LIVE REVIEW: Midge Ure, India Electric Co, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 18/12/2024
Photo Credit: Kevin O’Sullivan (15th November – Pavilion Bournemouth)
How many musicians can boast a CV such as the one Midge Ure has? He co-wrote the Live Aid song Do They Know It’s Christmas in 1985 alongside Bob Geldof as well as the small matter of co-organising the Live Aid event at Wembley Stadium in 1985 that was broadcast all over the planet by satellite. James Ure may be 71 years old but tonight he defies his years as he walks us through his biggest hits of the past whether that be with Thin Lizzy, Rich Kids, Ultravox, Visage or his own solo material, we were taken on a magical journey back in time for the appropriately named Catalogue: The Hits Tour. The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall is the perfect venue for this type of show and tonight’s support band India Electric Co slot perfectly into the ambience of the venue.
This isn’t a band that we have come across before and soon realise that the two main members Cole Stacey and Joseph O’Keefe are actually part of the Midge Ure setup so will be performing twice tonight, a feat matched recently by Liam Finn of Crowded House fame. They released debut album Pomegranate back in April and they would run through a few numbers from that album namely Balancing Act, Better Unsaid and Glass Houses as well as the album title track. They played a mixture of folk and rock during the half hour set that the crowd warm to quite well as the venue fills up slowly. Both Stacey and O’Keefe are definitely multi-instrumentalists and can change from one instrument to another in seconds flat, the crowd response to a cover of Chris Isaak song Wicked Game is decent and sparks an early singalong. This was a nice energetic start to the night. 7/10
What better place to finish up the tour than in his own city? As a child we used to wonder where the unusual name of Midge Ure actually came from, the answer is simple. It is his Christian name James, usually shortened to Jim, back to front ie. Mij = Midge, Ure being the surname of the man born in Cambuslang. My brother and I have great memories of watching Live Aid on TV as teenagers in 1985, a full-on day of music that has definitely influenced me to write about music in my ‘older years’. There is quite a delay to the performance starting, we think that was due to people still queuing at the bars, the Glaswegians are living up to their reputation as usual … The opening track was Marching Men, an old Rich Kids song where Ure teamed up with none other than Glen Matlock, we then move into the first of eleven Ultravox songs and to be fair this is the band that Midge Ure released most of his music with, Passing Strangers is the song followed by If I Was, one of his best known solo tracks, the crowd are up for this one tonight, ok it’s not a night for the mosh pits we hasten to add, maybe twenty years ago for most of the crowd!
The Ultravox songs are coming thick and fast and it’s Reap The Wild Wind next, Ure switches the guitar for the keyboard for this one showing his versatility, the connection between these four guys on the stage is seamless. After another solo song May Your Good Lord, it’s time for another cover as Tom Rush track No Regrets is played with Ure commenting that this song was on Top Of The Pops the same night as he made their debut on the (ahem) live show … “I have always wanted to cover this one” he comments. Next up is Sleepwalk, the first song released by Ultravox in 1980 as Ure says that he is normally asked two questions in interviews these days “when are you retiring?” and “what has been the best moment of your career?”, his answer to the last question is when the guys from Ultravox clubbed together their money to play for their first rehearsal room! There is some fantastic guitar work on this track and is one of the standouts from the set. The Maker was released way back in 1984 about the government of the time – a Thatcher government – and Midge Ure comments that “nothing has changed since then and we are wating for an alien invasion or WW3!”. The next two songs – Breathe and Fragile – are also solo tracks and played acoustically. If this crowd didn’t come to life during Vienna we thought we might as well all go home now, but thankfully there is a good reaction to the song released in 1981. It is one of their most streamed songs alongside Dancing With Tears In My Eyes, this is the song that made people stand up and take notice of Ultravox. It is the Visage track Fade To Grey that got everyone up on their feet though and it stays that way for the rest of the performance thankfully, this really is an iconic song and another standout from the set. It is easy to forget that Ure was a member of Thin Lizzy for a year and he pays tribute to them with a cover of their biggest hit The Boys Are Back In Town, this is more like it from the crowd who are singing, dancing and hand clapping along. He mentions that his one regret from the days of Live Aid is not asking Thin Lizzy to reform and play at Wembley Stadium, we are sure they would have went down incredibly well. As we move towards the end of the set, national passions are stirred up as we all join in with a rendition of Flower Of Scotland before the most streamed Ultravox track Dancing With Tears In My Eyes sends the crowd wild, the encore consists of only one song but it is a special moment as The Voice sees all four band members down at the front of the stage in a line playing either keyboard or drums, ending what was a fantastic night of music.
The band spent August and September touring all across the USA and Canada while this was night number twenty two (and the last) of the UK tour, all four of them will be glad of the rest over Christmas, we are sure. Midge Ure returns to Glasgow on 6th June 2025 to play at Kelvingrove Bandstand, that’s definitely another date for the diary! Before that though they will be heading out to Sweden and Germany for shows. 10/10
Written by: Alan Brown
