Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Venue: Hala Tivoli, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Concert date: 23.06.2009
Attendance: 0
Ticket price: 40, 50 €
Simply Red and their charismatic frontman Mick Hucknall are currently touring stages across Europe, and the road has brought the band to Slovenia too. You could feel in advance that this show would be something totally different from their last one, because this is actually the band’s farewell tour. Over their career they’ve played countless gigs, sold more than 50 million albums, picked up a ton of music awards and topped the charts all over the world. Simply red have been on the music scene for 25 years, and Mick Hunckall (singer, songwriter and co-producer of the band) felt the urge to head in a new direction and explore music in a different way. So he recently broke up the band, which has undoubtedly left its mark on the history of popular music, and last year put out a solo album, Tribute to Bobby, marked by a somewhat rawer sound with hints of 1950s rock ‘n’ roll.
Unlike at their previous Ljubljana show, the Brits didn’t disappoint this time. The effortless ease with which they won over the crowd is largely a reflection of the experience the band has piled up over decades of playing live. They opened the show with It’s Only love and A new flame from the album of the same name, released two decades ago, then rolled on through hits like Thrill me, Holding back the years, For your babies, The right thing and Sunrise in Fairground. Then the band left the stage and, as expected, came back for an encore to loud cheers from the crowd. They played a few more songs and finally treated us to the unmissable If You Don’t Know Me By Now. With that hit playing, Hala Tivoli briefly turned into a school dance, with couples swaying to the music and gazing lovingly at each other while singing along to the lyrics of this superb ballad. Of course, the crowd was mostly the older generation, who left Hala Tivoli after the show a little worn out but visibly happy. Simply red said goodbye to the Ljubljana crowd with dignity and in grand style, just as a great band should.
Photo: Miro Majcen
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