Last Friday we got a surprise notice from the Simple Minds mothership that…stop the presses… a new Simple Minds live album was being prepped for release in April. Gloryoski! Simple Minds sure have a lot of live albums. Maybe not as many as Gary Numan, but certainly a lot! I count eleven, if I fudge the numbers and blend all of those single show “instant bootlegs” from certain tours into one release. I don’t have all of these, but I pick and choose the ones that make sense for me.

Because I love live albums, and when this group is on their game, there are none better on a stage. Where their live albums live or die for me, is down to the setlists that comprise them. For example, their first official live album was “Live In The City Of Light. ” An album notorious for containing only a single track that was an absolutely live performance. But the era that they picked to make their live debut was basically the tour I’ve been trying to forget for 40 years! My copy of this CD is now on the chopping block in my massive collection sell-off cull that will happen one [soon, I hope].

My favorite Simple Minds live recording are the bootlegs I’ve managed to get from the ’80-’84 era. Actually live recordings where the band were really going to exciting realms onstage at a time when they had zero middling to poor material in their songbook. Following those, I have to say that the ultimate Simple Minds live album was the “5×5 Live” set that the band recorded during their “why-on-earth-did-I-not-attend-this” amazing 5×5 tour from 2012 where only their first five [okay…six] albums comprised the material the played!

Then the “Live In The City Of Angels” deluxe 4xCD set from 2019 was another superb Los Angeles show from the “Walk Between Worlds” tour with the deluxe edition being mandatory for the inclusion of soundcheck recordings on two bonus CDs of every song they rehearsed for the entire tour! With many cuts given excellent new arrangements! What they did with “I Travel,” my favorite of their songs, was just astonishing.

And just two years ago their “New Gold Dream [81, 82, 83. 84] Live From Paisley Abbey” was a great run through their crucial album that made them stars. Now the notion was that to complete the “Live in the City of…” thread into an actual trilogy, the band had recorded their set at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam last year on April 6th. This time it being “Live In The City Of Diamonds.” At this juncture I can legitimately ask: Does the world need one more Simple Minds live album?

Simple Minds: Live In the City Of Diamonds – UK – 2xCD [2025]

CD1

1. Waterfront
2. Love Song
3. Sons And Fascination
4. Sweat In Bullet
5. This Fear Of Gods
6. Let There Be Love
7. She’s A River
8. Once Upon A Time
9. Glittering Prize
10. New Gold Dream
11. Promised You A Miracle
12. Belfast Child

CD2

1. Someone Somewhere (In Summertime)
2. See The Lights
3. Book Of Brilliant Things
4. Don’t You (Forget About Me)
5. Alive And Kicking
6. Sanctify Yourself
7. Vision Thing
8. The American
9. Solstice Kiss
10. Premonition
11. Hunter And The Hunted
12. Colours Fly And Catherine Wheel

Wow! If I were to see that show I would have been talking about it. Non-stop. It’s gratifying to see that they’re still pulling the awesome “This Fear Of Gods” out of their bag of tricks! I sort of felt that we got extremely lucky to see the band just a year after the 5×5 tour where they played it for the first time in decades. I’m here to tell you that it lost none of its incredible power for sitting neglected for that time. The balance of the rest of the main set is nearly flawless. To make this a perfect album I’d only swap out the egregious “Belfast Child” for …”I Travel” and I daresay I’d have a bulletproof Simple Minds live album. I won’t begrudge them their trilogy of solid gold mid-80s hits used to close their set no matter how tired I am of hearing them.

The only possible weakness of the set list is that the main live set from that night neglects all of the strong material that the band have managed to write and record past 1995! Fortunately, a pair of excellent modern tracks are in the six CD-only bonus tracks [in red] that were presumably from other shows or sound checks. No word yet on their provenance. And then we also got the powerful sauce that “The American” or especially “Premonition” brought to the table?!!

At this point I’m saying “how much?!” I can’t wait to hear this album. The only thing that could make it better would be a third disc cherry picking from the cream of “Neapolis,” “Cry,” “Black + White 050505,” “Graffiti Soul,” “Big Music,” and “Walk Between Worlds” albums. But maybe we’ll have to wait for the 5×6 or “Regeneration” tour in 2031 where they only play from the 1998-2018 albums! In the meantime, this will be here on April 25th in three physical formats. The 2xCD is in the Simple Minds webstore for a priced-to-move £16.99/€20.99/$21.99. All in a nice 24 page mediabook package. It’s the first time I’ll get to hear the band with Erik Ljungggren on keys, so count me in.

RECORD FORMATS

Simple Minds: Live In the City Of Diamonds – UK – 2x clear-glitter LP [2025]

1. Waterfront
2. Love Song
3. Sons And Fascination
4. Sweat In Bullet
5. This Fear Of Gods
6. Let There Be Love
7. She’s A River
8. Once Upon A Time
9. Glittering Prize
10. New Gold Dream
11. Promised You A Miracle
12. Belfast Child
13. Someone Somewhere (In Summertime)
14. See The Lights
15. Book Of Brilliant Things
16. Don’t You (Forget About Me)
17. Alive And Kicking
18. Sanctify Yourself

The fans of 12″ records will have two formats to choose from. There’s a black vinyl and clear with glitter 2x LP set. Each housed in a gatefold sleeve. The latter is only available in indie shops or the band’s webstore. But be prepared for some sonic defects on the glitter-infused wax! There’s no delicate way to put things.

• Black 2xLP – £32.99/€39.99/$41.99
• Clear vinyl w/glitter 2xLP – £37.99/€45.99/$47.99

The band’s webstore also contains granular bundles of everything. If you need it all, it can be yours at $100.99 for some decent savings. I’ve also looked around to see that our friends at Rough Trade US have the LPs for substantial discounts while they are selling the CD for a little more than the band’s store. Obviously, our mileage will vary. If you want the official store, then DJ hit that button! Join us later for a mingling of thoughts on the issue.

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