In 1985, Scottish band Simple Minds was asked to record a song for a film “The Breakfast Club” called “Don’t You (Forget About Me).”
Bryan Ferry and Billy Idol had already said no. The band initially wasn’t excited either, especially recording someone else’s song.
But they were charmed by filmmaker John Hughes and the songwriters. They incorporated their own brawny sound to the tune, adding a few “La Las” and “Hey Heys” and much to their surprise, it became the band’s defining song in America, landing at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 just over 40 years ago.
For the band’s first tour in America in seven years, Simple Minds on Saturday transported the largely Gen X crew back to their teen years with their debut appearance at a largely sold-out Chastain, recently redubbed Synovus Bank Amphitheater.
Attendees wore T-shirts from fellow New Wavers like Morrissey, The Fixx, Duran Duran and OMD. One man honored another Hughes film with the simple plea “Save Ferris” affixed to his shirt.
Credit: RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com
Credit: RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com
Near the end of the concert, front man Jim Kerr doubled the length of “Don’t You” by having the audience sing the “La La” portion for several minutes, a shameless milking of their signature song. “I should be paying you, but I’m a Scotsman so I can’t see that happening,” he said at one point. Then he jokingly asked the audience to “sing it to me in French,” then Spanish and Italian.
Outside that painfully lengthy indulgence, the 105-minute, 17-song set list was a high-energy, sonically robust tour through the band’s long career. His seven-piece band, the same one Kerr had the last time the band came to Atlanta (The Tabernacle in 2018), features one other original member, guitarist Charlie Burchill.
Though Kerr has long lost that boyish muss of hair from his heyday, he sounded vocally solid, joyfully roaming the stage, squatting occasionally and even twirling the mic stand a couple of times.
He also gave his backup singer, Sarah Wilson, room to breathe, including the bracing duet “Once Upon a Time” and a solo turn during the encore of a Kerr deep-cut favorite “Book of Brilliant Things.”
Credit: RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com
Credit: RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com
After “Glittering Prize” early in the concert, Kerr confused the crowd by saying sincerely, “It’s a pleasure to be back in Athens, Georgia. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
Two songs later, he referenced Athens again, causing the audience to murmur and complain to no avail. (He also mentioned the band’s appearance at the Fox Theatre nearly 40 years earlier, too, adding to the perplexity.)
Only during a break ― in which he left part of the band to play the moody instrumental “Theme for Great Cities,” followed by a drum solo by Cherisse Osei ― was he informed of his err backstage.
When a sheepish Kerr returned on stage, he noted that over more than 3,000 concerts and 46 years of touring, he recalled only screwed up the city location once before, though he didn’t say what that prior city was.
He then added, wryly, “At least I remember the names of the band members” and introduced them.
Credit: RODNEY HO
Credit: RODNEY HO
Unlike some of its cohorts, like Tears for Fears and Duran Duran, Simple Minds didn’t become quite as big in the United States as it did in the United Kingdom, where the band amassed 24 top 40 hits.
Stateside, they only had five. All those hits were placed at the end of the set, including the sweet, lilting “See the Light,” the pounding “All the Things She Said” and rollicking renditions of “Alive and Kicking” and “Sanctify Yourself” to close out the set.
The concert promoters smartly added two British cohorts to the lineup: Modern English and Soft Cell. Both groups are true one-hit wonders in North America and would otherwise tour small clubs here. But latching onto Simple Minds enabled them to perform their transcendent `80s classics “I Melt With You” and “Tainted Love” before 6,000-plus people on a comfortable, post-rain evening in Atlanta.
That’s right, Jim Kerr: Atlanta.
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