Simple Minds, one of the world’s premier stadium rock acts in the 1980s, will return to the Hunter to headline the Newcastle Supercars concert next month.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Scottish band, who played well reviewed concerts at Bimbadgen Estate in the vineyards early last year and in 2012, will perform at No.1 Sportsground on the night of Saturday, November 24.
Perth band Birds of Tokyo will be the support act.
The inaugural Newcastle 500 weekend last year included a Friday night performance inside the track by Australian songstress Delta Goodrem and a Saturday night concert featuring Cold Chisel which attracted an estimated 20,000 people.
This year organisers have reduced the off-track entertainment to one night and shifted it two kilometres to No.1 Sportsground after losing the use of the Market Street Lawn to house teams in the support race categories.
Those teams and their race garages will now occupy the area of Foreshore Park where last year’s concerts were held.
Supercars and Newcastle City Council hope the change of concert venue and the opening of the Market Street Lawn will help funnel more foot traffic past inner-city businesses, many of which missed out on any financial benefit from last year’s race.
Newcastle lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes told the Newcastle Herald on Thursday that the new venue presented an opportunity for businesses to benefit.
"Activating the city over the Newcastle 500 event weekend is a priority, and having the concert located at No.1 will promote dining and shopping in Cooks Hill and at Marketown,” she said.
Simple Minds formed in 1977 and reached a career high point with the 1985 hit Don’t You (Forget About Me). Their other notable singles include Alive and Kicking and Promised You A Miracle.
The band, which is often compared with U2, has continued to record and tour for more than four decades, though most of the original members left decades ago.
Frontman Jim Kerr and guitarist Charlie Burchill, both of whom are in their late 50s, remain from the original line-up.
A Supercars spokesman said the band’s Newcastle concert would be their only performance in Australia at the end of their Walk Between Worlds tour.
The tour has taken them across Europe and to Mexico, Canada and the United States.
They are playing 31 shows in six weeks in America before travelling to Australia in November.
Birds of Tokyo will take to the stage about 7pm in Newcastle and Simple Minds about 8.30pm before the concert wraps up at 10pm.
The concert is free for anyone with a same-day Supercars ticket.