Latest news with #SimpleMinds
Toronto Star
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Toronto Star
A major 1980s nostalgia concert, Canadian pop punk and an imploding submersible: what we're obsessed with this week
Concert: Simple Minds Sure, everyone knows that song from that movie. But there's a lot more to Simple Minds than meets the eye, beginning with their fantastic early albums, on which they merged David Bowie's flash with the Velvet Underground's verve and Kraftwerk's Euro-cool grooves. And in a live setting, the band, featuring original members Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill, are simply thrilling and uplifting. They're bound to play a few deep cuts along with their latter-day stadium fillers at Budweiser Stage on Wednesday night. Opening are two equally credible one-hit new wave wonders: Soft Cell and Modern English. John Hughes would definitely approve. —Doug Brod
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Simple Minds on 40 Years of ‘Don't You (Forget About Me)' & Their Friendship, Despite the Occasional ‘Screaming Match'
Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill have been playing music together for some 48 years, most of them in Simple Minds. Kerr assures us that familiarity has bred fondness; he even says the 'parallel story' in the band's 2023 documentary Everything Is Possible is 'the friendship of Charlie and I, which is quite remarkable because usually in long-working relationships in music people hate each other after 20 years. But Charlie and I still go on. There's a great friendship there.' Despite that, Kerr tells Billboard that it's not always a lovefest between frontman and guitarist, either, as Simple Minds is in the midst of its first full-scale North American tour in seven years. 'We're still able to have our rows and our fights. We're not always on the same page,' Kerr acknowledges, adding with a laugh that, 'We had a screaming match last week and everyone around us…. First of all they said, 'I've never heard such a f–kin' intense screaming match,' so afterwards Charlie and I felt embarrassed. Y'know, usually it's not even (about) a thing. You're not on the same page, and it's frustrating. Someone will just say the wrong word, and it triggers. More from Billboard Rachel Zegler Serenades Crowd Outside Theater for Free in a New London Production of 'Evita' Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis to Receive Vanguard Award at The Guitar Center Music Foundation Gala & Benefit Concert Shakira Announces Two More Dates in Mexico, Extending Record to 28 'But here's the good news; at the end of the day there's no scars, no wounds. We get up the next day and everything is fine. How amazing that we're still so passionate about it. How amazing that we still care. How amazing we're in the rehearsal room, trying to make it as great as it can be for our audience, and how amazing the next day we go to breakfast with each other.' During its current trek, whose U.S. leg wraps up Saturday (June 22 in Noblesville, Ind.), Kerr, Churchill and the latest incarnation of Simple Minds have been supporting their new concert album — Live in the City of Diamonds, which came out in April — and the 40th anniversary of an eventful 1985 that included: the Billboard Hot 100-topping single 'Don't You (Forget About Me)' from the hit film The Breakfast Club; a performance at Live Aid that summer; and the band's best-selling studio album, Once Upon a Time, which came out that fall. 'It was beautiful,' Kerr recalls. 'It was so unexpected in a sense. You had the movie, you had the song, Live Aid, MTV, 'Alive & Kicking' [a No. 3 Hot 100 hit], the Once Upon a Time album itself…and lo and behold, 40 years later we're still here talking about it. That's what 1985 felt like to us.' Simple Minds was famously ambivalent about recording 'Don't You (Forget About Me),' which was written by producer Keith Forsey and Steve Schiff for the John Hughes-directed film. The group had already planned to make an aggressive assault on the U.S. market in the wake of its 1984 album Sparkle in the Rain and was confident 'we had songs up our sleeve' for what would become Once Upon a Time. 'Then out of nowhere these phone calls start to come in about this movie, and the record company thinks it would be a good thing to bridge to the next album,' Kerr recalls. 'We were like, 'Yeah, we want to do it,' then 'Oh, hang on a minute. They want us to record someone else's song? That's not what we do; we're credible artists. We write our own songs, and we've got some good ones in the pipeline, so we're not sure about that.' But after meeting the people involved we decided to do it.' The key, Kerr adds, was that his band found a way to make the song its own. 'I'm not taking anything away from the song and Keith and the guys who came up with the music. You can find the demo of the song online; it's a good little song. But Simple Minds, what we brought to it was 10 years of playing live, and we put our heart and soul into it and we put our lifeblood into the record. It would've been a different song if OMD did it, or the Psychedelic Furs — it would've been a different record, rather. So it's not our song, but it is our record.' Simple Minds will follow the North American tour with a jaunt through Europe, starting June 27 at home in Glasgow, where the band plans to play Once Upon a Time in its entirety. That trek wraps up July 27 in Italy, after which Simple Minds plans to return to working on a new studio album — the follow-up to 2022's Direction of the Heart — which Kerr, Burchill and company began working on before hitting the road. 'We've got a whole bunch of songs up our sleeves,' Kerr says. 'They're not finished yet, but the backing tracks are down, the rough mixes. So we're excited. People might say, 'What's the impetus?' because obviously records don't sell like they used to and there's a limited appeal for new stuff no matter whether you're Bruce Springsteen or whoever you are. But this is who we are. This is what we do. It just goes on. It's all about creativity and you have it in you and you've got to get it out. That's the same now as it's ever been, and for us every time you do something new you're still using those muscles. It's like a chapter to a book; it seems to refresh the rest of the story and stops you from calcifying.' Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart
Glasgow Times
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Glasgow Times
Drivers issued warning ahead of Glasgow Summer Sessions
Summer Sessions at Bellahouston Park will play host to the Punk All Dayer on June 21, Sting on June 25, Simple Minds on June 27 and Stereophonics on June 28. READ NEXT: Plans approved to transform former Glasgow pub site into student flats Ahead of the events, Traffic Scotland has said they expect traffic to be heavier than normal on the M77 and M8 leading to and from the event. They went on to say that local routes may also see an increase in traffic. In order to facilitate a safe egress for concert goers, the following sections of the M8 and M77 will be completely closed: M8, Junction 23 westbound off-slip M8, Junction 23 eastbound on-slip M77, Junction 1 northbound off-slip M77, Junction 1 southbound off-slip The closures will be in place between 9.30pm and 3am after each show. READ NEXT: Glasgow Subway issues warning ahead of Glasgow Summer Sessions It comes after we previously reported that Glasgow Subway announced that attendees must ensure they are at the station in plenty of time or have made alternative travel plans as they are operating a normal timetable. It means the Subway will start at 6.30am and will only run until 11.40pm on Saturday. For more information on the Summer Sessions, visit
Irish Independent
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Inside the luxurious ‘once-in-a-generation' Killiney home that's on sale for €10m, and has Bono and Enya as neighbours
Mount Mapas House, a Georgian home with unobstructed views of the sea from Killiney Bay to Bray Head, has a drawing room, a sauna, multiple marble fireplaces and direct access to the beach below. It has been owned by many high-profile figures throughout its lifetime, including a prominent Dublin surgeon, top civil servants, a former manager of the Daily Irish Independent in the 1900s and the late Cormac O'Connell, one of Ireland's best-known pharmacists, who bought the property for £2.3m at auction in 1997. Neighbours past and present have included singer Van Morrison, ex-Formula One driver Eddie Irvine and Simple Minds star Jim Kerr. The six-bed, four-bath property has been described as 'one of the finest homes to come to market' this year, offering 'a once-in-a-generation opportunity to own a coastal Georgian masterpiece'. It has landscaped gardens spanning 1.25 acres and was one of the first houses built on the corner of Vico Road in the affluent area of Killiney, just beyond Dalkey, around 1800. The property has been described as a house with 'timeless grandeur' and as 'a fine example of an early 19th-century villa with a graceful ironwork veranda at first floor level that lends it a distinctly colonial elegance', with a terrace that once provided 'driveway space for carriages'. The house, which spans approximately 585 sq m, with 'stately architectural heritage and refined contemporary luxury' is private despite its place on one of Dublin's most sought-after roads. 'Mount Mapas House is not merely a residence – it is a legacy. A home that offers stately elegance, modern comfort, unmatched views, and a prestigious address,' the estate agent, Lisney Sotheby's, said. It has a reception hall, a drawing room, a dining room, sash windows, a split-level staircase with 'a magnificent cathedral-style skylight', a family bathroom with a sauna, a 'guest cloaks area' and a reception room. The main bedroom, along with a bay window and panoramic views, also has an intercom to the front door, a digital security alarm panel and a CCTV camera control panel. One en-suite bathroom has a jacuzzi bath, while another has 'a power steam shower room'. A conservatory overlooks 'the pond and bridge to the rear gardens and planting to the side and double folding double glazed French doors opening out to the patio area which looks directly out over the grounds and Killiney Bay'. There is also a dining terrace in the tiered gardens, which include direct private access to Killiney beach, and a 120m deep natural well with a pump and filter for drinking water and garden watering.
Irish Independent
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Inside the luxurious ‘once-in-a-generation' Killiney home on sale for €10 million that boasts Bono and Enya as neighbours
Mount Mapas House, a Georgian home with unobstructed views of the sea from Killiney Bay to Bray Head, has a drawing room, a sauna, multiple marble fireplaces and direct access to the beach below. It has been owned by many high-profile figures throughout it's lifetime, including a prominent Dublin surgeon, top civil servants, a former manager of the Daily Irish Independent in the 1900s and the late Cormac O'Connell, one of Ireland's best-known pharmacists who bought the property for £2.3 million at auction in 1997. Neighbours past and present have included Bono and his bandmate Larry Mullen, singer Van Morrison, former Formula One driver Eddie Irvine and Simple Minds star Jim Kerr. The six-bed, four-bath property has been described as 'one of the finest homes to come to market' this year, offering 'a once-in-a-generation opportunity to own a coastal Georgian masterpiece'. It has landscaped gardens spanning 1.25 acres and was one of the first houses built on the corner of Vico Road in the affluent area of Killiney, just beyond Dalkey, around 1800. The property has been described as a house with 'timeless grandeur' and as 'a fine example of an early 19th-century villa with a graceful ironwork veranda at first floor level that lends it a distinctly colonial elegance', with a terrace that once provided 'driveway space for carriages'. The house, which spans approximately 585 sq m, with 'stately architectural heritage and refined contemporary luxury' is private despite it's place on one of Dublin's most sought-after roads. 'Mount Mapas House is not merely a residence – it is a legacy. A home that offers stately elegance, modern comfort, unmatched views, and a prestigious address,' the estate agent, Lisney Sotheby's, have said. It boasts a reception hall, a drawing room, a dining room, sash windows, a split-level staircase with 'a magnificent cathedral-style skylight', a family bathroom with a sauna, a 'guest cloaks area' and a reception room. The main bedroom, along with a bay window and panoramic views, also has an intercom to the front door, a digital security alarm panel and a CCTV camera control panel. One en-suite bathroom has a jacuzzi bath, while another has 'a power steam shower room'. A conservatory overlooks 'the pond and bridge to the rear gardens and planting to the side and double folding double glazed French doors opening out to the patio area which looks directly out over the grounds and Killiney Bay'. There is also a dining terrace in the tiered gardens, which include direct private access to Killiney Beach and a 120m deep natural well with a pump and filter for drinking water and garden watering.
