DOUBLE SCOTTISH BILL… SIMPLE MINDS & TEXAS
CLOSE TK. MAXX PRESENTS… LYTHAM FESTIVAL 2025.

★★★★★ (5/5)

**SIMPLE MINDS PERFORMING AT TK. MAXX PRESENTS… LYTHAM FESTIAL 2025**
**PHOTOCREDIT: TREV EALES**

The closing day of this year’s Lytham Festival brings great performances and a truly celebratory atmosphere. First though, there’s a celebration of a different form. The Alarm were due to perform here today but frontman Mike Peters finally lost his decades long battle with cancer and passed away in April. Mike’s wife Jules takes to the stage to deliver a moving tribute to her late husband. Their son Evan follows her, performing a short set in memory of his dad. It’s a poignant opening that receives the warm, dignified response it deserves.

Next up are Cast, fresh from supporting Oasis in Cardiff the previous night. John Power, adorned in bucket hat as it’s, “a bad hair day,” entertains with his usual Scouse sardonic wit. Of course, their evergreen songs can’t help but impress. They rattle through Sandstorm, Finetime, and slow things for Walkaway which brings the first audience singalong of the night. There are also tracks from recent album Love Is The Call with the eponymous title track being particularly impressive. Almost inevitably, they close with Alright. Cue mass signing, and arms in the air celebrations.

Tonight’s party has begun. It’s a party where there’s no stopping! There are none of the typical muffled change over sounds pouring through the PA tonight. Instead we have veteran DJ and record producer Pete Waterman compering between acts. Playing an almighty selection of bangers from the late 1970’s to the 90’s we’re urged to clap, sing, and dance the night away. And it works!

I’ve seen Texas a few times across the years. As part of festival bills or supporting bigger acts, they’ve always played sets of an hour or less; a band with a few good songs who don’t really excite. Tonight I’ve been converted. Their ninety minute performance sheds new light and brings out the best in front woman Sharleen Spiteri.

Walking on stage Sharleen seems genuinely taken aback by the size of the audience. Tonight’s 25,000 capacity crowd sold out quicker than other Lytham headliners this weekend, Stevie Wonder and Justin Timberlake. That tells you something.

They begin by going back to their roots with their blues inflected debut single, I Don’t Want a Lover, before hitting their stride with the more poppy, uplifting Halo. From here on things get more soulful with In Our Lifetime, before covering the master of the genre – Al Green’s, Tired of Being Alone.

A hiccup in proceedings when someone falls ill in the crowd brings out Sharleen the raconteur. Not for the last time this evening her capacity to irreverently mock the un-afflicted shines through; the butt of this tale being her daughter’s recent virginal visit to Glastonbury. According to Sharleen, it proved a once in a lifetime experience of festival camping!

As the hits flow, Summer Sun and When We Are Together bring more uplifting pop but it’s the performance during Black Eyed Boy, so indebted to late 1960’s pop-soul, that really ignites the crowd. The response so far has been impressive but this takes things to another level. Yet Sharleen feigns dissatisfaction, mocking our apparent lack of enthusiasm.

Prefacing Say What You Want, we’re told it’s the last number unless we show more appreciation. Every word of the chorus is sung back by the crowd but she still isn’t satisfied.

Beaming from ear to ear Sharleen bounds back onto the stage. Of course they’re back for more. Everyday Now, dominated by rhythm and guitar takes another trip back to their roots. Final number, Elvis’ Suspicious Minds has become something of an institution for Texas and tonight’s performance is truly epic, not just for the band’s delivery, but for the huge audience response.

Texas have laid down a marker, whatever follows needs to be special if it isn’t to be eclipsed.

Some bands have just got it live! Simple Minds are one of those bands.

The opening bars of Waterfront bring instant recognition, instant euphoria; hands in the air, roars of approval. And so it continues for the next hour and three quarters. Glittering Prize and Oh Jungleland follow in quick succession, maintaining the momentum. But really they’re just getting started as classics from their 1980’s and 90’s catalogue hit time after time.

This is no tired run through of past glories. There’s real chemistry on stage, particularly between founder members Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill. The latter’s guitar breaks are short, succinct, but every note seems to count, while Jim Kerr seems simply ageless. For over 100 minutes he’s a study in perpetual motion and energy, covering every inch of the Lytham stage. Urging us on, applauding, falling to his knees to sing. And that voice; it’s still every bit as strong it was almost half a century ago. He pauses briefly only once, nostalgically recalling childhood holidays in Blackpool with parents and childhood friend Charlie.

There are impressive renditions of New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84), and Ghost Dancing, while during Theme for Great Cities, Kerr takes a break and Cherisse Osei delivers one of the most powerful drum solos I’ve witnessed for years. Really though, she’s just part of a machine where every part excels. What makes Simple Minds such a great live act isn’t just the songs, it’s the musicianship of the band and their on stage empathy.

Promised You a Miracle finds them sounding at their most “80’s” with the crowd singing and dancing their way through it. Co-vocalist Sarah Brown steps forward as the pace slows a little for All The Things She Said. See The lights begins mellow and restrained but it’s one of those tracks that just builds and builds with Burchill letting rip on Guitar.

Some riffs bring immediate recognition. Don’t You (Forget About Me) is one such. Euphoria’s been simmering throughout. Now it erupts, the crowd, hands held skyward, singing back every word of the chorus. I’m far from religious but this feels like something spiritual, beyond mere music. What a way to close a set!

But of course they’re back for more.

Book of Brilliant Things brings a soulful, uplifting, powerhouse performance from Sarah Brown as the song builds from quiet beginnings toward an inevitable crescendo. Three nights ago I witnessed a largely soulless performance by a supposed icon of soul, Stevie Wonder. He could learn a few things from Sarah and Sharleen Spiteri!

Forty seven years on from their transformation from punk wannabees into their Bowie inspired conception as Simple Minds, there’s only one way to finish. Alive And Kicking exemplifies everything that’s great about a Simple Minds gig. It’s joyful, and uplifting; and thousands of people are singing and dancing all around Lytham Green. Above all, after all these decades, it’s a finale proving that Simple Minds are very much, “Alive and Kicking.”