Bootleg City: Simple Minds, 6/14/09

The budget cuts continue in Bootleg City. This week I had to lay off the village idiot.

It was a tough call. On the one hand, he’s provided countless hours of “It’s funny because it’s not me” entertainment. On the other hand, he’s a symbol of a more ignorant time in human history, when those with limited mental capacities were openly encouraged to humiliate themselves, only to be mocked by society for their efforts.

Luckily, Bootleg City’s village idiot took it in stride. “I’ll be honest with you — I’m relieved,” he said. “My last job, I was there too long. The first two years were pretty good, but then it started to get really hard, and my boss turned into a real jerk, and everybody started blaming me for everything. Here I just could be myself, but six months was a good run. Any longer and y’all would’ve started hating me, probably saying I was only here in the first place because somebody pulled some strings.”

I asked about his plans for the future. He said he might look into adjunct faculty positions at Yale. I thought he was making one last joke, but he was serious. All I could do was smile, pat him on the back, and say, “Good luck, George.”

This week’s fresher-than-usual bootleg is another gift from Matt Wardlaw of Addicted to Vinyl, but it didn’t come with a link to a PayPal account containing a $500 bribe. Budget crisis, Wardlaw! Helloooooooo! Don’t be such a moron– Wait … sorry … I take that back. I need to be more sensitive about words like “moron” and “idiot” and “Us Weekly reader.” In fact, we all do. But if you disagree, let the world know how you feel in the comments section below by ignoring ignorance and instead talking about Simple Minds, who performed at the 2009 Isle of Wight Festival on Sunday, June 14, in Seaclose Park in the town of Newport. The bootleg’s source is an FM broadcast, so the audio quality is excellent, as is the performance of Simple Minds, who released their 16th studio album, Graffiti Soul, in May.

Waterfront
I Travel
See the Lights
Stars Will Lead the Way
Rockets
Ghost Dancing
Gloria
Don’t You (Forget About Me)
Promised You a Miracle
Someone, Somewhere in Summertime
New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84)
Alive and Kicking

BONUS TRACK:
preshow interview with Jim Kerr

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