Do that bloody shirt up, will you?

The phrase comeback always gives me odd mental images, comeback tour often generates even odder real images. I'd offer those venerable pensioners, the Rolling Stones as prime example, except that they never really left. But if they had, then the image of them on stage in a comeback tour would be similar to ... watching them on stage in a non-comeback tour. Not to mention the sheer amount of cash those boys charge for watching them prance around in a manner more befitting people who could be (may be) their grandkids. I'm not generally keen on such things. I prefer the celluloid approach to entertainment. Remeber the band as they were when they recorded the music you listened to as a kid, updating the image will only serve to remind you of your own advancement in the game of life.

Yes, you guessed it, we went to see the Simple Minds play last night. To be fair to Jim Kerr (not sure why, but there you go) he's not in the same league as the Rolling Stones age-wise, but he and the band definitely left which means this is definitely a comeback (even if they don't say so on the posters). That said, you would think they've been dead active from looking at their website so whaddo I know, except to say that at least 75% of their releases in the last years have been best ofs, re-issues or live recordings and methinks that means having left.

Now, I'm treading on thin ice here, coz SM's manager is a good friend of my sister-in-law Daph, which is how we got the free tickets for which we are thankful. On the other hand, they (SM, not D&D) are old so they deserve it. I may get severely beaten later, mind...

So, dispensing with the health warning, we trotted to the Ancienne Belgique and told the hairy man at the door that we were on the list in our best rock follower manner. Actually, that's a lie, we were quite apologetic about the whole thing .. I've never been on a "list" before and was dead nervous they'd just kill us before checking. They didn't though, and we got in. The gig was a sellout months in advance so it's safe to say that there is a reasonable fanbase here. Naturally enough, that fan base transpired to be mostly around our age, with the halcyon years of SM being the mid 80's so this was unsurprising and actually a little comforting. There were quite a lot of fat old rockers (less comforting, than ... hairy and smelly) and the chat was mostly in Dutch. I wondered what the French have against Simple Minds, without really caring too much. One enterprising gentleman was paying for his drinks (and possibly his ticket) by colloecting glasses and returning them for the 10cent deposit. He seemed to be doing quite well and it saved us bothering.

The support band was some mob we've not heard of and we ought to have gone to see them, but there was a bar so we didn't. I went to put the coats away (self serve lockers downstairs) with my single 1 Euro coin that Andrea had given me as pocket money*. Testing the locker to make sure the key worked, I discovered that teh 1 Euro was not a key deposit but a payment. I went back upstairs to get another Euro from Bubble. It would have been even more embarrassing if the guy behind me at the lockers hadn't done exactly the same thing at the same time.

SM came on at about 10. Why is it that bands always come on late? Do they not have palm pilots, mobile phones or wristwatches with which to tell the time and stay up to date with the relationship between the Now and the precise time when all the paying customers will be waiting for them to do what it said on the ticket, play at 8.45? Enquiring minds want to know. Simple Minds didn't seem to care and neither did the crowd. There was a bar. I might have mentioned that.

Well, I must admit that Jim Kerr has aged quite well. I don't have to admit that about his guitarist, who looks like the old fat knacker he is. The keyboard player and bassist looked new, possibly the sons of the guitarist, they looked quite young. The drummer was a little more difficult to see properly, surrounded as he was with a forest of skins and hi-hats. From their website, though, it looks like the drummer is Kerr's brother and still with the band, so there you are.

They came on stage and I nearly had a heart attack; Jim Kerr was wearing a shirt open to the waist, into which he was already sweating. I checked the exit routes fro a quick escape. Jim did not, however, rebutton his shirt at any stage and continued to perspire in a manner befitting someone working very hard to keep up with their memories of what they used to be capable of. Everytime I get on a bike I'm the same, but I tend to do my shirt up. Fortunately we were too far back to be directly exposed to any excessive wobbling so the sharp exit was unnecessary.

They did the thing that all comebacky bands do, which is play some new stuff till people start migrating back to the bar, then throw in an anthemic hit to get everyone back and boogying again. I saw a very sad Adam Ant do this 10 years ago in the US. SM did much better. Possibly this is because I don't recognise most of their stuff, except the really obvious ones like Alive and Kicking and that, which sound like U2 to me, which is probably why I never had any of their albums. As such, to me the first 2/3 rds of the set sounded like all new stuff, although Andrea says she heard some "oldies" in there. they really kicked in the anthemic stuff towards the end, I suspect to finish everyone off on a high note. One thing that is always evident watching a more experienced band, is how tight they are as a whole. Even with 40% replacements, they really did put on a good show, hardly stopping for breath during the whole set (except to say bon soir to the mostly Flemish audience, which I thought was a nice touch).

All in all it was a good evening, and not the jaded middle-aged twaddle I had feared it might be. I'll not be buying their album, but if you have a family member close to the band, I suggest you prod them for a free ticket and go see the show.

We're off skiing (with about 1/2 of you, actually) tonight. I'll try and post some ski type posts in the next week, otherwise see you all when we get back.

Bomber out

*may not be true