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Irish Times

Simple Minds in Dublin: seasoned pros bring the party atmosphere

Simple Minds Trinity Summer Series ★★★☆☆ The sound of that Waterfront bassline that everybody knows, ringing out over the salubrious surroundings of Trinity College , is akin to a tank rolling across the cricket pitch. While that may well be the groundskeeper's worst nightmare, it's the perfect way to kick off a celebratory night in the company of Simple Minds, seasoned pros at this kind of party. 'We're gonna have a good time, I can tell already,' says frontman Jim Kerr in his Scottish burr, and it turned out he was right. There are, as every `Minds' fan knows, two distinct periods to their career. There's the first five albums where they were an angular and Eurocentric dance band, and then everything after that thunderous Waterfront bassline first rang out back in 1984. It's that " big music" period, most specifically 1985's stadium-tailored Once Upon A Time, that they go with on Tuesday nightbut it's music made for punching the open air to so aside from the odd grumbler, everybody's happy. READ MORE After a sparkling Glittering Prize, Oh Jungleland had a guitar sound from Charlie Burchill big enough to devour most of Dublin 2. Kerr gets down on his knees, no mean feat inskinny jeans, and then leans all the way back until he's horizontal, which is good going for a gent of his years. 'Don't try that at home,' He cautions. 'Try it in someone else's home.' [ Trinity Summer Series 2025: Simple Minds, Weezer, Rag'n'Bone Man, Amble and Marti Pellow Opens in new window ] Simple Minds: Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill Simple Minds: Charlie Burchill. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill The same man, giving his all, is down touching hands in the pit for most of Let There Be Love. Then he's up on the drum raiser, but singing from below his boots with a voice that's lost little if anything over the years, for a welcome run at the title track from 1982's still mesmerising masterpiece New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84), although that subtitle's reminder that it's been 40-something years is a bit cruel. The jangling, echoey guitar intro to Ghost Dancing sounds uncharacteristically thin until the evening's star player, bassist Ged Grimes whose fluid lines drive the best moments, joins in to give it some appropriate heft. Kerr, meanwhile, wonders if he's too old for this stuff, almost goes into Van Morrison's Gloria before thinking better of it and then reveals this as his favourite song because he gets to sit down. He then nips off altogether, possibly a bit flustered from all the lunging he's been doing, as the band go through Theme For Great Cities. Even though it was released in 1981, this instrumental sounds like it could have been recorded yesterday thanks to the ferocious attack of the rhythm section of Grimes and drummer Cherisse Osei. She then unleashes that rarest of beasts, the drum solo, assaulting with great skill a kit that has more Toms than the Mayo phone book. After that it's hits all the way with the perennial Don't You (Forget About Me). . Kerr, who still resembles Liam Brady's artier brother, milks it for all its worth, asking the crowd to sing it in French, Italian and Irish as 'La, La, La' doesn't require much translation despite his smiling assertion that it's a hard song to sing. By the time they finish with Alive And Kicking, everyone in this admirably up for it audience is grinning and roaring along as one. 'I could tell you how much Ireland means to us, how much we appreciate it every time we play here but I think you know that,' says Kerr. 'But I'll say it anyway. Thanks for coming to see Simple Minds.' Always a pleasure, never a chore. Simple Minds. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill Simple Minds. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill Simple Minds. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill Simple Minds at Trinity. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill Simple Minds. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill Simple Minds in Dublin. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill