Going by the amount of traffic around Lytham I could tell this was going to be a busy one and as the festival organisers had switched things around in the afternoon as bad weather was forecast for later on in the evening with what happened on Friday where the weather cancelled the performances it was somewhat understandable, the location of the site on the shoreline does leave it somewhat open to the elements.
With this I unfortunately missed the tribute to Mike Peters and The Alarm, only managing to listen to 68 Guns as I headed towards the opposite side of the site from the box office for my entry, which does seem a rather bizarre way of doing things as us press have to enter via the VIP entrance which I can assure you is absolutely no different to the other gates and wait times were pretty much the same at my time of entry.
Thankfully the horrendous weather at the beginning of the weekend has disappeared bar a bit of a breeze and it was glorious sunshine to the start of the evening as Cast took to the stage after 2 nights in Cardiff opening for Oasis and and they didn’t waste time getting the crowd onboard as they kicked off the proceedings with Sandstorm only to follow up with another banger, Fine Time. Love Is The Call off last year’s album and John confirmed there’s a new album incoming next year, when you’ve got songs like Fly, Far Away, Get Up, Walkaway and Alright which were all present and correct in the set in your arsenal it’s going to have to stand tall to match those Indie anthems.
Unfortunately, in the line up change for the day Pete Waterman was “entertaining” between bands and he was back to MC’ing along with some shocking Trump like dad dancing and serving up a massive plate of cheese both musically and in his comments, I knew not bringing my earphones was a mistake…
Texas
The last time I almost saw Texas was just over a decade ago at Glastonbury, we made our way up to the acoustic tent only to find they had cancelled on the day owing to Sharleen developing some sickness so fingers were crossed this time that they made it this time.
Opening with the unmistakable slide guitar of I Don’t Want A Lover, Sharleen entered the stage after the rest of the band carrying the brightest lime green coloured guitar I’ve ever seen that clashed badly with a red jacket (which was soon discarded to reveal the customary black Tee and Trousers we all know and love).It was clear she was going to be in good form as the vocals were perfect in the opener and the banter with the crowd clearly set to high from the off, telling a screamer in the crowd how loud she was in the usual colourful Glasgow language, the word “Fucking” gets used a lot, I know having spent some time in the city and surrounding areas…
Halo, Hi and In Our lifetime were a reminder of the quality of the material the band have produced over their career before Sharleen headed to the piano for a cover of Tired Of Being Alone, joined on stage with a brass section. Recent release, Keep On Talking was stopped as Sharleen noticed an incident in the crowd as someone was taken ill and the stewards and medics rushed to her attention.
During the break Sharleen talked about her home life and Glasto saying after her daughters 1st time she couldn’t understand why people said it was so difficult and telling her that that’s because she was backstage with all the nice areas, all the bands and the lovely food and this time after going with a friend camping she had just returned a broken girl saying I don’t think I’m cut out for camping.
“No shit you spoilt fucking brat” was Sharleens responce to that… Once Keep was restarted and done with, she tempted fate with the weather with Summer Son – a risky move as by this point the sun was struggling to get through the increasing clouds. Let’s Work It Out with that unmistakable Nile Rogers guitar riffing got a hint of orange juice as Sharleen slipped in a bit of Rip It Up into the mix. When We Are Together with its Northern Soul vibe went down a treat before the band stripped it back with an acoustic version of In Demand when afterwards Sharleen was thanking all the support the crowd had given them over the years and she could see many familiar faces after almost 40 years of doing this.
Mr Haze started the build up towards the end followed by Black Eyed Boy but it was Say What You want that ended the set with a bang and had the crowd moving. For the encore we were treated to Everyday Now, the song where it all started in 1989 then Inner Smile showed everyone with an outstanding vocal performance that she’s lost none of her skills over the years and the night was wrapped up with another cover, a song that Sharleen said “if you don’t get it in the 1st 2 bars then just leave, seriously just leave”, Elvis’s glorious Suspicious Minds.
Simple Minds
My history with Simple Minds as been a long one that started with the very 1st time I heard Alive And Kicking when it was first released many many moons ago, at that time that song blew my mind and I would listen to it over and over again on my Sony Walkman never growing tired of it, indeed I actually wore out my Live In The City Of Light tapes, that was my level of obsession of the band at the time and nearly 40 years later that still hasn’t changed.
The fortunes of the band however is a reminder of how fickle the music industry is, from playing massive stadiums they sort of just fell into obscurity around the turn of the century where they would struggle to sell out even academy sized venues but now they’re very much back on the assent as Jim Kerr has learned that he can’t hit the notes he once could, it might just be him and Charlie Buckle remaining from the original band but both were the driving force to begin with.
It’s a bit of an in joke amongst friends about how many times Jim “wants to see those hands” and true to form before the 1st word is sang the phrase is rolled out as the pulsing beat of Waterfront bounces off the walls of the houses usually facing the seafront back into the arena and it’s a sign of things to come as the hits were unrelentless in getting fired at us,
Love Song, Glittering Prize, Jungleland, Let there be love and New Gold Dream were like an assault on your senses and they weren’t stopping as it continued with I Wish You Were Here, Someone, Somewhere In Summertime and Ghost Dancing (where the 3rd request for hands preceded it) before we got a chance to catch our collective breaths but that was only a short respite as it was a run out for the not often heard live instrumental, Theme For Great Cities which was then followed by drummer Cherisse giving us a lesson in the art of drumming with a powerful performance that didn’t feel self indulgent for a drum solo for once.
Jim etc returned to the stage (is it just me but I’ve always wondered why the hardest working musician, the drummer is always the one who’s generally on stage the longest) for Promised You A Miracle, it’s not quite sounding as it originally did back in the day, lacking its original impact and while its not like the version that they redid a few years ago with KT Tunstall there’s echoes of that version in it these days.
Thankfully that isn’t the case with what followed, All The Things She Said still has the authority the original had as much as See The Lights maintains a similar air of effortless coolness. Bizarrely, and this is an absolute 1st for me at a Simple Minds gig – just as the band were about to finish off the main set with what could have only really have been THAT one song and that’s the song they didn’t want to record originally as they didn’t write it, Don’t You (Forget About Me) which launched the band into the stratosphere off the back of the success of the movie The Breakfast Club.
It kicks off in the crowd around me with the most, surreal moment I’ve seen in a long time as a pair of pensioners who were strangely perturbed by a lad probably in his late 20’s, early 30’s who I’m pretty certain is probably on the spectrum and after a bit of verbal to and throw the old boy goes for him to which I immediately grab him and pull him back but by that time several others had got involved too which security were onto in a flash.
The situation calmed down and everyone remained in their places, well until the point of the many la la la’s going along to the song and Jim talking about the crowd saying this is how it should be, piece and unity through music when we all turned round to each other and burst out laughing – the old couple took that as their cue to leave as did the band from the stage at the end of the song.
Encore
It was a rather short one as the organisers were keen to get everyone away, the mighty
Book of Brilliant Things who backing singer Sarah Brown takes over to perform these days and makes the song her own and as a request to the stage manager to do one more song got granted, Alive And Kicking arrived to my delight and annoyance, I had planned to make my exit to try and beat the rush but how could I? This was my song and I was in the ideal place to watch and sing along, those 5 mins ended up costing me about 45 minutes stuck in the car park but it was worth every single minute!
So that was another long weekend of events at Lytham done for another year, not without its problems, the weather shut down the Friday Night and the sheer number of people on the Sunday was the biggest I’ve seen, seemed way more that last year’s Sunday.
To witness both a boyhood (well almost) crush who after her and her bands performance is now a manhood crush (even though I found someone female who’s rapidly approaching 60 still grabbing her crotch a tad disturbing) and another band who I’ve seen so many times over the past 30 years (yes it was a long time being a fan before I finally saw them live) revitalised and as strong as they have been for several years, basically a double headline bill and get Cast thrown in for good measure made me forget about how terrible Pete Waterman was!
I’ve met the guy back in the day backstage where I worked during the filming of a Hitman and Her and he was a genuine sound guy but this new idea is bloody awful and I wasn’t alone in my thoughts going by the cheer he got when he said the next song is my last before Simple Minds came on, for the love of god Lytham – please don’t invite him back! The next thing that shocked me is the ticket price for the night.
Now, as press we don’t pay for entry but I found out that the “VIP entry” with The Garden paddock to watch the show was just shy of £200 once fees were added, that is absolutely insane but that said, the place was rammed so folk are willing to pay for it but for how long? Many big ticket entries have been slashing prices lately to get folk through the gates this year, these prices are pricing music fans out of gigs and it really can’t continue!
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