One of the most successful bands of their generation; Simple Minds will take a break from the preparations of their new album to celebrate their 30th Anniversary with a series of six rare UK concerts during November and December. The concerts celebrates 30 glorious years dating back to the first time Simple Minds played their very first concert on January 17th at the Satellite City Club in Glasgow, as the support act to Steel Pulse.

Simple Minds will perform for the first time the entirety of their multi-million selling 1982 album 'New Gold Dream' featuring the hits Promised You a Miracle, Glittering Prize, and Someone, Somewhere (In Summertime).

The second half of the concert will see the band perform some of their best known songs from their classic albums staring off with 'Life in a Day' (1979), 'Reel To Reel Cacophony' (1979), 'Empires & Dance' (1980), right up to their groundbreaking first album with Virgin, 'Sons & Fascination' (1980) featuring the hit Love Song.

The band will also highlight songs from the album 'Sparkle in the Rain' (1984) that includes the hits Waterfront and Up On The Catwalk, as well as the U.S. No.1 hit single Don't You (Forget About Me) (1985), plus the benchmark album 'Once Upon A Time' (1985) featuring the massive global anthem Alive and Kicking.

But that's not all. The band will also perform songs like Belfast Child from 1989's 'Street Fighting Years' right up to 2005's return-to-form album 'Black & White 050505' featuring the songs Home and Stranger.


Incredibly, Simple Minds have scored over twenty Top 20 hits in a career spanning nearly three decades. They have sold over 35 million records, had five number one albums, a No. 1 single in America - plus three American top ten singles and been Voted Q magazine's World's Best Live Act.


For those too young to remember Simple Minds the first time around the group are perhaps best known for their 1985 number one hit Don't You (Forget About Me) from the film The Breakfast Club, the classic 'Brat Pack' movie starring Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson and Molly Ringwald.

Scotland's Simple Minds evolved from a post-punk art rock band influenced by Roxy Music into a grand, epic-sounding pop band along the lines of U2. The band grew out of a Glasgow punk group called Johnny and the Self-Abusers, which featured guitarist Charlie Burchill and lead singer Jim Kerr. The inaugural 1978 lineup of Simple Minds featured a rhythm section of Tony Donald on bass and Brian McGee on drums, plus keyboardist Mick McNeil; Donald was soon replaced by Derek Forbes.

Their early albums leaped from one style to another, with Life in a Day consisting mostly of dense, arty pop songs; critical acclaim followed the darker, more experimental art rock of Reel to Real Cacophony and the Euro-disco of Empires and Dance.

The group began a transition to a more accessible pop style with the albums Sons and Fascination and Sister Feelings Call, originally issued together and subsequently split up. New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) became their first chart album in the US, and the tour-shy McGee quit owing to burgeoning popularity, eventually being replaced by Mel Gaynor. Following the Steve Lillywhite-produced Sparkle in the Rain, Jim Kerr married Pretenders lead singer Chrissie Hynde (the two groups toured together).
After Bryan Ferry rejected the opportunity to sing Don't You (Forget About Me), Simple Minds almost did so as well; Kerr was dissatisfied with the song's lyrics, which he regarded as formulaic. His change of heart gave Simple Minds their only American chart-topper, and the song later became an international hit as well; however, Kerr's feelings about the song remained ambivalent, and it did not appear on the follow-up album, Once Upon a Time. The album went gold and reached the US Top Ten. The next 10 years saw the group release a number of albums, all of which failed to match the dizzy heights of their earlier successes… until now


DEACON BLUE BIO:

If a band can claim squatters' rights, then Deacon Blue can take ownership of the charts. Their first album "Raintown" set the precedent, spending 77 weeks in the album chart, and with five top 5 UK albums (of which 2 were number 1) under their belts they have chalked up an impressive 4 years in the British album charts. Their seventeen top 40 singles resided in the chart for more than 2 years. June 9th sees the band release their new DVD "Live", filmed during their sell-out 2007 European tour and featuring their biggest hits including Dignity, Real Gone Kid, Wages Day and Chocolate Girl.

Like many artists of quality, Deacon Blue's success did not come overnight. A commitment to live performance built a solid fan base, and despite the fact that the first release of Raintown was met with critical rather than commercial success, a re-release following extensive touring, meant the album spent 77 weeks on the UK chart. Raintown was the first of five top five albums, with Dignity the first of 18 top 40 singles. Six million album sales were the backbone of Deacon Blue's lasting success and now they remain one of the most popular touring bands, with tickets for live performances rarely available for long..

Deacon Blue may be serious about creating timeless songs, but they are never afraid to have fun with the live experience, challenging the strength of the world's concert arena floors for "bounce-ability".