POP MUSIC REVIEW : Capacity Crowd Energizes Simple Minds’ Show

Simple Minds’ show at the Mayan Theatre on Monday, celebrating its comeback album “Good News From the Next World,” was marked not by songs the band played, but by one it did not: “Promised You a Miracle.”

Back in the mid-’80s, that song heralded the Scottish band as a potential member of the rock elite, just a rung below such fellow inspiring idealists as U2 and Peter Gabriel. But despite some notable artistic and commercial successes, that potential was left largely unfulfilled, and the band faded into the pack of ‘80s coulda-beens.

Monday’s show opened with a promising notion--a version of the Velvet Underground’s “White Light/White Heat.” But Kerr, joined by founding guitarist Charlie Burchill and three new sidemen, gave the number a too-mannered treatment that never ignited.

Most of the electricity Monday came from the nostalgia-fueled crowd, which responded most boisterously to such old hits as the 1984 No. 1 “Don’t You (Forget About Me).”

Jim Kerr remains a passionate performer, but unlike Bono, his vocal near-twin, he seems uncertain about how to direct and dramatize that passion.

Near the end of the show, the old sparkle emerged in “Sanctify Yourself” and “Alive and Kicking,” songs full of spiritual reach and creative ambition--reminders of past glories, but no miracles.