Legendary hitmakers Simple Minds return to Oxford

Simple Minds have been hard at it now for 35 years, releasing 10 Top 10 albums and a string of hit singles.

The band responsible for pop classics Don’t You (Forget About Me), Alive And Kicking and chart-topping Belfast Child, are back with yet another collection of new songs, Big Music, and are on the road on yet another marathon tour But, says frontman Jim Kerr, fans can still be sure they will hear all their favourite old tunes too, with the band examining their old set lists to ensure they play at least three different old songs every time they visit a town.

“I can understand why people say, ‘You’re probably sick of playing the hits,’ but that’s honestly never been the case,” he says. “As soon as we walk on stage, those songs don’t belong to us any more. They’re for the people who’ve grown up with them; fallen in and out of love to them; accompanied them on their Saturday nights or their bleaker moments.

“We’ve a lot of fans who’ve seen us many times, but we think about the person who’s there for the first time, thinking, ‘That’s my favourite song and this is the only time I’ll ever see this’.”

On Sunday, the Glasgow five-piece play Oxford’s New Theatre as part of a 29-date UK tour, designed to reignite their fanbase.

“This is a great band and it’s getting better,” says Jim, a lifelong Celtic supporter, and former husband of Chrissie Hynde and Patsy Kensit. “We are on a roll at the moment. We sound very tight and every year we play to more people.”

Big Music sees a return to the synth style of the band’s earliest days and has been described as their best for 25 years.

“It’s unfortunately very rare for records to turn out exactly as you want them,” admits Jim. “But this one sounds like what we had in our heads all along and I’m delighted with it.”

Big Music’s strutting title track sounds like vintage David Bowie. The band wrote its music “many years ago”, but Jim did not find the right lyrics until he saw a disappointing Prince gig.

“I told [guitarist] Charlie Burchill and [keyboardist] Andy Gillespie I’d have one last chance of thinking of some lyrics for the song on a plane to Switzerland, where a friend had invited me to see Prince play,” he recalls.

“I’m a huge Prince fan, but that night he didn’t play a thing I knew. I was thinking, ‘Give me the big music I know you for.’ The next day, all my angst and frustration over that gig came out in the song. It’s a song that’s throwing down the gauntlet, as it basically says, ‘If you’re not going to play big music, we’ll play it.’ “It’s not a slight against Prince – he’s great at whatever he does – but it’s a lyric that goes with the swagger of the music.”

An emotional moment for Jim will be when the band plays new single Honest Town, which describes a conversation the singer had with his mother, Irene, shortly before she died of cancer.

“It’s a beautiful song ” he says. “I think it’s one that will become a Simple Minds classic in time.”

It was co-written with Iain Cook, the keyboardist with hip synthpop band Chvrches, after they were introduced by a mutual friend.

“Before mum died, I’d come back to Glasgow to be with her,” says Jim. “Mum knew fine well what I was doing, but it was in her nature to say, ‘What are you doing sitting about?’ I didn’t want to worry her even more by seeing me not be myself, so I went to meet Iain.”

Iain played Jim six demos which the pair spent a fortnight working on.

“I told Iain, ‘I can work with any of these songs; I love them,’” says Jim.

“I went to his place almost every night. We didn’t even talk much; we just worked. A lot of songs came out of it and there are others that merit going back to one day.”

As well as Chvrches, bands such as Radiohead, Manic Street Preachers and Primal Scream have said how much they admire Simple Minds, who were sometimes mocked by critics in the band’s heyday.

“It’s a great bonus to be where we are,” says Jim. “The creative imagination of the band is very special and it had been overlooked for a long time. But it’s been rediscovered by an audience who are looking for something else: something more.

“You want to be relevant and, at the same time as people are rediscovering our old music, we’re adding new chapters too.”

The Oxford show comes towards the end of their tour, which began on March 27 in Grimsby and finishes on May 4 in Ipswich. And they insist they are staying in good shape.

“Every gig is important,” says Jim. “We are saying ‘this is what we’ve done with our lives’, and we wouldn’t want to give a bad account. I am aware that people grew up with the band and are maybe wondering whether we are still as good as we were years ago. We try to live up to expectations and surpass them.

“We see people jumping up and down at our shows and having a good time. There’s a positive feeling.”

He goes on: “I don’t want to tempt fate, but we’re one of the few bands who can play for four nights in a row.

“It amazes me when singers don’t look after their voice. We take care of ourselves, because there’s nothing worse than going on stage when you’re not in shape.

“Back in the wilder days, it was expected that you got up on stage without worrying about the next night. But people have paid a lot of money to see us. As far as they’re concerned, tonight’s the night; so you have to be in the best of nick.”

Simple Minds
New Theatre, Oxford
Sunday
Tickets: £44.40-£54.40, plus fee
Visit atgtickets.com