Simple Minds Dalby Forest 24th June 2011

Simple Minds Dalby Forest 24th June 2011

We set off on the Friday morning with a visit to Scarborough as we had not been there for several years. Spent a couple of hours having a general walk about the harbour end, and rounding off with fish and chips for lunch, before moving on to our B&B near Pickering.

So another trip to Dalby Forest in North Yorkshire, as we saw Keane here in 2010 around the same time  (June 2010). This time Simple Minds......

One again we booked into Barker Stakes Farm near Pickering as we enjoyed it so much last year. This time we went for a premium room which was a little bigger, with a four poster bed and a veranda to sit upon in the lovely weather we were having.

Having checked in, unpacked the car, and picnic at the ready we set off just after 5:30pm for Dalby Forest, parked up and lugged chairs and picnic into the arena (grass field!) finding a suitable spot.

The weather was favourable, and shortly around 7pm the support act started, which was James Walsh (lead singer of Starsailor) with an acoustic-ish short 30 min set.
Fairly enjoyable and quite well received by the crowd.

After a longish break, Jim Kerr and friends hit the stage with a strange choice of opening number for what was advertised as a greatest hits tour. "Moscow Underground" from their last album Graffiti Soul opened the set - a great song, but stange choice of opener.

This however, was soon remedied with "Waterfront" and the crowd became a little livelier.

 The set was a mix of old and new, though for a greatest hits tour there were some omissions and some tracks picked were not what you would call "hits" as such. Perhaps picked for the real die-hard fans that wanted to hear something other than the more mainstream hits.

We had seen Simple Minds in Sheffield at the end of 2009, and left slightly disappointed, particularly with Jim Kerr's perfomance and vocals (and thats being kind!).

Tonight was an improvement from that performance, though not a polished display (Jim forgot the words on several occasions or got them wrong!). Jims microphone spend more time facing the crowd than him, but the crowd sang, most hits were there, and a good time was had on a nice evening, in a field, with a picnic, so who cares!  Its a live gig after all , and we were entertained.

 Would we go see Simple Minds again.... possibly not based on the two performances we have seen.... close but no cigar!!

Our Gig Score: 6/10

Simple Minds Set List 2011

1. Moscow Underground
2. Waterfront
3. Once Upon a Time
4. All the Things she said
5. Sanctify
6. Sons of Fascination
7. Celebrate
8. Speed Your Love to Me
9. Catwalk
10. Earth That You Walk Upon
11. Hypnotise/Mandela Day
12. Someone Somewhere In summertime
13. Miracle/Glittering Prize
14. Don't You (Forget About Me)
15. New Gold Dream
16. Stage Fright
17. Alive And Kicking
18. Broken Glass Park
19. Ghostdancing
20. Gloria