Metamatic Forums Socialising The Green Room Gigs - News and reviews

Just so long as it is not in a converted church! Heaven forbid...

Don

Great gig of Simple Minds/OMD yesterday in Hamburg.
Both bands played a mixture of tracks about their whole career plus Simple Minds played a couple of tracks from their new album Graffiti Soul too. It was a great atmosphere in the Sporthalle and it seemed both bands enjoyed it a lot. I met two people from Scotland there and we had a nice chat (and a nice beer... ).

But the absolutely highlight of the gig was the first track of the encore!

NEON LIGHTS - played by Simple Minds together with OMD. Great to see Jim and Andy and this wonderful female soul singer singing together!

Great gig - great evening (3 hours)


Now I want more.... Roll on Heaven 17 in March!!


Cheers, Andreas

Danke Andreas! I imagine there was no new OMD material played (perhaps just as well...), and yes Neon Lights had already been announced as a highlight - glad it wasn't disappointing.

Ryuichi Sakamoto - Queens Hall Edinburgh


A fantastic night. I had a front row seat & could almost touch him. Highlights for me were Tibetan Dance & Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence. Still trying to work out what he was doing first song as he seemed to just be leaning into the piano & playing from there. Also trying to figure out how he performed the 2nd smaller piano at the same time. Was it him or the guy who was sitting to the side behind the desk playing it? I thought after the first song it was going to be a sort of strange long concert but the time flew by & before I knew it he had done his 2 encores & was waving goodbye.

Quite right Scott .. at the beginning he sort of plucked and scraped the strings and tapped on the woodwork a bit. I believe some of the backing tracks on that piece are by Fennez.

Glad you enjoyed it.

I'm looking forward to seeing them on Saturday.

I would have hoped SM might have played more than a couple of songs from their new album - isn't that what they're touring to promote?! What are they scared of?!

Alex, I'm sure you will enjoy the concert. If I remember right Simple Minds played 1 hour and 45 min. and OMD 1 hour and 15 min. So there were a lot of time for S.M. to play their stuff. Incl. the pause between both bands (half hour) it was an evening of 3,5 hours!

If I'm right, S.M. played stuff from Sons and Fascination/ Sister Feelings Call onwards until today - incl. Graffiti Soul . I cannot say how many tracks were from Graffiti Soul , 'cause I'm more into the older stuff (until Neapolis ). But the new tracks were good too - real Simple Minds sound.
You are right; the Tour poster said Graffiti Soul tour , but they had made so many stuff in the past - I can say it was a good mixture and enjoyed it a lot.
For my opinion they could play more stuff from the very early days (pre Once Upon a Time).


But as I said; it was a good mixture - great concert!

The same I can say for OMD!


I wish you a great gig on Saturday!


Andreas

Thank you Andreas!

It was a good gig overall, but I have to admit, I came out of it feeling despondent.

OMD played for an hour, what was basically a greatest hits/singles set. It was nice to see them live - musically and technically they were excellent, although I found it incredibly boring. So many of the songs sounded dreary and, basically the same. So sadly, I'm not converted, and only genuinely enjoyed 3 or 4 songs.

The stage setup was great - lots of beam lights, including a central column of them which went right to the ceiling. Unfortunately the sound was not good - which for an arena gig, was a bit of a surprise. For both OMD & SM, the vocals were too low in the mix. Sound at SM gigs is usually fantastic.

This was the first time we'd seen SM since 2006, so I was hoping my interest would be renewed, but, I found myself feeling a bit bored. The set was largely a greatest hits package, with only 3 new songs (from Graffiti Soul, which they're supposed to be promoting), although there was a few surprises, including a medly of their early tracks - including "I Travel", "In Trance As Mission" and "Sons and Fascination" - a few years ago, I would have gone insane with joy at hearing these played live, but because of the poor sound, they didn't really work. But it was nice to hear them live anyway.

It was a bit sad to realise that a band I once hailed as my very favourite, no longer moved me live. I guess my problem is that I don't like their stadium-era music - I basically really, really like the stuff they did before making it big (Empires & Dance up to New Gold Dream), and that stuff probably isn't what the the majority of gig-goers want to hear.

The tour programme was impressive, although there's over 3 pages all about "Sons and Fascination/Sister Feelings Call" (my favourite album), which gives the impression they're going to play a lot from that double album, combined with new tracks - and that wasn't the case at all.

I half wondered if they'd had a grand plan to really give that album a good airing live, then chickened out at the last minute!

Simple Minds have so much to give, and such a vast back catalogue from which to choose, I think they've missed to many opportunities by resting on their laurels so much. Musically though, they were fantastic, although for me, I felt a spark had gone out somewhere for Jim.

It was also sad to see many people going to the bar/toilet during the slower/early songs, and even leaving the concert entirely during the encore.

On the other hand, my wife really enjoyed SM, so I guess it comes down to me being hard to please, wanting more of the early work.

It was certainly a busy week for me.
The 30th I got to see Depeche Mode in my hometown of Rotterdam.
Something I initially didn't want to see.
I fully agree with MemberD's review.
It's all on automatic, something I noticed while seeing a few gig's on the previous tour.
It's not bad, don't get me wrong, but it surely lacks "something".

Anyway, then it was off to London for the Numan gig at the O2 Indigo.
As for the support, "Dirty Harry" was completely miscast for this.
Had never heard them before and I came to the conclusion that I didn't miss a lot during that period.
First thing I thought was "No Doubt" but with even worse songs...good I use earplugs
Only plus, the front-woman is not that bad on the eye.
Suddenly I saw on the side a guy behind the curtains gesturing them to stop.
Bye Harry!

The first part of the Numan gig was all I hoped for, plain and simple.
No i'll-make-them-sound-bigger songs...
Although I am not that big of a fan of his recent stuff I have to say part 2 was good as well.
Numan dragged Chris Payne on stage to do some violin.
The whole thing was filmed, will be fun to watch that one again.
At the end his wife and kids showed up at the side, he said he "hated retro but this was f'ing amazing".
He has to say something positive for the end of the dvd I guess...
Good gig, it was worth the trip

Saturday I walk back to Liverpool Street station to get the train back to Stansted.
I pass Holborn viaduct, and as I engage this person...I think...It's...
...It's...
...Mr.Normall !!
So I wanted to be sure and asked him if he's "Mr.Normall"...well, he was!
What a coincidence to meet him in the middle of London on the street.
We had a small conversation on the pavement which I sadly had to keep short due to my plane waiting.
Was really nice to meet you there!

Overall a great week, next week please...

sad state of affairs there, have to agree, its the earlier songs from New Gold Dream backwards for me too.
what a great introduction to a complete stranger