Simple Minds review: They would fit right in today

Jim Kerr may not look like a rock star these days, but he still sings like one… If Simple Minds came along today, they would fit right in

Simple Minds

OVO Arena, Wembley                      Touring until April 16 and August 9-13 

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Roxy Music                                           Roxy Music                                          Out now

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Roxy Music                                  For Your Pleasure                                     Out now

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Joan As Police Woman

Union Chapel, London                                                              Touring June 22-28

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There may be more bands from the 1980s touring now than there were at the time. And some of them are even living in the present as well as the past.

If Simple Minds came along today, they would fit right in, with their yearning synths, churning rhythms and earnest intelligence. After going from the clubs to the stadiums and back again, they have returned to the arenas, their natural habitat.

Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill, the two ever-presents, have adapted to survive. Their touring line-up, led by Burchill’s scudding guitar, includes three women, not just on backing vocals (Sarah Brown) but on keyboards (Berenice Scott) and drums (the dynamic Cherisse Osei). 

Jim Kerr (above) and Charlie Burchill, the two ever-presents, have adapted to survive. Their touring line-up, led by Burchill’s scudding guitar, includes three women

Kerr’s patter, once po-faced, now runs to wry humour. ‘Wembley Arena!’ he exclaims. ‘What a great warm-up for Bournemouth tomorrow night.’

The wheel of taste has turned and the arrow is pointing at Simple Minds’ early days. The album this show draws on most is New Gold Dream (1982), which they’ll perform from start to finish in Edinburgh in August.

Promised You A Miracle, with its gleaming hook, goes down almost as well as Don’t You (Forget About Me), the classic they rather resented because they didn’t write it themselves.

Kerr may not look like a rock star these days, but he still sings like one, making everything feel urgent. And he moves like a man who never misses the over-60s yoga class.

Meanwhile Roxy Music, who inspired Simple Minds and so many other interesting bands, are making a comeback to mark their golden jubilee. Bryan Ferry, Andy Mackay, Phil Manzanera and Paul Thompson will tour in the autumn. 

Ferry’s collected lyrics are about to appear as a book, McCartney-style, while Roxy’s eight studio albums are being reissued, in pairs, on heavyweight vinyl.

The first two are already in the shops. Roxy’s self-titled debut is angular but enduringly audacious, with Mackay on oboe, Brian Eno on tape-recorders and Ferry on a mission to introduce pop to post-modernism.

For Your Pleasure, the effortless second album, has more punch and panache, from Do The Strand to In Every Dream Home A Heartache.

Roxy’s early sound was a bunch of oxymorons – both serious and playful, retro and futuristic, arty and popular. They can still make you smile, or swoon, or dance, or think.

Joan As Police Woman at the Union Chapel felt like a match made in heaven: a divine backdrop for a goddess of art-soul.

The show was a slow burner as Joan Wasser and her expert band began by concentrating on her jazzy new album, The Solution Is Restless. Then a sublime version of Michael McDonald’s I Keep Forgettin’ lit the touchpaper, and Wasser’s blazing tenderness carried her all the way to a standing ovation. 

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