SIMPLE Minds singer Jim Kerr remembered his humble roots as hundreds of fans greeted the band at the South of England showground at Ardingly.

The huge countryside arena usually stages farming events and horse riding but on Saturday hosted an outdoor gig that also included The Pretenders and singer songwriter KT Tunstall.

Kerr, playing with Simple Minds co-founder and Glasgow childhood friend Charlie Burchill, quipped to the applauding crowd in his broad accent: “Show jumping, eh?

“We didn’t have too much of that on the council scheme (estate) where Charlie and I grew up.”

The comment brought laughter from the audience.

The pacey Grandslam 2018 tour show gave the enthusiastic crowd plenty of chance to dance and sing as the showground’s large main ring was transformed into an outdoor music arena.

Some fans took along a picnic and dined in the car parks in the early evening sunshine on a day that marked the start of autumn.

Simple Minds plugged songs from their well-received new album Walk Between Worlds.

But the biggest cheers of the evening came inevitably for their string of older hits, with the crowd singing along with numbers like Don’t You Forget About Me.

The show was the first time Simple Minds and The Pretenders had appeared at the same gig since the Live Aid concert in 1985 and their contrasting styles provided a good mix of rock and melodic songs.

Pretenders fans lapped up the memorable hits such as I’ll Stand by You and Don’t Get Me Wrong.