“Thanks for coming. Next time bring a few friends,” greeted Midge Ure from the compact stage at the intimate Billboard venue Friday night, as he began his first Melbourne show since 1985 with ‘I See Hope (In The Morning Light)’.
Midge Ure by Karen Freedman
The crowd, few in number but big in voice, roared their approval. The Scottish lass next to me almost burst my right eardrum with her piercing screams. All night.
Inbetween the solo stuff ; ‘If I Was’, his mighty fine cover of the Tom Rush-penned-made-famous-by-The Walker Brothers ‘No Regrets’ – a song Midge “wishes he’d written”, ‘Cold Cold Heart’ and the criminally-overlooked ‘Breathe’, he performed his version of a song he wrote when he was a member of Visage, ‘Fade To Grey’, complete with the devoted audience on backing vocals.
Midge also performed one of the tracks from his 2008 covers album, 10, Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Man Of The World’, and then showed off his guitar chops between him and his most competent band-mates, which included long-time cohort, Dave Williamson on bass, on another Peter Green/John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers instrumental, ‘The Supernatural’.
Most of the adoring crowd were here to see him do his hits with Ultravox. They were fairly few on the ground. Maybe his comment, “I’m trying to pave the way for Ultravox to come. The reason I’m here”, offered some explanation.
Nevertheless, the title track from last year’s Brill!ant album release, ‘Love’s Great Adventure’, ‘Hymn’, ‘Dancing With Tears In My Eyes’ and of course their biggest hit, ‘Vienna’ seemed to satiate the enthusiastic punters.
Remaining Dates:
April 24, Melbourne, Shoppingtown Doncaster
April 26, Adelaide, The Gov
April 27, Perth, The Charles Hotel
Setlist:
I See Hope (In The Morning Light) (from Pure, 1991)
Dear God (from Answers To Nothing, 1988)
Call Of The Wild (single, 1986)
Fade To Grey (from Visage, 1980)
Just For You (from Answers To Nothing, 1988)
No Regrets (single, 1982)
One Small Day (from Lament, 1984)
Man Of The World (from 10, 2008)
The Supernatural (B-side, 1991)
Breathe (from Breathe, 1996)
Brilliant (from Brill!ant, 2012)
If I Was (from The Gift, 1985)
Vienna (from Vienna, 1980)
Love’s Great Adventure (single, 1984)
Cold Cold Heart (from Pure, 1991)
Hymn (from Quartet, 1982)
Dancing With Tears In My Eyes (from Lament, 1984)
