New Gold Dream
1980-2024
Simple Minds formed as part of the Glasgow punk scene in 1977 and came to prominence in the early 80’s, racking up a string of hits with their arty, atmospheric duel keyboard/guitar driven rock music, which transferred very well to large venues. Very large venues.
Big Time Johnnies
Initially going under the moniker “Johnny and the Self-Abusers”, Simple Minds were playing in large arenas and stadiums across the globe by the time they played Band Aid in 1985. But before that they were the opening act in smaller venues like the Lyceum Ballroom (capacity 2,000), where many people, me included, voted with their feet and went to the bar instead.
44 years later and they were back in London, this time playing at the O2 Arena (capacity 20,000) which is where I caught up with them.
Distances
The Lyceum gig I attended was on Sunday 24 February 1980, in The Strand, London. The next time was at the O2 Arena, Greenwich. The distance geographically, between the two venues as the crow flies, is approximately 5.3 miles or 8.5 km, in modern money. So, not very far. The distance in time was 44 years. So, quite large. The distance however, between the events in terms of presentation, status and spectacle was far greater, in many, many ways.
The Lyceum
In case you don’t know (and why would you) The Lyceum Ballroom no longer exists as a ballroom. It’s now a theatre and has hosted The Lion King musical since 1999. It began life in 1765 and has been rebuilt a few times and its location has been used for a circus, Madame Tussauds, a chapel and an Opera House. It began life as a ballroom in 1951 when Mecca took it over, which it continued to be until 1986, when it closed, before opening again 10 years later as…a theatre.
February 1980
I rocked up at the Lyceum in February 1980 with a couple of members of the band the Pressure Stops, in which I played guitar. Roy (bass) and Steve (vocals) came with me. Now, it should be noted that I was (and still am) an avid music listener and gig goer, but we hadn’t come to see Simple Minds on this occasion. Oh no. We didn’t even know who they were (neither did anyone else to be fair). They’d had no real chart success at that time.
L-R Clive, Me, Steve, Roy
Far Away In Time
We’d come to see the Only Ones and, to a lesser extent, Martha and the Muffins. The Only Ones had had some success with the single Another Girl, Another Planet and Martha and the Muffins had a Top10 hit with Echo Beach. As for Simple Minds, their first attack on the upper echelons of the UK singles charts didn’t occur for another two years with Promised You a Miracle which made it to No. 13 in 1982. Before that their singles hovered around the top 50 – 75 positions.
And, it must be noted, that in the late 70’s early 80’s, if Radio stations didn’t play the record, or your mate didn’t lend it to you and it wasn’t on TOTP, then you’d never hear it2 unless you bought it yourself and that wouldn’t happen because a.) records were far too expensive just to buy anything and b.) you didn’t know it existed anyway.
Bar Room Blues
But back to the gig. The best bit about it was this. Someone decided, (not me I hasten to add, since I was here to soak up the music, rip off any musical ideas I could, and pass them off as my own, and generally check out other, more professional bands) that the bar was the place to be while the ‘no-hopers’ that were the support acts were up on the stage doing their thing.
Sweaty Socks
From memory we watched a couple of Simple Minds songs before someone (I suspect Roy) said, “I’ve had enough of these ‘sweaty’s’3 let’s get a beer.”
Me being me just said, ‘yeah, ok’ and that was it. We watched a bit of Martha and the Muffins and all of the Only Ones, before rapturous applause ensued, the house lights went up, and we all shuffled towards the exit and went home.
Summary of Simple Minds in 1980 – went to the bar.
Elephant
Having said all of that, I’ve listened to a recording of Simple Minds from a gig later in 1980, coincidentally also at The Lyceum, and if I’m being completely honest, Roy made the right decision. Because being in a band is like having a new born baby. You think yours is beautiful. Everyone else smiles but secretly thinks it looks like a cross between ET and the Elephant Man.
SIMPLE MINDS The Lyceum London 26th October 1980 (youtube.com) (Audio Only)
O2 Arena
Now, compare that offering to the gig at the O2. Simple Minds have now amassed some 60 million album sales worldwide, so you could say they’ve done ok for themselves in the interim, the Lyceum gig notwithstanding.
Direction
They released an album in 2022 called Direction of the Heart, which I bought when it was released and I thought was very good, so when I saw they were touring I thought I’d get some tickets. The nearest gig to me was at the O2 Arena in Greenwich (the Millennium Dome as was), so I got online and bought a pair of tickets as near to the front as my pension would allow.
First mistake: not checking the exact location of the seats. Vikki, who came with me, was not so keen to get their early so she managed to organise 10 minutes off work (seriously). Second mistake: not insisting on leaving with enough time to get something to eat beforehand.
Sir Rod
Anyway we got up their easily enough. From Witham (where Vikki works) it’s a 30 minute train journey to Stratford, change onto the Jubilee Line, 10 minutes to North Greenwich and a 5 minute walk to the arena. However, the last time I went to the O2 it was to see Rod Stewart, purely because I won some tickets. And they were tickets right at the back, in the top tier.
Base Jump
If you’ve never experienced the top tier at the O2 then my advice is this: don’t. Unless you enjoy base jumping, bungee jumping, skydiving or vertigo. Not only is it high, it’s steep too. And you’re about a mile away from the stage, so you can’t see anything.
This time I had tickets on the lowest level at the side, about a 3rd of the way back. Quite good. Or so you’d think. Remember I hadn’t checked the seat location properly. We were in Block 111, which is Entrance H. So we got to the O2 and followed the signs to ‘H Block’. And followed the signs. And followed the signs. After walking for about 15 minutes we continued to follow the signs.
Blair Witch
And then after following the signs a bit more we began to have a dual panic attack, and fearing we had somehow stumbled into a remake of the Blair Witch Project and were walking in circles not going anywhere (which technically, we were), we discovered Entrance H. Phew.
More No-Hopers
Then we made our way to our seats and that’s when I realised we were on the opposite side of the arena to where I thought we were supposed to be. Not only that but the second schoolboy error was selecting seats next to the aisle. Great if you want to spend the gig in the bar (as quite a few people seemed to) but not so good if you want to watch the band. Because there was a continuous stream of people, stragglers looking for their seats. Admittedly it was only during the no-hoper support act Del Amitri, so it was no great loss to society.
The Place To Be
The key, at least at the O2, is to buy tickets for Entrance A, which is Block 101 and when selecting seats, ensure the nearest aisle is to your right, that way you will have a swift exit to the station (in front of 20,000 other people) and won’t have to look at people taking selfies while you’re sitting there trying to watch the band, with everyone shouting “Oi! Was your dad a glazier?”
Where’s Roy When You Need Him?
As for the gig, I stayed for the whole show, Roy wasn’t there to take me off to the bar so I can honestly say it was a spectacle. A big, mesmerising light show, floor to ceiling video screens across the back of the whole stage showing cut up videos, lyrics and album covers. A seven-piece band with Jim Kerr (vocals) and Charlie Burchill (guitar) from the original 70’s Johnny and the Self-Abusers days. And they played all the hits, plus some new and old numbers.
You may remember Promised You a Miracle was their first hit in ’82. That got an airing. As did Alive and Kicking, Don’t You (Forget About Me), Waterfront, Belfast Child, Glittering Prize and all the others.
Shakespeare
And after it was over, we got stuck behind a queue of 20,000 people all wanting to get on the Jubilee Line at the same time (slight exaggeration), but made it back to the centre of the universe (Maldon) at a little after midnight, which is long after my bedtime, now I’m an old crumbly. However, I have now just recovered enough to write this blog, and as some other old crumbly, who used to write the 16c equivalent of blogs once said, all’s well that ends well.
UK Return
You can still catch Simple Minds on tour if you’re quick. As of April 2024 they are in Europe but return to the UK in June before returning to the continent once again.
Thank you for your time.