Simple Minds: Everything is Possible

When Simple Minds takes the stage tomorrow night at Jones Beach, it will mark 40 years to the month from the day the band started recording their album, “Once Upon a Time” in New York City. It made perfect sense for founding members, Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill, to discuss a bit about the band’s early days during a Q&A at the IFC earlier tonight ahead of a screening of the documentary, “Simple Minds: Everything is Possible”. Kerr and Burchill’s friendship far outdates those 40 years and they spent much of the Q&A discussing their long friendship and how that friendship impacted the trajectory of the band. 

Many eighties bands have struggled to find an audience in the decades that have ensued, but Simple Minds continues to have success because, like U2 and Tears for Fears, they continue to make amazing music that captures humanity at its core. I’ve often felt that, even though they had great success in the eighties, they should have been bigger, more present in the States. Maybe it was their success with “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” that made people ignore their core message, that we, as a species, should do more to promote the pursuit of happiness of all people, not just those who come from places of privilege. 

“Simple Minds: Everything is Possible” opens in US theaters tomorrow and you can catch the band tomorrow night at Jones Beach Theater on Long Island.