A Songbook of Brilliant Things: Simple Minds at Southampton Summer Sessions
The ‘80s pop connoisseurs bring their honed bag of shimmering anthems to the city’s second year of Summer Sessions.
Photo: Ash Betton
When you think of beloved ‘80s bands, you think of ABBA in their final years, Madonna in her prime, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Duran Duran, Bowie… The list could quite literally go on forever. From cheesy pop to rough-edged hair metal, perhaps no other era of music is remembered quite so fondly today.
You might not think of Simple Minds, the then seven-piece pop group from Glasgow, Scotland. Whilst undeniably popular (orchestrating twenty four Top 40 singles in their time), I wager they’d appear low on most anybody’s list of personal faves. And yet, in 1982 they released one of the definitive records of the emerging pop and new wave movement, New Gold Dream (81/82/83/84).
Now, nearly fifty years on from their conception, Simple Minds are playing the US, Europe and their native UK, showing that far from hanging up their mics, they’re still alive, and still kicking. June 2025 saw one of the hottest Saturdays on record and, with it, the arrival of these new pop veterans to Southampton.
Before that evening, I knew nothing about Simple Minds fans. Now I know two things about Simple Minds fans: they don’t care much for China Crisis (special guests), and they love having a chat, even in the middle of a pop concert. The band they idolise, however, are without doubt masters of their craft.
Photo: Ash Betton
Opening their set with the colossal bassline of Waterfront, a bombastic piece of new pop from their 1984 album, Sparkle in the Rain, was a stroke of clattering genius, before barrelling into classic ‘80s ballads and pop rockers Love Song, Glittering Prize and Oh Jungleland. Sanctify Yourself, a track typically saved for the show closer, went down a treat for longtime Minds fans.
Highlights included Ghost Dancing — one of the band’s grooviest offerings - and Theme for Great Cities, a powerful instrumental composition from Simple Minds’ double album of sorts, Sons and Fascination/Sister Feelings Call. The latter, steeped in robotic vibe and synthesizer, played almost hauntingly against the setting summer sun.
And then came a deluge of the group’s biggest hits: Promised You a Miracle — the track that kickstarted their commercial success back in ‘82 — All the Things She Said, See the Lights, their last US Top 40, and, of course, Don’t You (Forget About Me). I wasn’t even remotely born when that track boomed onto screens during the opening credits of The Breakfast Club and yet, somehow, through the power of frontman Jim Kerr’s everlasting vocals, I was taken back to the spring of 1985. There’s not a soul in that square who didn’t know the words, and chant along to its closing echo.
A very short encore later and backing vocalist Sarah Brown reappeared to belt out the group’s Book of Brilliant Things, before the night ended with Alive and Kicking. In just seventeen tracks, Simple Minds put their entire glittering history to the stage and every moment, every verse, every power chord and press of the synthesizer, was woven with love and pride. Simple Minds brought us the final show of Southampton’s second year of sessions, and it proved this hub of live music is — to trundle out a pun once more — still alive, and very much kicking.