Post-punk, new wave, Big Music poster boys Simple Minds shipped tens of millions of records in their eighties' heyday. Tracks like 'Alive and Kicking' and 'Don't You (Forget About Me)', and some legendary live shows, helped earn the Glasgow outfit worldwide fame.

More than 30 years and 40 million albums later, the five-piece still boasts the two founding members (and songwriters), guitarist Charlie Burchill and iconic, be-waistcoated frontman Jim Kerr. It was four albums before Simple Minds' critical acclaim translated into enduring chart success with 'Sons and Fascination' (a dual release with 'Sister Feelings Call'), precipitating a period of six successive Top 5 albums, including three chart-toppers.

The band also found fame in the US. 'Don't You (Forget About Me)' enjoyed prominent placement in bratpack smash 'The Breakfast Club', subsequently topping the Billboard chart, and their 1985 album 'Once Upon a Time', a UK No 1, made the US Top Ten.

Simple Minds were the real deal for a while, playing stadiums and marrying film stars. More than three decades after it all began, the band have a fresh take on the classic album performance so popular these days. They will be playing five tracks from each of their first five albums on the '5X5' tour of Europe early next year.

It'll take around two-and-a-half hours to get through that lot, a treat for fans of the band's early work, coming as it did before the highs of 1985. To coincide, EMI are releasing a box set of the five albums, as 'Simple Minds X5', on 13th February 2012, the day before the 5X5 tour begins in Portugal, one of the band's traditional strongholds.

The UK leg of Simple Minds' 5X5 tour kicks off at the Birmingham Academy on Friday 24th February, followed by shows in Glasgow and, after a few days on the continent, at London's Roundhouse on 2nd March. The final UK gig is at The Ritz in Manchester on Saturday 3rd March 2012.

We will have tickets available for all dates when they go on sale at 9AM on Friday 25th November, priced around £35.

After the UK dates, the European tour ends with a gig at Dublin's Olympia Theatre. Tickets go on sale at the same time, priced €39 to €50.