Alive And Kicking Tour
Simple Minds / Soft Cell / Modern English
I've been looking forward to this show since the tour dates were announced. These bands are responsible for three of the most iconic songs from the 80's, as well as many other hits that I've listened to throughout my life.
The first band of the night was Modern English. We saw them in concert once before in August 2017 on the Retro Futura tour. That show featured six bands from the 80's, with the first five performing an opening set and Howard Jones closing out the night with a ten song setlist.
Soft Cell took the stage next. I'm very glad to have had an opportunity to see them in concert. They don't perform in the United States often, and on the few occasions that they have, it's usually for only a small number of dates. Their cover of Tainted Love is one of my favorite songs of the 80's, and getting to see Soft Cell perform it was near the top of my concert bucket list.
Simple Minds took the stage last and they absolutely killed it. Someone who goes by the username Tito Santana (who I'm assuming is not the former Intercontinental Champion) recorded the entire set and shared it on YouTube. Well, whether it's the wrestler or not, they did a pretty damn good job of filming. I only wish they were there to tape the opening acts. So far, I was only able to find a couple of songs.
Here are the setlists for Modern English, Soft Cell, and Simple Minds.
I've been looking forward to this show since the tour dates were announced. These bands are responsible for three of the most iconic songs from the 80's, as well as many other hits that I've listened to throughout my life.
The first band of the night was Modern English. We saw them in concert once before in August 2017 on the Retro Futura tour. That show featured six bands from the 80's, with the first five performing an opening set and Howard Jones closing out the night with a ten song setlist.
At both shows, Modern English performed Someone's Calling and Hands Across The Sea, and they closed with I Melt With You. That one has sort of become the b-side to "our song", which is Take On Me, so we now have gotten to hear both of "our songs" played in concert by their original artists twice. They also performed Gathering Dust and Swans On Glass from the CD release of their 1981 album Mesh & Lace, and Long In The Tooth, which is the opening track from their 2024 album 1234.
Soft Cell took the stage next. I'm very glad to have had an opportunity to see them in concert. They don't perform in the United States often, and on the few occasions that they have, it's usually for only a small number of dates. Their cover of Tainted Love is one of my favorite songs of the 80's, and getting to see Soft Cell perform it was near the top of my concert bucket list.
Their set kicked off with Memorabilia, which they released as a b-side on the Tainted Love single in 1981. They mixed in lines from Madonna's Holiday, Into The Groove and Vogue during the song. This was followed by their 1982 single Torch. They also played Say Hello Wave Goodbye and Bedsitter from their first album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, as well as Monoculture off of their 2002 album Cruelty Without Beauty, and two of their more recent songs, Nostalgia Machine and Purple Zone, from their 2022 album Happiness Not Included.
The set closed with the band telling the audience that they were presented with a choice of two songs to cover when they were recording their first album, and that they'd first play the song that they didn't pick before playing the song that they did pick. The one that they didn't end up going with back then was The Night which was recorded by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons in 1972. Soft Cell did eventually record a cover of it for their 2002 album Cruelty Without Beauty. They then closed out the night with their iconic cover of the 1964 Gloria Jones song Tainted Love, which was interspersed with Where Did Our Love Go by The Supremes. I wish that they would have done Sex Dwarf, but it was an excellent setlist and I'm extremely glad that I was able to see it.
Simple Minds took the stage last and they absolutely killed it. Someone who goes by the username Tito Santana (who I'm assuming is not the former Intercontinental Champion) recorded the entire set and shared it on YouTube. Well, whether it's the wrestler or not, they did a pretty damn good job of filming. I only wish they were there to tape the opening acts. So far, I was only able to find a couple of songs.
They started off with Waterfront from their 1983 album Sparkle In The Rain. This was followed by I Travel, Glittering Prize, and Let There Be Love. Next up were three songs from their 1985 album Once Upon A Time: the title track, I Wish You Were Here, and Oh Jungleland, followed by two tracks off of New Gold Dream: Someone Somewhere In Summertime and New Gold Dream. Next was the title track off of their 1981 compilation album Themes For Great Cities.
The band kicked into their biggest hits after Cherisse Osei's drum solo: Promised You A Miracle, All The Things She Said, and See The Lights before closing out the main set with one of the true icons of 80's music and movie history: Don't You Forget About Me.
They came out to do a three song encore that began with Sarah Brown singing Book of Brilliant Things from the band's Sparkle In The Rain CD. She has performed background vocals on Pink Floyd, George Michael, Stevie Wonder and Simply Red albums, and has been a touring member of Roxy Music and Duran Duran and has been a touring member of Simple Minds since 2009 and a full fledged member of the band since 2017. She has an incredible voice, and it's easy to see why she's been in such high demand throughout her career.
The encore finished off with Alive And Kicking and Sanctify Yourself before we all headed out of the venue to the voice of the recently passed Brian Wilson singing God Only Knows over the speakers. It was an incredible show and one that I won't forget.
