Late 80's: U2 and Simple Minds

Simple Minds came first for me, but U2 rapidly caught up with them. Both seemed to follow the same trajectory, moving into the stadium rock level of hype and scrutiny. in 1987, U2 released The Joshua Tree, while Simple Minds released "Live in the City of Light". In retrospect, U2's previous album "The Unforgettable Fire" was the high point for me, and when I got to see them at Wembley in 1987, I was comparing that concert unfavourably to the Springsteen one a couple of years ago. Of the two, Simple Minds were the band that came with me through the Wall. "Street Fighting Years" seemed like an anthem for the epic year that 1989 turned out to be.

But when we all poured through the Wall, Simple Minds seemed to fade from view, whereas, U2 seized the moment with "Achtung Baby". I really like the Paul Oakenfold mix of "Mysterious Ways", although that implies a familiarity with Paul Oakenfold and his music that I really did not have. There was a whole new genre of music that I was only vaguely aware of, and what I heard of, I didn't like. I was growing old...

1986: Bruce Hornsby. Who?

Annie and I had gone off the rails, suddenly, and big time. Our holiday was off, but I had the sense that I should get away as far as possible to clear my head. But where, on my own? Somewhere deep inside my memory banks I remembered that I loved trains, especially European trains, and that I was curious about the Europe beyond the Iron Curtain. Hungary at least looked safe, and I already felt confident about Yugoslavia. So that was it, a grand rail trip : Vienna-Budapest-Siofok-Hvar-home.

And just at that moment the radio started playing somebody I'd never heard of, someone who played a piano to sooth a raging soul, to conjure up sunny days. I didn't know anything about Bruce Hornsby, but The Way It Is was great, and I sought out the album, and was hooked. He came with me as I went through the Curtain. And he has stayed with me ever since. The single longest, most consistent musical love of my life; I had to wait 33 years to see him live, and when it finally happened it was another iconic night, in Berlin.

1986: Talk Talk at Hammersmith Odeon.

Talk Talk first came across as a New Romantic band, in the Duran Duran/Human League sector, and I liked them. The second album was far more sophisticated and graced the hedonistic holiday in Crete 84. And then in Spring 1986 came "The Colour of Spring", which was something else entirely, every track a rich work of art which stands the test of time today.
It was melancholy music, but life was anything but melancholy. Annie liked them too, so when we saw that they would play Hammersmith Odeon, we snapped up tickets.
It was possibly the best concert of my life. It starts low key, but they are playing perfectly. We are spellbound. They are playing out of their skins, all of them, including Mark Feltham who plays epic harmonica on "Living in Another World". Listen to us, the audience, after that one, the acclaim goes on and on. Talk Talk, Annie, and I, in perfect harmony. It felt like a very special night in my life. We booked a holiday in Lesbos after that.

Then it all exploded, Lesbos never happened, and I went somewhere else. But there's a postscript to that night, and this concert.

Deep in the future, in my new life, in our newly rented house in Smichov,  in a new millenium, I was browsing Amazon, and stopped dead in my tracks. A live CD of Talk Talk Hammersmith Odeon , May 1986. How could this be? How could I never had heard of this? But it had, inexplicably, only been released a year earlier. And there it was, a CD of one of the most iconic concerts of my life, a marker of a high point in my life, before a fall and a pivot to a new and wider world.