…2CD edition features 24 tracks.
In the spirit of 1987’s Live in the City of Light (Paris) and 2019’s Live in the City of Angels (LA), Live in the City of Diamonds finds Simple Minds in Amsterdam (rather than the actual city of diamonds, Antwerp) last April. It’s short on surprises beyond Jim Kerr namechecking Joseph Conrad on the oldest song, 1980’s ‘This Fear of Gods’, and there’s nothing from this century.
Yet for all the potential water-treading, cloudbusting singer Sarah Brown leavens the testosterone (“That’s rock’n’roll,” bellows Jim Kerr at the end of ‘She’s a River’, with a relish that may not have impressed his younger self), and it’s a stirring romp through most of the hits.
The songs still stand up, not least…