My
1,099th gig and quite possibly the first I’ve ever cycled to! I’d
ummed and aahed about this one for awhile, blanching at the – as ever for
Simple Minds, it seems – shockingly steep ticket price, before finally taking
the plunge. Truth to tell, after a variable showing last time out from da Minds
(the Oasis gig, 3 years ago, gig 947) and a bit of research indicating that
current sets weren’t delving as much as hoped into the Scottish veterans’
pre-“Don’t You (Forget About Me)” canon, when they were cutting-edge and
inventive electronic-tinged post-punk, I might have given it a miss totally.
However, the presence on the bill of The Pretenders, a band I’ve recently
revisited after reading vocalist Chrissie Hynde’s excellent autobiography
“Reckless”, strengthened the case for going. I’d only seen them once before, on
a U2 bill back in the 80’s; about time I did again!
As
I mentioned, I cycled to this one – luckily our friends Debbie and Steve live
very close to the Park, and were happy to offer safe haven for my vehicle. Left
the bike there just after 6 and wandered around to the gig site, a large cordoned
off space on the main field, to find it already amply full and opener KT
Tunstall rounding off her set… apparently they’d brought forward the scheduled start
and subsequent stage times. No problem, wasn’t that fussed on KT anyway… Wandered
into the “Golden Circle” at the front (yup, I’d shelled out big-time for this
one – no point in going if you’re a dot in the distance, really!), and hooked
up with Stuart “Langers” and his wife Lorraine (whose presence there tonight was
also a factor in the final decision) and caught up, whilst also being vaguely amused
by the repeated announcements stating “The Pretenders request that during their
performance, you keep your phones in your pockets”, in a surly Scottish accent,
the tone of which potentially suggested mayhem and violence would ensue, should
said request not be met…
The
Pretenders came on just about 7.15, the guitar boys decked out in black country
rock chic; then Chrissie emerged, already totally owning it and strutting her
stuff, the Queen of Glam Punk, resplendent in iridescent off-pink jacket and
thigh-length suede boots, leading her charges through opener “Alone” a Max’s
Kansas City 70’s proto punk bluesy stomp. The highlight came early, 4th
number in; dedicated to founder Pretenders Pete Farndon and James
Honeyman-Scott, both taken too young back in the 80’s (“put the kettle on lads,
we’re not far behind you,” intoned Chrissie, poignantly), “Kid” was an utterly
majestic, genuinely affecting and brilliantly melodic 3 minutes of pure pop
delight, prompting me to announce to all and sundry at its’ conclusion, “we
might as well go home now, we’re not going to hear anything better than THAT
tonight!”
The
set never regained that height, but was still pretty bloody splendid; Chrissie,
jacket off now, wittered enthusiastically about meeting the ponies by Lydiard
Church earlier (“gypsy ponies – a schoolgirl’s dream come true!”) and playfully
advised us not to look at the sun until it touched the horizon, but mostly
delivered hit after hit from The Pretenders’ impressive canon. “Private Life”
was stretched and libidinous late night dirty reggae sleaze, “I’ll Stand By
You” (covered by Girls Aloud – “it’s not my favourite song anyway, they can
have it!”) was a stately power ballad delivered by Chrissie in her distinctive wavering
contralto, and “Back On The Chain Gang” and “Don’t Get Me Wrong” were a
splendid and laconic post-punk 80’s rock mid-set double. “We’re here to rock!”
Chrissie announced, and no more evidence was required than set closer “Middle
Of The Road”, a far-from MOR racey stomper. I could’ve done without the drum
solo (really?) but that aside, this was a lean and mean performance, with
Chrissie the star; far from a pretender, tonight she was The Real Deal.
A
short delay filled by rock chat with Stu and some old 80’s classics over the
PA; also a chat with an old friend (hi Alison!) before the colourful neon
backlighting heralded Simple Minds’ entrance at 8.45, opening with expansive
stadium pop newie “The Signal And The Noise”, mainman Jim Kerr already
requesting hands aloft. “Waterfront”, next up, featured some nice guitar licks
from faithful wingman Charlie Birchill and early doors it seemed to be going
swimmingly. However, they then made an utter pigs ear of oldie “Love Song”,
completely mistiming the chorus entry, and even after they recovered, it felt a
little flat. A shame. Fair play to Jim; he admitted, “we screwed up “Love Song”
tonight,” during a monologue recalling that last visit to Swindon (“before the
gig I was dying!”), but then “Promised You A Miracle”, featuring KT Tunstall on
co-vocals, was ham-fisted and clumsily stompy, bass-drum dominated and lacking
its’ usual plangent majesty.
Such
was the way of it tonight; the newer, stadium-friendly wallpaper pop tunes
sounded better, whereas the older numbers were delivered carelessly and
perfunctorily. “The American” admittedly escaped largely unscathed, and
“Someone Somewhere In Summertime” was easily my set highlight, stripped back
and widescreen, but whereas this seemed effortless, the rest of the set felt
laboured by comparison. Set closer “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” saw phones
sprout around me like a field of sunflowers in super-fast forward, and I wished
for a surly Scotsman to make an announcement…! This, my watershed Simple Minds
number (love all before, lost interest thereafter), saw a lengthy and communal
singalong from this audience of largely Friday night date couples, and even the
cameramen on each side of the stage joined in with the “la, la la la la”’s as
Jim asked us to sing along in different languages! A couple of decent
semi-oldie encores and a wry band intro (“… and my name’s Mr. Kerr… taxi for
Kerr… pizza for Kerr!”) rounded off a performance which tonight’s crowd lapped
up, but left me scratching my head a little and lamenting opportunities missed.
A
wander back to get my bike and an eventful ride home (involving my hitting a
pothole on the main road by the Link Centre – yipe!), reflecting on tonight’s
gig. Simple Minds, for me, were empty stadium rock bluster with only occasional
(and frustratingly spoiled) glimpses of the fine band they used to be, so
unless they do another “5x5” tour I reckon we’re done now. Worth it though,
overall, for some time in the company of Chrissie, the Great Pretender and the
Star Of The Show!
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