Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
You always hope to catch the effervescent in a performance, the sincerity of the lively and the dynamic in the same thread of the act, whilst understanding that it is the memory of a certain time, of nostalgia, making the hairs on the back of the neck stand firmly to attention and the whisper of the music fall in love once more.
Scottish music legend Midge Ure returns to the U.K. theatre circuit in early 2019 with a special concert experience – Midge will tour his Songs, Questions And Answers in the U.K. from March to May 2019. The tour kicks off at Eden Court in Inverness on Thursday 7th March and finishes at the Medina Theatre in Newport on Sunday 5th May, with a night at The Atkinson in Southport on Sunday 20th April.
Twenty five years ago, Midge presented a theatre show with a Q&A element to it and in 2019 he will revisit that concept with an updated version entitled “Songs, Questions and Answers”. Each show will entail a Q&A element and a musical element.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Midge Ure at the Philharmonic Hall, October 2017. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
It is arguably impossible to think of the 1980s, musically and socially, without the work of Midge Ure eventually coming up in the conversation. The sense of being all things to all music lovers never far from the mind when looking on the decade with either fond nostalgia or the deep seated anger when the pictures of one of the greatest humanitarian disasters unfolded in Africa during 1984.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
It might feel as if you are living in the worst of times, the 2016 American Presidential race has descended arguably into a farce, the world is teetering on the edge once more of red buttons being nervously shifted over and citizens wondering just how far the leaders of the nations would go to cut off their nose to spite everybody else’s faces…it does make you speculate and question the validity of humanity’s reign on Earth, it raises doubts on the future; however, in the midst of it all, there is always the fact that you have lived in a time which was honoured to have Midge Ure performing his music in.
Midge Ure, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, March 2016. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
It is to be seen as a rare honour to be able to watch Midge Ure perform not only in Liverpool, but also an electric set which sends shivers up the spine as much as his brilliant acoustic solo shows for which the audience can be seen almost salivating with excitement over. Those moments of rare beauty are to be savoured and given room in the memory banks for they don’t come round that often.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
There are few finer voices than that of Midge Ure, especially when the vast majority of the evening spent in his company at the Atkinson in Southport is listening to an album that, arguably unfairly, was played against the workings of corporate turmoil and interference. There are times in life when you know that just want to hear the artist being lauded for them alone, not having an agenda pushed down their throat, it’s bad enough in the democracy of a band but when it comes against what is an especially beautiful solo album such as Breathe, that’s when you know the agenda has got rotten.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Midge Ure is arguably a man who has seen it all and lived it all, certainly when it comes to music. A member of one of the finest bands to come out of the U.K., the rich tapestry of working with the legendary Phil Lynot and Thin Lizzy, writing several hit songs including the superb Visage track Fade To Grey, Love’s Great Adventure, If I Was and been a founding member alongside The Boomtown Rats outspoken frontman Bob Geldof of Band Aid; and somehow in amongst it all somehow finding the precious time to keep going on the road and performing with absolute elegance to audiences up and down the country, he cannot be accused of being delicate.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
When Midge Ure steps on stage, all eyes are naturally always on him. There is the noticeable and understandable plethora of pictures taken by the long term fan wanting to keep their collections up to date of the man that has thrilled them for over 30 years and then the odd shy newcomer taking a picture and hoping that nobody minds. Then it all stops, the camera’s seem to be put away and nobody dares put off the man who makes a Saturday night out, a real treat. What is left is a man who bought songs such as Vienna, If I Was and Dancing With Tears In My Eyes and the guitar, no more no less and the result is tremendous.
Originally published by L.S. Media. December 7th 2008.
It might come as a bit of a shock to find there is still a musician of note, who shuns the bigger arenas and is quite happy by playing songs that matter to him and his legion of fans in some of the more intimate venues around the country. Midge Ure has been, musically, through it all. Whether from his early days in the band Silk, the heady days of the New Romantic phase that swept Britain in the early to mid eighties with Ultravox and then as a solo artist whose voice has swept all before him.
Originally published by The Birmingham Mail. My 2008.
For a night of classic acoustic rock, you couldn’t go far wrong than a gig by singer/songwriter Midge Ure. Where other solo artists would struggle to fill the stage, Midge seemed to revel in the sparseness.
He began with Ultravox’s Loves Great Adventure and Personal Heaven before playing his co-creation of Visage’s Fade To Grey and delightful rendition of One Small Day.
Midge pulled a couple of classic covers out of the bag with Peter Green’s Man of the World and a stunning version of the Walker Brothers classic No Regrets, before finishing the set with Dancing with Tears In My Eyes.