Another much delayed tour arrived at the BIC on Friday night and it was none other than the mighty Simple Minds on their 40 Years of Hits Tour.
A fan since the early eighties, I was so pleased they had finally made it here and from all accounts on top form to boot.
With the band acting as their own support act it was an early start and straight into the first set of the evening.
Opening with Act of Love, I Travel and Celebrate, the band proved to be everything I was hoping for and more.
Better still the band all came to the front of the stage at the start of the show allowing the photographers to get that shot that we can’t usually get as we have normally had to pack our cameras away and are long gone, cheers guys.
Next up were the first two of the big hitters that set them on the road to where they are today.
Glittering Prize and Promised You a Miracle were the first of many highlights of the night and went down a storm.
More songs and then a short chat with the crowd including an introduction to the poignant and still relevant Belfast Child which I think supplied them with their only UK number one single.
After a short break the band was back with a short instrumental and then the venue exploded as the opening bars of Waterfront rang out.
Jim Kerr has a great rock voice that is still as recognisable now as it ever was and along with the guitar work of Charlie Burchill has formed the backbone of Simple Minds for forty years.
The second half delivered a real greatest hits show with Someone Somewhere in Summertime, Don’t You Forget About Me and All the Things She Said leading to main set closer New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84).
The encore started with a lovely version of Speed Your Love to Me sung by Sarah Brown and Berenice Scott followed by Alive and Kicking and show closer Sanctify Yourself.
The great thing about the BIC is that you often get stage sets designed for much larger arenas squeezed into the venue so you get to see those big shows up close and personal.
This has rarely been as true as tonight with Simple Minds who have packed arenas and stadiums around the world.
The band were on fire and that transmits itself to the crowd who had a night they will not soon forget.
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