9. Simple MindsCelebration
I went to see them in December ‘92. It would have been because New Gold Dream was in the charts. I went along to both nights to see them. Proper little pop fans, me and Emma. After the show, we were outside chatting and the tour bus pulled up and Charlie Burchill and Jim Kerr got on. We were just standing there like, ‘Oh my god,’ and they waved at us. That has stayed with me ever since. I always think be nice to your kiddie fans because they will remember it forever. The album I picked is actually a compilation of the early years, which in itself is quite uncool. People are always like, ‘you bought a compilation, you should be buying the separate albums’. Well, I was 15 and I didn’t have that budget so I bought Celebration.
On The Old Grey Whistle Test they had a classic clip of Simple Minds, which was them performing a song ‘Premonition’. It was one of those TV moments where I just sat there with my jaw on the floor going, ‘Oh my god, this is just mind blowing.’ So I rushed out and bought the album. They’re such an interesting band to me to watch live, because you’ve got Jim Kerr doing this sort of spasmic dancing, and Derek Forbes is an amazing bass player. I loved seeing how all those individual elements locked together to make a live sound. I always associated great musicianship with that kind of slightly muso 70s thing, you know, people who are into Emerson, Lake And Palmer will talk about that kind of stuff. When I was watching this performance, I thought these people are really on it. This is not thrown together. This is a proper fucking band.
