Synopsis

Simple Minds perform "Mandela Day" in a stark, emotionally charged video shaped around the song's message of solidarity with Nelson Mandela. Jim Kerr delivers the vocal while the band plays in a restrained performance setting, with the presentation keeping attention on the music and its political purpose rather than a conventional narrative. The result is a direct tribute to Mandela and to the anti-apartheid cause that inspired the song.

Factoids & Trivia

• "Mandela Day" was written for the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute at Wembley Stadium on June 11, 1988, a concert organized to call for Mandela's release from prison.

• Simple Minds were the first act to commit to the event and, according to Jim Kerr, the only participating act to write a new song specifically for it.

• Jim Kerr has said that the song was written in about five minutes. He later described it as a song built more around sentiment than detailed political lyrics.

• Simple Minds debuted the song at the Wembley concert. They also performed "Biko" with Peter Gabriel and joined Little Steven for "Sun City."

• The song appeared on the 1989 "Ballad of the Streets" EP alongside "Belfast Child" and "Biko." The release became Simple Minds' first and only UK No. 1 single.

• "Mandela Day" was later included on the band's 1989 album "Street Fighting Years."

• A limited-edition 12-inch box set connected with the release included four black-and-white photographs from the music video.

• Simple Minds revisited the song at the 46664 Nelson Mandela 90th Birthday Concert in London's Hyde Park on June 27, 2008, performing it with the Soweto Gospel Choir.