Simple Minds

Live Nation Presents

Simple Minds:

The successful pop band is coming to Germany for four shows!

Live in Hamburg, Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich in April

Special Guest: Del Amitri

Presented by Rock Antenne

Simple Minds have been musical pioneers for over 40 years. They tapped into the mood of the post-punk era, when the angry sounds of 1977 splintered into a thousand different forms, and developed a style rooted in the art rock of David Bowie and electronic dance music. They went on to become one of the biggest bands of their generation, creating a soundtrack that has endured with rousing choruses and booming atmospheres. They topped the American charts with "Don't You (Forget About Me)" and are one of the UK's most successful rock acts with over 60 million records sold. With their 18th album "Direction of the Heart", which was released at the end of 2022, Simple Minds , featuring the two remaining founding members, singer Jim Kerr and guitarist Charlie Burchill, will be coming to Hamburg, Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich in April 2024. They will be joined by the wonderful Scottish rockers Del Amitri as special guests.

Simple Minds ' roots were humble. They coalesced around the talents of childhood friends Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill and emerged from the ashes of Glasgow punk group Johnny & The Self-Abusers in November 1977. The duo, reinforced by keyboardist Mick MacNeil, bassist Derek Forbes and drummer Brian McGee, retained the DIY spirit of punk but were keen to look beyond the three-chord limitations of the genre. For them, punk was more of a stepping stone than a template. Rather, the band used their interest in electronic music to experiment with rhythm and texture. Their debut album, "Life In A Day", released in April 1979, was based on Roxy Music and showed a group that was still searching. The same applied to the sequel " Real To Real Cacophony", which was released seven months later. Darker and less conventional, the album signaled the beginning of a fascination with European culture that was clearly expressed in the impressionistic dance sound of the 1980s. Inspired by the industrial rhythms of Neu!, Kraftwerk and Cabaret Voltaire, Simple Minds went on to mix synthetic sounds with powerful electric guitars and a grooving rhythm section.

At the beginning of the 1980s, the band rose steadily into the top league of British rock bands. The fifth album " New Gold Dream" (1982) was the first in a fabulous series of six consecutive albums that reached at least the top three in the UK charts by 1995 - three of them even reaching number one. They also conquered the whole world bit by bit and even made it into the top ten of the US Billboard charts with the album "Once Upon a Time" in 1985. A rare success for British rock acts, especially in the wake of their biggest hit "Don't You (Forget About Me)" , which is still directly linked to THE coming-of-age movie of the 1980s, "Breakfast Club".

Simple Minds also remained an impressive live act well into the nineties. They continued to tour and were voted the best live band in the world by Q magazine in 1991. In the studio, a series of versatile albums were created, between softer sounds, stormy tempos and a constantly readjusted idea of what characterizes the nucleus of Simple Minds . From the mid-nineties onwards, the band took a step back for a while, but continued to release exciting albums every few years.

The last decade has seen a remarkable resurgence, with their world-class credentials being recognized with an Inspiration Award from Q Magazine in 2014 and an Ivor Novello Award in 2016. Her latest album "Direction Of The Heart" is a fantastic coming-of-age album in the best sense of the word. Simultaneously thoughtful and euphoric, it places the personal in a universal context. The live album "New Gold Dream - Live From Paisley Abbey", which will be released on October 27, proves just how incredibly good this band still is live, bringing the classic 1982 album into the present day in its entirety.