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Yorkshire Times
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Graham Clark
Music Features Writer
@Maxximum23Clark
4:00 PM 14th August 2016
arts

Simply Red At Scarborough Open Air Theatre

 
Simply Red
Simply Red
Halifax born singer and pianist AJ Brown has supported many big name artists over the last year so he was a natural to open up for Simply Red in Scarborough. His soulful songs remind me of a mix of Jamie Cullum and John Legend. Why he has not had chart success yet evades me but it is only a matter of time. A short yet impressionable set from a name to look out for.

A J Brown
A J Brown


Ben Montague has recently had a Record of the Week on Radio 2. A confident performer he has already appeared in Scarborough at the Open Air Theatre supporting Wet Wet Wet a few weeks ago. "I've been counting down the days to this gig" he offers. With tracks such as Runaway and The Truth the support slot on the tour will raise his profile.

Ben Montague
Ben Montague


Celebrating 31 years of Simply Red, Mick Hucknall opened up the gig with an acoustic version of Holding Back the Years. It's an effective opening, though if you saw the band on their tour last autumn you will remember this from then. For those who have followed the band since they started, your memory will serve you right if you recall they did this back on tour in the mid 80's.

Simply Red
Simply Red


The lake that sits between the stage and the audience takes a bit of getting used to, even Hucknall notices this "you are so far away, yet so close" he observes. The first few numbers are downbeat tracks such as Say You Love Me, For Your Babies and Say You Love Me.

It's not until the faster tracks such as A New Flame and Its Only Love that things really take off. Simply Red these days is a multi national outfit though the keyboard player is from Yorkshire!

Apart from that mention of Yorkshire Hucknall never says that he is in Scarborough, though he smoothly describes the audience as "beautiful people" as he pans the crowd with his phone to take a video of the 6,000 sold out audience.

The set list is basically a greatest hits set covering the length of the band's career.

Mick Hucknall of Simply Red
Mick Hucknall of Simply Red


Wrapping the night up with Fairground and encores of Money's Too Tight to Mention and If You Don't Know Me By Now, it had been a brilliant gig from one of the UK's top selling acts of the last 30 years.

With his distinctive and soulful voice still as strong as ever it looks like the band have many more years of success to come.

photos: Cuffe and Taylor