Simple Minds, O2 Arena, music review: A hits landslide

The 21st century has not been especially kind to Simple Minds, but the pendulum is swinging their way again. Last night, it hadn’t swung quite enough to prevent the O2’s top tier from being curtained off. For all that, there was a genuine sense of resurgence.

Impossibly smiley singer Jim Kerr began dressed as a scarf-clad fogey, went through more costume changes than Lady Gaga and finished in a tartan frock coat, but the 56-year-old grandfather’s voice and charm were reassuringly consistent. Over their two hours, they ignored their very early days when it seemed as though they would be the Caledonian Kraftwerk; they trod warily through the barren period and risked only two songs from their sparkly new album, Big Music.

This meant a hits landslide. The American was stripped down, but everything else was cranked up. Don’t You (Forget About Me) was a near-hymnal mass singalong, but the heroic Waterfront, All the Things She Said, Up on the Catwalk and their siblings remain mighty beasts of the jungle.