Simple Minds, October 15 at the Orpheum Theater

I grew up on Simple Minds. Back when I was a pop-radio-loving kid they were a modern-rock band that seeped into the mainstream just enough that I could see there was another world out there. I even caught a few of their songs that weren't "Don't You (Forget About Me)", which I wasn't always a big fan of anyway. They had great videos on MTV. I didn't get any of their albums until years later, Real Life for "See The Lights" then the '93 greatest hits after that, and I had a few others but lost interest beyond what I stared with. When they were still touring the States, after their biggest peak but when I was old enough to go, I still might not have made a huge effort to see them, such was my limited fandom. A concert-friend had told me that they were great live so they were on my radar but by then they weren't coming back around much. So when they did a modern-day U.S. tour I was in. It was proposed to be a greatest-hits show but it wouldn't have mattered to me if it was or wasn't anyway. What they played were hits but most of them big anywhere but the U.S., and even those that got through to America were mostly for the nostalgic set. There was plenty for real fans, and it might have played better elsewhere but there was still enough of a crowd with enthusiasm to eat it up. I don't even count myself as a real fan, as I know only slightly more than the rest of the crowd, but what I was familiar with was enough to carry me the whole way, and the other stuff sounded great enough to be hits (just not here). For me, just to hear one song from Real Life made it. They still play a show like they're a big, relevant band, and Jim Kerr still brings the swagger even when he's aged only slightly better than everyone else. They're still significant enough to play the Orpheum, which is always a prestigious place to be, and not tiny, even if they're in considerably bigger venues in Europe and elsewhere. Maybe putting off touring the States and building anticipation worked, though if they're not going to have any more hits that get through, it's good they pulled the trigger to make the trip before they (and their audience, and their hits) get any older. They even did "Don't You (Forget About Me)" outside of the encore like it was just another song to play, and in Europe it probably is, though here it's good it just happened to come near the end since that, more than likely, was their (American) peak.

Simple Minds' set-list:
"Broken Glass Park"
"Waterfront"
"Once Upon a Time"
"Up on the Catwalk"
"All the Things She Said"
"Mandela Day"
"Let the Day Begin" (The Call cover)
"Glittering Prize"
"New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84)"

"I Travel"
"Someone Somewhere in Summertime"
"This Fear of Gods"
"She's a River"
"Hypnotised"
"The American"
"Love Song"
"See the Lights"
"Don't You (Forget About Me)"
"Promised You a Miracle"

"Theme for Great Cities"
"Sanctify Yourself"
"Alive and Kicking"