Part of the celebrations for Virgin’s 40th Anniversary, so Simple Minds agreed to play the small but impressive Koko Club in Mornington Crescent. With no support the band delivered possibly one of their best performances in years. There was a great many familiar faces present tonight in the building. The room was hot and sweaty even before the band appeared on the stage. The lights went down and the roars from the crowd soon rose as the band came into their view in this old music hall.
The set began with ‘Broken Glass Park‘ now a firm live favourite followed by a classic ‘Waterfront‘. The gauntlet had been thrown down for the crowd to keep pace with the music. The night was sprinkled with early classics like ‘I Travel‘, ‘Today I Died‘ and ‘Glittering Prize‘. The audience was very receptive to what was delivered for them. The band played two sets with a short break in the middle. ‘New Gold Dream‘ was given an early birth in proceedings along with a blistering bass lead version of ‘Hunter And The Hunted‘.
After the break an instrumental arrangement of ‘Speed Your Love To Me‘ was giving an airing followed by Sarah Brown singing as only she can the Kraftwerk track ‘Neon Lights‘. Thereafter we were treated to ‘Someone Somewhere In Summertime‘ with massive audience participation. ‘The American‘ and ‘Love Song‘ sounded still fresh today as they pounded out of the speakers. Real delights came in the shape of ‘This Fear Of Gods‘ and a Charlie violin led ‘Pleasantly Disturbed‘, that sorted the die-hard fans from the hits fans. ‘Blood Diamonds‘ again got a good response being from most people who were entirely won over.
Jim thanked Virgin for their association which lasted the golden era as such and mentioned they’d played here back in 1979 with just 20 people in the crowd. Another highlight was in the shape of ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)‘ being stopped as they’d basically were out of sync with each other. Mr Kerr promptly apologised and stated “This is live music”, it sure was. The encores included ‘Theme For Great Cities‘ which has inspired many dance tunes and the show closing ‘Alive And Kicking‘. Tonight wasn’t about egos but to celebrate an iconic label and give the fans a night to remember, I certainly will. Like me many satisfied drenched bodies left the venue walking out into the dazzling city lights once more.
StevoMusicMan - Ramblings Of A Music Man 
aye was a great show good sir, canny say anything but brilliant man
good to see you again too