15/08/2026
That was a Great day of Music:
PHOENIX PARK, DUBLIN, IRELAND ...43 YEARS TODAY.
Graeme Thomson writes: In May 2020, in a series of public thank-you notes collectively titled 60 Songs that Saved My Life, Bono wrote that the title track to Simple Minds’ 1982 album New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) “would prove germane to U2’s evolution from a rock band into something much more ecstatic. Without the album, I don’t believe there would have been an Unforgettable Fire or a Joshua Tree.”
When it was finally released in October 1984, The Unforgettable Fire would explicitly reference the dreamy, ambient heat haze of New Gold Dream. Even Simple Minds guitarist Charlie Burchill, generally dismissive of musical comparisons between the two bands, acknowledged the similarity. “When they did The Unforgettable Fire, [it] felt a bit like heading into New Gold Dream territory,” Burchill said when I interviewed him for 'Themes for Great Cities' - a biography of Simple Minds.
The initial relationship between the groups had dated to late 1980. Simple Minds were touring their extraordinary third album, Empires and Dance, U2 their debut, Boy. Meeting at a radio station in Manchester, I loved them as guys instantly,” says Burchill. “They were charming. We became really good friends.”
A symbolic tryst occurred later on August 14th, 1983, at U2's homecoming show at Phoenix Park. Each band had looked to the other and saw something of value and integrity. Over the summer of 1983 their paths crossed previously at European festivals. “We got a chance to watch them, and they got a chance to watch us,” says former Simple Minds bassist Derek Forbes. “We’d obviously had an influence on them and they had an influence on us as well. It was magical.”
It was at that homecoming show at Dublin’s Phoenix Park, Simple Minds famously debuted their set with 'Waterfront', written just 48 hours earlier and now road-tested for the first time in front of 15,000 people.
“Re Waterfront, it was a ballsy decision!” says Jim Kerr. “I thought, rather than having an intro tape, why don’t we make this the intro? That was how confident we were getting by that point. It was all sheer belief.”
When he had heard Simple Minds play this throbbing, half-formed piece played (at the previous day's) soundcheck at Phoenix Park, Bono caught the significance immediately.
“It blew him away,” says Burchill. “The following night we opened our Simple Minds set with Waterfront - it went down a storm." And a path to greater glory in the second half of the decade was being paved.
Edited from 'Themes for Great Cities: A New History of Simple Minds' by Graeme Thomson is published by Constable.
