13-09-2005, The Venue, London, UK

13-09-2005, The Venue, London, UK

Promo Tour Black & White 050505

Setlist:

Recorded songs Audio

Recorded songs video

1. Home

2. Stay Visible

3. The Jeweller, Part 2

4. Love Song

5. The Book Of Brilliant Things

6. Mandela Day

7. Waterfront

8. Don't You (Forget About Me)

9. Big Sleep

10. Alive And Kicking

11. New Gold Dream [81,82,83,84]

---

12. Theme For Great Cities

13. Stranger

14. Space

15. Sanctify Yourself

mp3 - 4.21

mp3 - 5.26

mp3 - 3.36

mp3 - 4.46

mp3 - 3.29

mp3 - 6.18

mp3 - 5.17

mp3 - 7.07

mp3 - 4.29

mp3 - 5.59

mp3 - 5.03

---

mp3 - 4.21

mp3 - 4.20

mp3 - 5.24

VLC

---

VLC

Comments (e-mail your concert review here):

Reviewed by Les Linyard | overall marks 5 out of 5

Website: http://www.thecritic.info/displayPage.asp?review_id=1362&type_id=5

Simple Minds have been around since time immemorial or so it seems – the bar tonight, chock-a-block with competition winners who apparently hadn’t seen the band for 20 years (or similar), echoed with stories of the invention of the wheel and how things had improved since Saxon times, OK I exaggerate, but you get my drift. The reality is that their first album Life In A Day was released in 1979, their latest, the excellent Black & White 050505 has just appeared on the shelves and it does more than suggest there is life in the old dog yet! The evidence supplied succintly by the album was backed up by a scintillating set in intimate surroundings when the band played the latest of Capital Gold’s Legend series of gigs.

The venue (The Venue, off Leicester Square) was personally selected for the concert by Jim Kerr, front man and focal figure of the band, though the excellent guitarist Charlie Burchill has also been with the band from Day One. This small and snug arena is famous for being the scene of The Sex Pistols first ever gig (I doubt if today’s seating would have survived that gig!), as the ever-youthful DJ Mr. David Jensen informed us in his kind introduction. Fortunately, another difference between this concert and that long-gone punk moment was the fayre was decidedly more coherent than anyone who witnessed the aforementioned gig would remember (if indeed they still can remember?) and the musicality was on a far higher plane. Jim and Charlie are today backed by a superb band, drummer Mel Gaynor, bassist Eddie Duffy, and Keyboardist Andy Gillespie, also not to be underestimated are the latter two’s fine harmonies that underpin a lot of the Simple Minds repertoire.

To tell the truth, I was expecting the show, recorded for broadcast by Capital Gold, to be a 40 minute thank you and goodnight affair, with a couple of new numbers thrown in to gently introduce the new album to a hopefully returning audience. What we actually got was a full-on, all guns blazing 90 minute trek through their awesome back catalogue, with four new tracks intermingling perfectly along the way, the new material stands proud with the old, particularly the new single Home, which despite it’s youthfulness represented one of the evening’s highlights. I’m sure that a lot of the audience, the non-fans obviously, were expecting a laid back show, possibly passé, outmoded and unfashionable due to the bands longevity, what they actually received was a refreshingly contemporary and neoteric set full of energy and occasionally sheer class. Loud, straightforward and intoxicating, the band seeming to excel and thrive on the intimacy, they could rarely have been closer to the audience (to the degree where Jim endured several hugs from females with a friendly thank you response!) and the audience raised the roof in sing-alongs despite the small number present. The crowd pleasers were all present and correct, Don’t You Forget About Me, Sanctify Yourself, Waterfront and Alive & Kicking all gaining great reactions. Overall a super night that had even the ticket winning sceptics nodding in awe - Simple Minds might be ageing, gracefully it must be said, but for energy and vigour this concert would take some beating, for class and presentation it would really take some beating. They are still alive and kicking, check them out if you ever get the opportunity....

-------------------------------

This review comes from: http://www.noblepr.co.uk/Press_Releases/sanctuary_records/simple_minds_gig.htm <-- check this site !!

The show was intended to be 40 minutes long, but due to the enthusiasm of the London audience (everyone was virtually going mental) 10 minutes before the band set foot on stage, the band performed an 80 minute, 15-song set.

Jim Kerr and the band kicked off with three songs from the new "Black & White 050505" album. First song was "Home" which sounded powerful, polished and very exciting. Always the true innovator and consummate stage performer, Jim Kerr had the 200 strong
crowd in his hands the minute he hit the floor. This intimate show was a great opportunity for fans to experience the band as if they were performing at their own front room, and probably the only and last time the Minds will ever perform on such a small scale in the UK.

During the concert, many female fans walked up to Jim (while he was singing), hugged him and danced away, while their boyfriends watched in awe. Jim welcomed the crowd interaction and the rest of the band seemed to be on a performance high (guitarist Charlie Burchill had a permanent smile on his face).

Standout performances included "Stay Visible" from the new Black & White album, a synergetic funked up electro version of "New Gold Dream", and "Love Song". The crowd went crazy to "Don't You (Forget About Me)" and "Waterfront" and "Alive and Kicking" continued to keep the fans reeling round the West End concrete fountain.

For the encore, guitarist Charlie Burchill and the rest of the Minds returned (minus Kerr) to perform the haunting instrumental masterpiece "Theme From Great Cities" (taken from the 1981 album "Sister Feelings Call"), a track that has been remixed and sampled in dozens of dance tracks over the years. Hats off to Mel Gaynor for the solid drumming, and Eddie Duffy's killer bass lines.

Kerr returned to the stage to join the rest of the band for three final songs including "Stranger" (from the new Black & White 050505 album), "Space" (from 2002's "Our Secrets Are The Same" album) and "Sanctify Yourself" from 1985's "Once Upon A Time" album.

Basic consensus from the crowd is that Simple Minds seem to have been either cryogenically frozen in time and aged with cool perfection, or as Kerr recently said in a Sky News Active television interview "The music seems to have developed a newfound energy of it's own." He was right. A lot of heads were turning.

For 80 minutes, Simple Minds single-handedly transformed a tiny 200-capacity venue in London's West End into Wembley Arena. Unlike Wembley, the acoustics and sound were hypnotic, atmospheric and dynamic. The gig sounded simply atomic.

-------------------------------

Another review can be found here: http://www.musicomh.com/gigs2/simple-minds_0905.htm

--------------------------------

Quality:

Audio: 10

Video: 9

Source:

Audio: Video-stream

Video: Video-stream

Audience:

200

Website: