Reflections of Darkness - Music Magazine - Live Review: Midge Ure

Details: Written by: Daniela Vorndran; Published: 03 June 2015

Zeche, Bochum, Germany
28th May 2015
Midge Ure with band

End of last year I saw MIDGE URE, singer of legendary ULTRAVOX, with his acoustic performance. Now he is back with a full band! Before stating his "Breathe Again" tour through Germany where he will perform the entire 'Breathe' album for the first time in 2015. But before that tour, he came for some additional shows with his band. On stage he was accompanied by Russell Field, Phil Williams and Phil Taylor. Besides his solo hits, he was also playing a selection of his other gems like ‘Vienna’, ‘Dancing with Tears in My Eyes’, or ‘Fade to Grey’. I was really curious how his show with band would be compared to his acoustic solo shows.

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The legendary voice of ULTRAVOX was born in 1953 in Scotland. In the eighties the band was extremely successful. Nevertheless in 1985 MIDGE started his ambitious solo career and with his, in the same year released, first album ‘The gift’ he produced already two hit singles. But here is creativity and productive work didn’t end. Furthermore he founded many bands, worked with a lot of famous musicians and bands, wrote, composed and produced songs for them, with lots of them entering the charts. Thus it is no wonder that with such a long and diverse musical career he got many awards. Furthermore he is known for his social engagement. Together with BOB GELDOF he founded Band Aid. He also took a stand for the release of Nelson Mandela. Nevertheless his life was not only bright and shiny but he had some ups and downs as well. But he managed to fight his way back and so we can enjoy his performances nowadays. In July 2014 finally the long awaited new album ‘Fragile’ was launched and so he has released seven studio albums and ten live, best of, re-release, cover and motion picture soundtrack albums. http://www.midgeure.com / https://www.facebook.com/pages/Midge-Ure/275159919205373

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Music & Performance
The show was announced for 20:00 but it took another thirty minutes until Midge and band entered the stage. I guess they started so late since there was no supporting act. Compared with the acoustic performance, the presented songs had much more power of course. Especially the ULTRAVOX songs were completely reworked. In their original versions they are based on electronic and synth sounds. Now, they were guitar-driven and included several guitar solo parts played by Midge. But still, there were of course the additional piano sounds. The set started with some of Midge’s solo song before a first highlight for many way played, the VISAGE song ‘Fade to Grey’ that was originally written by Midge. Then, several ULTRAVOX songs and the TOM RUSH cover ‘No Regrets’ were on the list before more of Midge’s solo songs were coming um, including the wonderful ‘Breathe’. With ‘Brilliant’ afterwards, a new ULTRAVOX piece from the band’s latest album was up. ‘If I was’ following after ‘Flow’ was accompanied with loud chant and cheers. The main set finally culminated with the ULTRAVOX classics ‘Vienna’ and ‘Love's Great Adventure’. Under loud applause, Midge and his companions left the stage.

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But there were still two ULTRAVOX fan favourites missing. The encores started with ‘Hymn’ and finally, the show found an end with ‘Dancing With Tears in My Eyes’, already being one of my highlights during the acoustic tour and also today I was really touched by this song. We experienced great 100 minutes. It was a wonderful concert with some lesser known songs. But all in all I was touched more by the acoustic shows of Midge since the feeling for myself was more intense.

Setlist
01. I See Hope in the Morning Light
02. Dear God
03. Call of the Wild
04. Fade to Grey (Visage song)
05. Passing Strangers (Ultravox song)
06. Live (Ultravox song)
07. No Regrets (Tom Rush cover)
08. One Small Day (Ultravox song)
09. New Europeans (Ultravox song)
10. Just for You
11. Supernatural
12. Breathe
13. Brilliant (Ultravox song)
14. Flow (Ultravox song)
15. If I Was
16. Vienna (Ultravox song)
17. Love's Great Adventure (Ultravox song)
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18. Hymn (Ultravox song)
19. Dancing With Tears in My Eyes (Ultravox song)

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Sound: 8
Light: 8
Total: 8.5 / 10

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