Frontier Touring are delighted to welcome seminal Scottish band Simple Minds back to New Zealand in December 2020 as part of their 40 Years Of Hits Tour performing an exclusive a day on the green show at Villa Maria Winery on Saturday 12 December 2020, after two indoor shows at Christchurch’s Horncastle Arena on Wednesday 9 December 2020, and Wellington’s TSB Arena on Friday 11 December 2020. They’ll be joined by special guests Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (OMD), who will be touring New Zealand for the first time in more than 30 years.
Tickets for the Auckland show will be available via a day on the green pre-sale at adayonthegreen.com.au/register/ for 24 hours from Thursday 14 November (12pm NZDT) and for all three shows via the Frontier Members Pre-Sale at frontiertouring.com/simpleminds for 24 hours from Thursday 14 November (12pm NZDT). Tickets for all shows will go on sale to the general public from Monday 18 November (12pm NZDT).
Kerr performs with the innate confidence of a frontman who knows he has a flotilla of showstoppers in reserve… The climax, inevitably, is the Atlantic-spanning hit ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’ but even after more than two hours, Simple Minds sound like they are just getting started: an impressively energised feat.
The Guardian
The band are touring in celebration of 40: The Best Of – 1979-2019, a brand new 40-song collection marking their 40th anniversary. The compilation features a cover of Scottish singer-songwriter King Creosote’s ‘For One Night Only’.
Simple Minds, who have sold more than 60 million albums, have been musical pioneers for 40 glittering years. Catching the mood of the post-punk era, when the angry sounds of 1977 were splintering into a thousand different shapes, they emerged with a style ingrained in the art-rock of David Bowie and the electronic dance of Donna Summer. They went on to become one of the great bands of their generation, deploying rousing choruses and booming atmospherics to provide a soundtrack that has endured.
It was the release of New Gold Dream (81–82–83–84) (NZ Platinum) that set Simple Minds alight in New Zealand. A string of awards and more unforgettable hits followed, including ‘Promised You A Miracle’, ‘Let There Be Love’, ‘Alive and Kicking’, ‘Sanctify Yourself’, ‘Belfast Child’ and the truly iconic ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’, recorded for the unforgettable John Hughes film The Breakfast Club.
They’ve since gone on to sell more than 60 million albums over the last four decades, taking their rightful place as one of the great bands of their generation. Riding the wave of the post-punk era and taking cues from art-rock and early dance music, they deployed rousing choruses and booming atmospherics to provide a soundtrack that endures around the world today.
Never ones to rest on their laurels, their shows only get better as time goes on:
“I’m grateful for the career we’ve had,” says Kerr, “but I’m mad enough to think we can still hit new levels.”
Joining Simple Minds at all shows are acclaimed UK avant-garde band Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (OMD). Also celebrating their 40th anniversary, they’ll bring hits like ‘If You Leave’, famous for soundtracking iconic teen film Pretty In Pink, anti-war song ‘Enola Gay’, and other classics like ‘Souvenir’, ‘Electricity’, and ‘So In Love’.
Revered as synth-pop pioneers, The Scotsman newspaper wrote: “If Kraftwerk were the Elvis Presley of synth-pop, then Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark were its Beatles”. Jim Kerr is one of their biggest fans. Jim bought OMD’s debut single, Electricity, in 1979 and loved both it and its B-side, ‘Almost’. “I played it nonstop,” Jim says. “I was downright jealous to be honest, and I still am when I hear those tunes.”
Don’t miss out on your chance to see a truly monumental 40th anniversary performance from one of the most consistently excellent bands Scotland has ever produced, Simple Minds.
SIMPLE MINDS
40 YEARS OF HITS TOUR
NEW ZEALAND
DECEMBER 2020
With special guests Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
Presented by Frontier Touring, Roundhouse Entertainment (Akl only), The Sound & The Breeze
A DAY ON THE GREEN PRE-SALE (AKL ONLY)
via adayonthegreen.com.au/register
Runs 24 hours from: Thursday 14 November (12pm NZDT)
or until pre-sale allocation exhausted
FRONTIER MEMBERS PRE-SALE (ALL SHOWS)
via frontiertouring.com/simpleminds
Runs 24 hours from: Thursday 14 November (12pm NZDT)
or until pre-sale allocation exhausted
GENERAL PUBLIC ON SALE
Begins: Monday 18 November (12pm NZDT)
Wednesday 9 December 2020
Horncastle Arena | Christchurch, NZ
All Ages
ticketek.co.nz | Ph: 0800 842 538
Friday 11 December 2020
TSB Arena | Wellington, NZ
All Ages
ticketmaster.co.nz | Ph: 0800 111 999
Saturday 12 December 2020
a day on the green | Villa Maria Winery | Auckland, NZ
All Ages
ticketmaster.co.nz | Ph: 0800 111 999