Scottish icons Simple Minds have unveiled details of their new studio album Sacrosanct and confirmed a major Nottingham date as part of their biggest arena tour to date.
The band will bring their newly announced Simple Minds V Tour 2027 to Motorpoint Arena Nottingham on May 10, with the East Midlands show sitting alongside arena stops in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Newcastle and their hometown of Glasgow.
The Nottingham date arrives as Simple Minds prepare to release their 21st studio album, Sacrosanct, on January 29, 2027 via BMG.
It marks the band’s first studio album since 2022’s Direction Of The Heart and follows a hugely successful period that has seen frontman Jim Kerr and guitarist Charlie Burchill release a celebrated career-spanning documentary, publish a memoir and play to more than 1.5 million fans worldwide during their recent global tour.
According to the band, the energy of those live performances helped shape the sound of Sacrosanct, with Kerr and Burchill drawing inspiration from their post-punk and new wave roots after seeing audiences enthusiastically embrace early-era material such as Sons And Fascination.
The first taste of the record arrives in the form of ‘Beginner Boys’, a reflective yet uplifting track inspired by Kerr watching his twin grandsons grow up.
Explaining the song, Kerr said it explores “how strength, tenderness, courage, and gentleness might still belong together, even when the wider culture around them can send mixed signals.”
The eight-track album also includes the Magazine-inspired opener Elysium, the darkly themed King Of The Underworld, the life-affirming Jerusalem (State Of Mind) and Our Secrets Are The Same, a meditation on the lifelong friendship between Kerr and Burchill, who first met as children on the streets of Glasgow.
Speaking about the album title, Kerr said: “We called the album Sacrosanct because after a lifetime of doing this, nearly fifty years of writing songs together, it’s stopped feeling like a career and started feeling like something closer to faith.
“Calling the record Sacrosanct isn’t an exaggeration. It’s just honest.”
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The album artwork features a striking new interpretation of the band’s famous logo, created in steel by acclaimed Glasgow sculptor Andy Scott, best known for creating The Kelpies in Falkirk.
The album’s release will be followed by what the band describe as their most ambitious arena run yet, with demand for tickets soaring after a string of acclaimed live performances over recent years.
For Nottingham fans, the Motorpoint Arena date represents the band’s only East Midlands stop on the UK leg.
Simple Minds UK Tour 2027
- May 6 – The O2, London
- May 7 – Co-op Live, Manchester
- May 8 – Utilita Arena, Birmingham
- May 10 – Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham
- May 11 – First Direct Arena, Leeds
- May 13 – Utilita Arena, Newcastle
- May 14 – OVO Hydro, Glasgow
Fans who pre-order Sacrosanct before September 8 will gain access to the UK pre-sale, with general ticket sales beginning at 9.30am on September 11.
Sacrosanct tracklisting:
- Elysium
- King Of The Underworld
- Beginner Boys
- Jerusalem (State Of Mind)
- Our Secrets Are The Same
- Songs
- Alive In This Moment
- The Next Right Thing
