Consider 2025 a victory lap of sorts for Simple Minds. In 1985, the Scottish outfit played Live Aid in Philadelphia and released Once Upon a Time, the band’s seventh studio album and one that yielded three Top 30 hits (“Alive and Kicking,’ “Sanctify Yourself,” “All the Things She Said”).
But most importantly was Simple Minds getting tapped to record the Keith Forsey-penned “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”, a song prominently featured on the Breakfast Club soundtrack and the band’s only American chart-topper. While the tune was originally offered to Billy Idol and Bryan Ferry (who both passed on the song), Simple Minds frontman Jim Kerr admits his band thought this perennial future prom staple was nothing more than a throwaway.
“It took us three hours to record and we agreed to do it two days before,” Kerr recalled in an interview with the Press. “We thought we should just do it and it was probably going to be a B-side they weren’t going to use. We wanted to see if we could go in and make something of Keith Forsey’s demo and, lo and behold, it blew up just like that.”
Fast forward to the present day, and Simple Minds is far more than some New Wave oldies act going through the motions. The current septet, made up of Kerr and fellow founding member and lifelong friend Charlie Burchill, Gordy Goudie, Ged Grimes, Cherisse Osei, Erik Ljungggren and Sarah Brown, is out supporting the newly released Live in the City of Diamonds. The latest in the Live in the City series Simple Minds has been releasing dating back to 1987’s Live in the City of Light, this 2-CD/LP set was recorded at Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome on April 6, 2024. When asked the reason for choosing that specific concert, Kerr admitted instinct was a major deciding factor.
“Some nights, there’s just this extra thing in the air that makes you want to capture it,” he explained. “It can be a different line-up, the set list you’re playing or the unknown, but you just feel like it would be great to record this.
“The reason we used Ziggo Dome is that Amsterdam is a city that’s always been kind and very supportive to Simple Minds and you can always rely on a great ambiance. The actual venue itself is one of these rare things where its purposely built for music. As you can imagine, that being the case, in a practical sense, it was just perfect in terms of the kind of thing we were trying to capture.”
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As a group that’s always taken pride in its live shows, Simple Minds is pumped for what is shaping up to be the band’s biggest North American tour in four decades. Kerr’s excitement is palpable when asked what that’s going to look like for fans ready to reconnect with a band best known for the humongous single that came off a John Hughes soundtrack.
“I have no hesitation in saying that the band is in great form,” Kerr said with confidence. “I’m not the one saying that. We’ve been garnering the best reviews ever both from the independent critics and the online voices. People are loving the show because we cut a really good production as well as the band being in form.
“I guess the fact that we haven’t had the chance to tour the United States and North America as much as we’d like — and it’s been about eight or nine years since we were last here—there’s a kind of onus on us now and every night to prove yourself. People can expect to see a very, very committed performance every night. We’ll be playing songs from throughout our career, giving a sense of the band’s roots.”
He added, “We’ll be playing ‘Alive and Kicking’ and all of that stuff. The set is going to be heavy from that period. From day one, the challenge for Simple Minds has always been to be received as a great live band. And if you come and see us, you’ll see a band that reaches for that mantle every night.”
Kerr’s journey to fronting Simple Minds dates back to growing up in Glasgow, where music was a constant in his house whether it was hearing “Eleanor Rigby” coming from the kitchen table radio while getting ready for school. Or hearing The Doors’ “Riders On the Storm” while riding in his father’s new car. But it would be hearing a mix of glam (David Bowie, Marc Bolan) and prog-rock (Yes, Genesis) when he was 13 that fueled his love of music. It was that passion that helped him get past a confidence-crushing stammer and connect with his classmates in forming a band.
“I wouldn’t say I was a wallflower, but I wasn’t the type to be the life and soul of the party,” Kerr said. “And I wasn’t in any way an exhibitionist, as you’d imagine that someone fronting a rock band would be. But what I was—I was besotted by music, people who played music and people who made music. What I was pretty good at, and I’m still pretty good at, is kind of connecting the dots.”
“There were guys in the class — one had a bass and the other guy had a drum kit. I asked why they wouldn’t get together to play and they’d say they didn’t have a rehearsal space or a band. I would find it. And so, I found myself in their company asking what songs they wanted to play or suggest they play a T. Rex song.”
That fierce embrace of playing in a band and making music has carried Kerr through into being the front man for Simple Minds for 48 years and counting. With a re-release of the 2023 band documentary Everything is Possible and a new, yet unnamed studio album due to drop in early 2026, Kerr is living the dream that began from the very first gig back in 1977.
“This is what we wanted to do with our lives,” he said. “Some people do their first gig and it’s a bit of a miserable experience. No one was there or they played for three men and a dog. Our first gig, we went on to the sound of our own feet and within 10 minutes, people were jumping up and down. We thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to do this as a lifetime experience?’ And here we are, all these years later, still kind of dallying with that challenge.”
Simple Minds will be appearing on June 13 at Northwell at Jones Beach Theater, 1000 Ocean Pkwy, Wantagh. For more information, visit jonesbeach.com or call 800-745-3000.
