Simple Minds Happy Return -Cape Town Concert Review

Simple Minds Happy Return – Cape Town Review By Aidan HarperSimple Minds Happy Return SA Tour There’s been a myriad of international acts passing through South Africa recently. This is great as it shows healthy international interest and puts a spotlight on the SA music scene. There has been a spate of 80’s bands reforming and doing reunions riding on the resurgence of the 80’s music and culture. Many of the newer artists are re-recording, re-mixing or sampling 80’s classics, but when a band that has been going strong for the long-haul and still has global appeal with sold out shows comes to SA, its time to relive your youth and travel back to the time that made its mark on your life-history. As everyone is aware, bands come and bands go, so when you get the chance to see an act that has had a lifespan of almost 40 years, this is an opportunity not to be passed up. Hailing from Scotland, Simple minds have been around since 1977, and have had a prestigious career and are obviously still going strong. Grand West Arena was the setting for the Cape Town show. First off, it was kind of weird as instead of the obligatory “golden circle” area that has become synonymous with many SA concerts, there were rows of chairs and the retractable tiers were in place for a sit-down performance. Simple Minds front-man, Jim Kerr commented on this saying “This is a rock concert, not a funeral!” The way that the concert started was nothing short of goose-bump material. Low bass rattled your insides as the intro built up to a crescendo and a unanimous cheer went up when Jim and the band hit the stage. The lighting was incredible and added to the raw emotion of what was going down. Kicking off with “Waterfront”, the sheer power and presence of Simple Minds at this point set the standard for the rest of the show. Jim’s voice has not lost its lustre over the years and his delivery was exemplary. During the course of the the evening, the band took us through many of their hits, including: “Sanctify Yourself”, “Alive and Kicking” (This got a tremendous cheer and a singalong opportunity!), the obligatory “Don’t You Forget About Me” (Not a Simple Minds concert without the track that made them famous… If you haven’t seen the movie ‘The Breakfast Club’ by now, shame on you!). The instrumental “Theme For Great Cities” went down a treat as did “Promised You a Miracle”. A few of the Simple Minds songs are quite political and they were one of the bands that played the original Mandela Day concert in the UK back in the 80’s so to play that song in SA brought it all home. Judging by the demographics and response from the crowd, Simple Minds brought back a flood of memories for many! For a band of that stature to do just over two hours on stage paid homage to the fans. The memory of that performance will stick with you forever. Not bad for a band that was originally a punk outfit called ‘Johnny and the Self Abusers!’ Now who said that 80’s music was bad? It’s going to be around for a long time to come… Deal with it!