occasion. A brilliant night.