Forty years have passed since the
band Simple Minds performed its first concert, and this summer
it is celebrating its new album "Walk Between Worlds" with six
tour dates in Italy.
In Rome, the band performed July 3 at the Roma Summer Fest at
the Auditorium, in a grand pop-rock-electronica demonstration of
current and past glories.
Singer Jim Kerr and guitarist Charlie Burchill, the only
remaining original members of the group, took the stage with the
confidence that comes from a lifelong career that began as
Scotland's answer to U2.
At its Rome concert, the band brought a playlist of about 15
songs, with a three-song encore.
The band's frontman proved to be tireless despite 40 years on
the road touring the world, challenging the passage of time in
his purple t-shirt, jeans, and black boots.
On stage he was just as animated as he was when he first
began, jumping, raising his arms, kneeling and spinning the
microphone before his audience.
"We're all young, aren't we?" he said ironically.
The crowd filled the Cavea at the Auditorium for the revival
concert that brought back songs from the band's beginnings as
well as songs from its most recent album, such as "The Signal
and the Noise".
Traversing its musical history, the band performed hits such
as "Waterfront" (1984), "Let There Be Love" from the early
1990s, and "Love Song" (1981), letting fans relive the new wave
and post-punk atmosphere from the band's first days in Glasgow,
where it was influenced by bands from the previous decade.
From the second song on, a crowd gathered around the stage to
take pictures of Kerr, Burchill and the five young and talented
musicians accompanying them on keyboard, drums, guitar, bass and
vocals.
The band performed one of its most iconic hits, "Don't You
Forget About Me", from the movie The Breakfast Club.
Fans cried for an encore, which the band satisfied with three
songs, ending with "Sanctify Yourself".
The Rome concert was the second of the band's Italian tour
dates, following Cremona, with concerts in Macerata, Marostica,
Udine and Genoa rounding out a busy schedule through July 11.
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