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.

The last 12 years have been special for the relationship between Midge Ure and Liverpool, the Philharmonic Hall part of the equation that saw Ultravox perform live together for the first time in years and the special evening that the musician has to put together, the tours, all being greeted with the unique Liverpool smile and appreciation of Midge Ure’s music that cemented the bond.

You never know when the last time will come, and when the anniversaries of final meetings will come about, the truth we seek comes from relishing in the moment, and the natural sparkle of humanity that comes from the stage as the songs of the evening take hold.

Midge Ure’s voice has always filled the space of the Philharmonic Hall with the sense of the absolute, even with just an acoustic guitar in his hand, the sense of strength, of uplifting power, has been enormous; however as the range of songs that played out, as the electronic beat and production kicked in at the start of Phil Lynott’s Yellow Pearl, what was in evidence, what was abundantly clear, was that Midge’s vocals could still fill a stadium and it would still cause people to allow their hearts to weep in joy.

A celebration of the 1980s, it doesn’t seem possible that songs such as Vienna, Fade To Grey and Western Promise have come and gone, have been quite rightly lauded across all that time, but forty years has disappeared into the ether and what has remained is the integrity and passion of the Scotsman in full display and proudly wearing his time on stage, thrilling audiences, with honour.

Across songs from both his time as part of Visage and Ultravox, Midge Ure and the band took the audience by storm, the words, the deftness of the lyric haunting the Philharmonic Hall into submission, and the tune urging all to stand if possible and dance the night away.

With songs and epics such as Visage, The Dancer, Glorious, Astradyne, Private Lives, Sleepwalk and the aforementioned Fade To Grey and Vienna all leaving their mark on the evening and the audience’s collective hearts, it was without doubt a reminder that you can surround yourself with a stage full of effects and wizardry as you want, in the end it is the purity of the voice, the gilt-edged belief in your message and the sense of the extraordinary that is always part of the audience’s memory and thanks.

A dramatic and special evening of music, Midge Ure once again in full command.

Ian D. Hall