Today, BMG releases Simple Minds’ new live album, Live in The City of Diamonds, ahead of the band’s biggest North American tour in four decades. The album is available now in a variety of formats, including a 2 x CD Media Book featuring 24 tracks and a 24-page book including exclusive photos and tour notes written by Jim Kerr, Double Black Vinyl with 18 tracks, housed in a gatefold sleeve with a hi hi-spec finish, and Specialist Retail Exclusive Vinyl that is Double clear/glitter vinyl housed in gatefold sleeve with hi-spec finish.
One of the greatest live bands of their generation, from their roots as a nascent post-punk art rock band, through their arena and stadium straddling days in the 1980s and ‘90s, and up to the present day, Simple Minds have always prided themselves on their live reputation, having last year played to approximately one million people around the globe.
Live in The City of Diamonds completes the triptych of the Live in The City series, dating back to 1987, and captures the visceral excitement of a Simple Minds concert. Recorded at a sold-out Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome on April 6, 2024, to an audience of 17,000 people, the band play a perfect mixture of songs from throughout their dynamic career.
The album features early pioneering tracks such as “Love Song,” “Sons and Fascination” and “Sweat in Bullet,” songs from their era-defining album New Gold Dream, including their first Top 20 UK single “Promised You a Miracle,” the tribute to their hometown of Glasgow and live set opener, “Waterfront,” 1985’s international hit “Don’t You Forget About Me” and songs from the multi-platinum album Once Upon A Time (both celebrating their 40th anniversaries this year), 1989’s number one single “Belfast Child,” and “See The Lights,” a fan favorite from 1991’s Real Life.
Live in The City of Diamonds is the perfect summation of Simple Minds’ current live prowess and the ever-evolving sound of a remarkable band, which features the extraordinary talents of lifelong members and friends Jim Kerr (vocals) and Charlie Burchill (lead guitars), with Gordy Goudie (rhythm guitar), Ged Grimes (bass), Cherisse Osei (drums), Erik Ljungggren (keyboards) and Sarah Brown (vocals).
LIVE IN THE CITY OF DIAMONDS OUT TODAY
Tracklists:
CD Media book:
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
Vinyl:
Side A:
1. Waterfront
2. Love Song
3. Sons And Fascination
4. Sweat In Bullet
5. This Fear Of Gods
Side B:
1. Let There Be Love
2. She’s A River
3. Once Upon A Time
4. Glittering Prize
5. New Gold Dream
Side C:
1. Promised You A Miracle
2. Belfast Child
3. Someone Somewhere (In Summertime)
4. See The Lights
Side D:
1. Book Of Brilliant Things
2. Don’t You (Forget About Me)
3. Alive And Kicking
4. Sanctify Yourself
SIMPLE MINDS – NORTH AMERICAN TOUR 2025
MAY
16 – Ridgefield, WA – Cascades Amphitheater
17 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena
20 – Concord, CA – Toyota Pavilion at Concord
22 – Inglewood, CA – Kia Forum
23 – Greater Palm Springs, CA – Acrisure Arena
24 – Chula Vista, CA – North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre
25 – Phoenix, AZ – Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre
27 – Denver, CO – Ball Arena
30 – Austin, TX – Moody Center
31 – Woodlands, TX – Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
JUNE
1 – Irving, TX – The Pavillion at Toyota Music Factory
4 – Rogers, AR – The Walmart AMP
5 – Maryland Heights, MO – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
7 – Atlanta, GA – Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park
10 – Columbia, MD – Merriweather Post Pavilion
11 – Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center
13 – Wantagh, NY – Northwell at Jones Beach Theater
14 – Philadelphia, PA – The Mann Center
15 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center
17 – Montreal, QC – Centre Bell
18 – Toronto, ON – Budweiser Stage
20 – Chicago, IL – Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
21 – Clarkston, MI – Pine Knob Music Theatre
22 – Noblesville, IN – Ruoff Music Center
For complete details and ticket availability, please visit www.simpleminds.com/tour. The tour will also offer a variety of different VIP packages and experiences for fans to take their concert experience to the next level. Packages vary but include premium tickets, behind-the-scenes tour, group photo in front of the stage, exclusive VIP merch item & more. VIP package contents vary based on the offer selected. For more information, visit vipnation.com.
Inimitable musical pioneers for nearly half a century, Simple Minds are among the most successful UK bands of all time, having achieved more than 1B global streams on Spotify alone (with over 8.3M monthly listeners on Spotify alone) and total worldwide sales in excess of 60M, including six #1 albums in the UK and chart-topping releases in countless other territories including Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Australia, and New Zealand.
Coalescing around childhood friends Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill, Simple Minds emerged in 1978 with an immediately distinctive sound simultaneously rooted in punk, art-rock, and the electronic avant-garde. Over the next four decades, the band has pushed their open-armed approach to fashion a broad array of stylistic varieties – spanning pop, funk, gospel, soul, dance music, and more – into their own world-straddling brand of stadium-sized rock. Their continually evolving body of work is highlighted by such landmark LPs as 1982’s New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84), 1984’s Sparkle In The Rain, 1985’s Once Upon A Time, and 1989’s Street Fighting Years, along with a stunning canon of iconic global hit singles spanning “Love Song,” “Someone Somewhere (In Summertime),” “Glittering Prize,” “Promised You A Miracle,” “Up On The Catwalk,” “Speed Your Love To Me,” “Waterfront,” “Belfast Child,” and of course the timeless teen anthem, 1985’s US #1 classic, “Don’t You (Forget About Me),” the latter of course famously featured in the classic John Hughes film, The Breakfast Club.
Named as the world’s “Best Live Band” by Q Magazine in 1991, Simple Minds have long commanded the stages of sold-out arenas and stadiums around the planet. Their world-class credentials have been burnished in recent years by an array of equally remarkable accomplishments – from acclaimed new albums (including 2018’s Walk Between Worlds and 2022’s Direction of the Heart, both of which had top 5 chart debuts in the UK), best-selling live albums, career retrospectives, and epic world tours to accolades and honors like a 2014 Q Inspiration Award (presented by avowed fan Manic Street Preachers’ James Dean Bradfield) to a prestigious Ivor Novello Award for “Outstanding Song Collection” – all of which serve as timely reminders to a new generation of Simple Minds’ ongoing appeal as well a springboard for their next burst of creativity. Now as ever, Simple Minds remain a band touched by powerful magic, continually willing to experiment while remaining true to their original instincts.
“The truth is we never fully wound down,’ says Charlie Burchill. “There have been lots of different incarnations of Simple Minds, but we’ve always kept our identity. A legacy can be a burden if you allow it to be. For us, it’s been empowering.”
“We’ve been on one hell of a journey,” says Kerr. “I’m grateful for the career we’ve had, but I’m mad enough to think we can still hit new levels. This is what we do – write, record and play live. One of the things I’m most proud of is that people say to me, what Simple Minds are you talking about? The avant-garde, the art-rock, the pop, the ambient, the instrumental group, the political, the folk, the stadium band? To play all those different styles but at the same time be quintessentially Simple Minds is an amazing thing.”
