Maria got a chance to speak with the band backstage shortly before the performance. Click to listen to lead singer Adrian Sieber and  keyboardist Stefan Wagner tell us about  Basel in the days before Radio X, why Adrian sings in English,  and  what it means to reach across the Röstigraben.

Concert review by Diana Stuart and Maria Silkey

If you turned the clock back 21 years, you would of found me in a queue in front of Wembly Stadium at 9am, preparing for the moment when the doors would open, and myself and thousands like me, would dash across the sacred turf to get ourselves in prime position to see Simple Minds.  A long wait but well worth it.  It was the era when Simple Minds could easily play sell out stadia, on that occassion the audience was 60,000.  They'd had glowing critical acclaim for Street-Fighting Years and it seemed they could do no wrong.  Just listening to those first few bars of Waterfront still makes me feel like jumping up and down, and Alive and Kicking brings back so many memories and occasional goosebumps.  It is easy to forget how big Simple Minds were back then, just as popular as U2, with huge tunes that got the crowd going.

Much has changed since those days and, unlike U2, Simple Minds failed to make changes to their sound that kept them in the charts. Their latest album Graffiti Soul has attracted middling to reasonable reviews with an indication that Simple Minds are back to producing music that their long-term fans might consider a return to form.
 
It was therefore with some curiosity that I waited to hear Maria's review of their recent live performance.  Jim Kerr is a marvellous frontman used to rocking large crowds, was he able to do the same with our sometime staid Swiss audiences?  The answer in this case was 10 out of 10 for effort, but there was not enough of the old love there for him to get the  whole crowd going.  Over to you Maria:

Thanks Di, I think it was a great concert for their long-time fans - while they did play some of their new material the majority of the show was a nod to the past with a lot of the old favorites being played. The set included Alive and Kicking, Belfast Child and Ghostdancing, all classics - but as an American I have to admit, the only song I immediately recognized was Don't Forget About Me.  Jim Kerr did get some of the crowd up on its feet from Waterfront forward, but he couldn't get as much of a response as the front band, The Lovebugs.

This was the second time around for the Lovebugs at the AVO session. They were better cast with Simple Minds this year than as  2004's lead-in for the Sugababies. It was clear the Lovebugs were on home turf that night, with hits such as the 21st Century Man, Under My Skin, and Music Makes My World Go Round.  I knew something was up as all the waitstaff poured into the back of the auditorium just as the doors were closing for the concert. They didn't wait long to get dancing with the crowd already pushing at the front of the stage.