August 24th 1991 – Milton Keynes Bowl
Supported by: OMD, Stranglers
I think you still had to get your tickets from box offices in 1991? So I would have got this from De Montfort Hall box office in town centre.
On paper this was a great line up for me, OMD a great favourite band and The Stranglers and a band I missed in 1984, tickets sold out so quickly on that tour….I did manage at that time with a couple of others to gate crash the sound check in the afternoon 🙂 We got to hear an instrumental version of Waterfront before being ushered away.
There were also a couple of nagging doubts about the support acts. OMD had just released “Sugar Tax”, a bit too twee for my tastes and the single “Sailing on the Seven Seas” wasn’t a fave. Add to that, Paul Humphries, keyboards and main musician in the duo had left the band.
The Stranglers had just parted company with lead singer and legend, Hugh Cornwell, so the jury was out on new singer, Paul Roberts.
If anything, my main draw was to finally see Simple Minds live, who had grown and grown over the years and were now challenging U2 as a stadium band…..this tour would help, playing Maine Road, Manchester and Wembley, London!
Our previous trip to The Bowl was for U2 Longest Day and that was a bit wet weather wise, so it was with apprehension we came along for this gig. This time though, the weather was spot on.
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD)
Really good performance from them. The new “Sugar Tax” album songs proved a bit weak in a big field, but the hits were going down really well and actually the crowd was well into dancing to “Joan of Arc” and “Maid of Orleans”, Andy McClusky being at his energetic best on stage.
It just lack the sound of a true OMD. No Humphries on keyboards, no Malcom Cooper on guitar and no David Holmes on drums. This was an electronic performance, no a pop rock band so was a bit of a sad concert. Fair play to Andy though, he did a great set.
The Stranglers
The Strangler were less of an issue without Cornwell. Paul Roberts was a worthy replacement and blasted out the songs. The rest of the line up at the time was :
- Jean-Jacques Burnel – bass, vocals
- John Ellis – guitar, vocals
- Dave Greenfield – keyboards, vocals
- Jet Black – drums, percussion
It was a great performance, although I struggle to remember what songs were played, but the classics were in there, “Peaches”, “No More Heroes”, “Hanging Around” and “Golden Brown”
Simple Minds
There’s something really special about a gig outside, on a nice day, as the sun starts to set and the crowd is a mix of slightly piddled and relaxed. This crowd was quite piddled, not us, we were driving.
What a great atmosphere and sing a long this concert was. A classic Simple Minds line up, Jim Kerr, lead antagonist and vocals, Charlie Burchill on Guitar, Mel Gaynor on drums (and “heavyweight champion of the world”), Mal(colm) Foster on Bass.
Jim started off with some slow singing, gradually rising to the point where the crowd was singing “Don’t You Forget About Me” to him……..brilliant….we even got a bit of rain during the song!!!
Really great gig finishing with the classics. “Sanctify Yourself” was late on and is still my favourite live song, in fact, I reckon Simple Minds are one of those bands better seen live than on record (check out “Live In The City Of Light”, recorded mainly in Paris ).
Some time around now, things really started to happen for live music. Live concerts were being broadcast on BBC radio, stuff was being filmed and this internet thing was started to store stuff. All this means I can add live stuff more and more to this blog (apart from some of my smaller obscure gigs).
If you only listen to part of this gig, start at “Oh Jungleland” (Part 1 at approx 46:50). The sky was now dark, the crowd had settled into listening, singing and dancing mode and Jim had warmed up now….this was an immensely special part of the gig for me……the next two songs were where it started for me, “Someone Somewhere (In Summertime)” (how hard did Mel hit that drum?), “King Is White And In The Crowd”……..interestingly they missed out “Glittering Prize”….but we didn’t notice until later!!!
It’ll be years again before I next see Simple Minds at Usher Hall, Edinburgh – why do I keep having to wait so long!?
This is a great two part Radio 1 live broadcast of the Simple Minds concert……
Set List
- Real Life
- Love Song
- See The Lights
- Travelling Man
- East At Easter
- Banging On The Door
- Book Of Brilliant Things
- Don’t You (Forget About Me)
- Stand By Love
- Oh Jungleland
- Someone Somewhere (In Summertime)
- King Is White And In The Crowd
- Big Sleep
- Sanctify Yourself
- Let There Be Love
- Encore: Alive And Kicking, Waterfront, Ghostrider, Belfast Child
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