The Barbican Centre, London, UK25th May 2026
Midge Ure & Scenius
The Barbican Centre is built upon a 35 acre site that was bombed to smithereens by the Germans in WW2. The current Brutalist structure replaced all the building that were part of a bustling cloth and rag trade, what’s there now is an art and concert venue, multi layered housing and futurist verandas and terraces that over time have been imbue with a charm all of its own. Tonight James - Jim - Mij - MIDGE URE, prolific songwriter and lead singer of 80s band ULTRAVOX plays the London leg of his UK tour playing a mixture of newer material along with old hits for the old New Romantics in the audience.
Scenius
SCENIUS are a fairly new project. When I say new, I mean six years old. They are a duo that comprises of Steve Whitfield from the band KLAMMER and the producer of THE CURE, THE MISSION and YAN TIERSON and French vocalist Fabrice Nau from the bands BOUTIQUE DU TAO and KYU. Their name is a portmanteau word made up by Brian Eno and their sound is a unique and fresh take on 1980s Synth Pop that includes very subtle nods to that era whilst bringing the vibe up to date. They are, in my opinion the perfect support for the main act and you can check them out here: https://scenius.bandcamp.com
Music & Performance
The auditorium in The Barbican is a fully seated one and it was packed. Apart from a few seats at the front. The venue is more of a ballet / concerto space than a proper gig space so the vibe was pretty restrained and polite. Many of the audience would be of pensionable age and not as energetic as they once were. So, a little conservatism and reserve was the order of the day.
SCENIUS came onto the stage and took up their positions, Steve Whitfield in a black and white polka dot shirt and pork pie style hat behind his keyboard, computer and other equipment and Fabrice Nau behind the mike stand. The dress was not flamboyant in the New Romantic sense just comfy functional. They went through their set, which was a mixture of material from three albums released over six years ‘Enough Fears’ (2020), ‘Life Is A Thing’ (2023) and ‘13 Billion Light Years’ (2025) with minimal chatter between the tracks and the audience sat intently listening whilst appreciatively clapping.
Most people in the audience hadn’t heard of them before I suspect or if they had had minimal knowledge so for them it was a learning curve and an act of familiarisation. I looked around the audience and what I could read from the faces I saw was a mix of curious interest and “hmmmm” expressions. From the opening track ‘Make It Shiny’ small nuggets of recognition would spark up from the circuit boards.
‘Some Of Your Nights’ shimmied along in the familiar to me Gallic manner, I see hands tapping thighs, my head nods staccato across my shoulders. ‘Cookie Cutter’ needs playing with a dance floor, the seating doesn’t do justice to the easy confidence of the groove. “This sounds like DEPECHE MODE” I hear a voice say. Then I realise it’s me when ‘La Meme Nuit’ starts. I’m sure many other inner voices exclaimed the same thing. But it also sounds sensually like Serge Gainsborough if he used synths.
‘Funny Sky’ next. Warm and watery, the sound of sun setting, bright and shadowy, glassy eyed and day dream conjuring. ‘Five Arm Crystal’ hardens up the vibe somewhat, the drum splashes and slaps, the tension builds up. The hand slapping of thighs increases in intensity and jolty shoulder dances from the back of the venue break the static shadows. Yeah, the crowd are warming up, they are getting into it, they are getting it.
Penultimate track ‘Swift As Light’ does not dim the enthusiasm from where I was, even I play drums on my thighs, I’m even pulling funny faces but you can’t see cos I’m in the dark. Final track is ‘Chinese Room’, it’s one of my favourites. I love the groove, the pace and the atmosphere. You know that scene in ‘Blade Runner’ where Rick Deckard chases that replicant Zhora through the glass laden corridor? That scene plays in my head as the tracks assertively pulls and pushes. And the keyboard filigrees sparking and arcing out like attack ships on fire at the shoulder of Orion...
The End! I hear a few “That was interesting” as I went outside after the set had finished and when the whole event concluded later on. But let’s be honest, people were there for MIDGE URE. The sound was very good I thought and the lighting good for photography purposes, there was no pit at the front though because the front seats were right up against the stage. Luckily the venue allowed the photographers to use the AV booths at the back, which was nice and appreciated.
Anyway, I’d say the set was a workman like one with no frills and did what it was supposed to do, warm up the crowd by being a link between the old and the new whilst at the same time showcasing without upstaging. I enjoyed it!
Setlist
01. Make It Shiny
02. Some Of Your Nights
03. Cookie Cutter
04. La Meme Nuit
05. Funny Sky
06. Five Arm Crystal
07. Swift As Light
08. Chinese Room
Midge Ure
Midge started out in the 1970s with the band SLIK. They were a Scottish sugary bubble-gum Pop band in the style of the BAY CITY ROLLERS. These two bands being connected by the use of the same Pop song writers. One of their hits was called ‘Forever And Ever’ which sounds like a BAY CITY ROLLER / SWEET mish mash. Anyway, Midge left the band who then broke up in 1977. Midge then moving onto THE RICH KIDS who were formed by Glen Matlock after THE SEX PISTOLS broke up.
They broke up after two years, one album and three singles whilst sounding similar to THE SKIDS and SHAM 69. Ex SLIK members Russell Webb and Kenny Hyslop later joining SKIDS by the way. A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS must have been influenced the Proto New Wave synths more so than the searing riffs. Within the same 1970s-time frame ULTRAVOX were formed, 1974 to be precise but under the name TIGER LILY. John Foxx was the vocalist, he left, Midge took over and the ULTRAVOX story is history. As well as revitalising ULTRAVOX he wrote ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ for Live Aid as well as working on the studio project VISAGE. He has been solo since the mid-1980s. You can check his website out here: http://www.midgeure.co.uk / https://www.facebook.com/midge.ure
Music & Performance
And now for the main event. MIDGE URE’s set was mainly ULTRAVOX songs with a few VISAGE tracks thrown in for good measure. The set opener was a piano tinkler called ‘A Different View’. I thought it was a pensive start and reflective, and kind of like a Christmas song. And then a VISAGE track - ‘Again We Love’. ULTRAVOX tracks then dominated all the way up to track 16 in the set.
Highlights were ‘Call Of The Wild’, ‘The Ascent’, ‘Your Name Has Slipped My Mind Again’, ‘Astrodyne’, ‘Wasteland’ from the solo album ‘The Gift’ and ‘Lament’ which has a very distinctive 1980s vibe to it, you can hear it in the bass. This point in the set everyone in the audience is seated. Track twelve is when things change... People start standing. Midge makes a comment, something like “what are the dance police going to do?”
Now all bets are off for the remainder of the set. ‘Vienna’ plays, people sing along and gyrate, they exclaim “We walked in the cold air/ This means nothing to meeeee oooohhhhh VIIIIENNNAAAAA”. Arms sway to ‘Reap The Wild Wind’ and its recognisable synth line. ‘If I Was’, a solo track flows and gyrates too, it’s a dancing song. With a passing similarity to a QUEEN song. The past two songs are very breezy and open. Then there’s ‘The Voice’ with its belly high bass strut. It also soars. It’s like I am walking on rolling hills at an easy pace, up down up down.
‘Fade To Grey’ is the penultimate track of the regular set and the first single I bought in November 1980. I think it cost me £1.10. anyway, I digress, as soon as the opening chords played the audience whooped and sang along for the whole song, the writhing from the woman in front of me becoming more dervish like. She apologises for blocking my shot, I say “no problem, carry on”. ‘Dancing With Tears In My Eyes’ or as we said in the 1980s “DANCIIIIING With Beeeer In our Eyes” ends the regular set with the same energies before a brief pause and the encore.
‘Yellow Pearl’ by Phil Lynott was a track that was used as the Top Of The Pops theme tune through the 1980s. For those who don’t know TOTP was the premium music show on the BBC that aired every Thursday around 7pm. And anyone who liked music whether Rock, Goth, Pop, Disco would be tuned in. And it had viewing figures that modern shows can only dream of.
For the people in the audience this would be a memory conjurer of more youthful and energetic times full of possibilities and your future was still ahead of you. And finally, its ‘Hymn’ I’ve not heard this for years. The whistling keyboard line reminds me of something, I can’t place it though but the riffing, very Scottish, at this point I see thistles and bottles of whisky. That’s it, folks.
Setlist
01. A Different View
02. Again We Love
03. Call Of The Wild
04. Accent Of youth
05. The Accent
06. Your Name (Has Slipped My Mind Again)
07. Astrodyne
08. Wastelands
09. Man Of Two Worlds
10. Lament
11. Monster
12. Vienna
13. Reap The Wild Wind
14. If I Was
15. The Voice
16. Fade To Grey
17. Dancing with Tears In My Eyes
---
18. Yellow Pearl
19. Hymn
In summary, that was two fine sets of music, tightly produced and finely honed. It was a pleasant couple of hours of civilised entertainment and distraction that looked back whilst being firmly rooted in the present. It kind of linked to places in time together and did a good job of hiding the join. The lighting was good, the auditorium temperature was good. No jostling and bumping into sweaty bodies. And the venue allowed all the photographers to use the AV booths, so a big shout out to them. To quote someone else I’ll end with this: “Most excellent”!
All Photos by Claudia Black
