ShareMidge Ure, a Scottish singer, songwriter and record producer, chats with Kevin Cooper about the achievement of Live Aid, playing the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham, his 2026 A Man Of Two Worlds UK Tour and his latest album of the same name.
Midge Ure is a Scottish singer, songwriter and record producer, who enjoyed particular success in the 70’s and 80’s in bands including Slik, Thin Lizzy, Rich Kids, Visage and as the eventual lead singer of Ultravox after John Foxx had left, helping the band attain high chart positions for the six following years before disbanding.
In 1984 he co-wrote and produced the charity single Do They Know It’s Christmas for the supergroup Band Aid, which he organised with Bob Geldoff. The single sold 3.7 million copies in the UK on its release and has since become a staple amongst Christmas songs and is the second highest selling single in UK chart history.
He organised Live Aid in 1985 and Live 8 in 2005 both with Geldof. He also serves as an Ambassador for Save The Children.
He joined Slik as a guitarist in 1972 and in 1976 they had a number one single in the UK charts with Forever And Ever. Ure turned down an offer to join the Sex Pistols in 1975. In 1977 he joined former Sex Pistol bass guitarist Glen Matlock to form Rich Kids. The band disbanded in 1979.
In 1978 band mate Rusty Egan and Ure formed Visage with lead vocalist Steve Strange. Utilising the use of their synthesiser, they released their second single in 1980, Fade To Grey. Ure also collaborated with Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott and also helped them to complete a US tour following their guitarist Gary Moore’s abrupt departure. He also co-wrote Lynott’s biggest solo hit, Yellow Pearl.
In 1979 he joined and revived Ultravox, assuming duties as singer, songwriter, guitarist and second keyboardist. Their first album involving Ure was released in 1980 and from it was released the title track Vienna which became a huge hit. The band went on to release a total of eleven albums.
In 1982 he released his first solo single, a cover version of Tom Rush’s No Regrets. The following year he recorded the David Bowie track The Man Who Sold The World. In 1985 he released his debut album, The Gift, which was followed by a further seven solo albums.
He has also been the recipient of five honorary degrees.
Whilst busy rehearsing for his forthcoming UK tour he took some time out to have a chat with Kevin Cooper and this is what he had to say.
Midge, good morning, how are you today?
Hi Kevin, it’s great to speak to you once again and I am very well, thanks for asking. More to the point how are you?
I’m very well thank you, and before we move on let me firstly thank you for taking the time to speak to me today.
Oh no, thank you.
And just how is life treating you at this moment in time?
Life at the moment is good. I really can’t complain. At a time when most people would be thinking of me hanging up my guitar, putting away my touring outfits, and quietly putting my slippers on, there is currently a massive demand for live performances (laughter). It’s fabulous; I still love it so I still do it.
Before we talk about the current tour I have to ask you, have you seen your old sparring partner Rusty (Egan) lip-syncing to If I Was on YouTube?
(Laughter) no, I have not. This is an entirely new experience for me (laughter).
Rusty had obviously stopped for a coffee, If I Was came on the radio and there he is, merrily lip-syncing along to it (laughter).
Oh God, well only Rusty would do something like that (hysterical laughter).
(Laughter) swiftly moving on, let’s talk about your forthcoming A Man Of Two Worlds UK Tour. Are you looking forward to being back out on the road here in the UK?
Very much so. For the last few years I have tried to figure out how I could possibly go out and play some of the instrumental stuff that I have both written and recorded over the years. How would I do it, what format would it take, would anyone go and see it? And this tour, I think, has kind of ticked all of the boxes. As you will no doubt know, A Man Of Two Worlds is named after an old Ultravox tune, but the Two Worlds that I am talking about are the songs that people know me for together with the instrumental stuff which gives me a chance to play some of it.
So, I have devised a way where I can take the audience on a little journey, when I can play the songs that they know and love, in a block. So, maybe a segued block, maybe they will simply slip into each other for maybe ten minutes or something. Then play an instrumental piece and then another block and just join all of these sections together in a flow which will just take people on a, not a linear journey, but a journey of both highs and lows, in textures and dancing, sitting down and closing their eyes, all of that stuff, all in the one show.
The Man Of Two Worlds Tour will reflect the idea of combining instrumentals I have done over the years with songs, album tracks and fan favourites side by side taking the audience on a journey. Songs seamlessly segued together interspersed with various instrumental tracks inviting the audience to close their eyes and drift away or get up and dance; however the music takes them.
I hear that on this tour there will be no amplifiers on stage, is that correct?
Yes, that’s absolutely correct. The reasoning behind that decision is that with no amplifiers on stage, the sound we aspire to achieve is as close to studio quality as possible and that, alongside the visual atmosphere, the lighting and staging creates, makes the perfect environment for this specific tour.
How long will the show last?
To be totally honest with you I am not quite sure yet. The stupid thing about me doing this stuff is that you come up with a concept and you scratch your particular itch about doing it, then you tell people what it is going to be like, then you have to figure out exactly how you do it (laughter). So, even on the last tour, the Catalogue Tour, my poor musicians were still asking right up to the week before rehearsals, what the song list was, and I kept changing it (laughter). It really is a horrible process. So, at this moment in time, I have a selection of songs together with bits of music that I want to play, but that may change between now and when we actually start (laughter).
I have heard that you are about to release your first new studio album in twelve years also called A Man Of Two Worlds. What can you tell me about it?
(Laughter) yes, you are absolutely correct. I’m delighted to announce that my brand-new album, A Man Of Two Worlds, will be released on 8th May. It will be my first album of new material, as you correctly point out, in twelve years. The album has been partly inspired by my lockdown exploration of instrumental music, and it is divided into two distinct halves; World One: is Music, which features eight instrumental pieces whilst World Two: features Songs and consists of eight brand new vocal tracks. And that, I’m afraid, is all that I am going to tell you (laughter). If you want to know more, come to the show (laughter).
When you and I last spoke, you mentioned that you had started listening to Scala Radio, where they play a lot of instrumentals together with movie soundtracks. Is that still that case?
(Laughter) well remembered. Yes, that is still the case and in fact I did a program for Scala Radio called The Space where I got to indulge a little bit, because as you know Scala really is a classical station. However, I wasn’t just playing classical music, but I started playing some of the neo-classical composers from Iceland, Germany, Scandinavia, and whatever. I even instigated slipping in bits of Mick Karn, Eric Clapton, and Jeff Beck into this big textural ambient, atmospheric music. And yes, I do still do that although the program isn’t quite as wide as I would like it to be but it’s getting there (laughter). I noticed recently that Radio 3 have programs now which do exactly that. They play a variety of different types of filmic, cinematic and ambient music in varies shows and that’s a good thing.
Whenever anyone mentions Ultravox and instrumental tracks, I immediately think of Astradyne which, in my opinion, is a brilliant piece of work.
Thank you. I totally agree with you and there is a distinct possibility that Astradyne might just resurface because a lot of the instrumental things that I have written are quite textural and ambient. However, you can’t have too many of those together or I will be very aware of putting the audience to sleep (laughter). So, the idea of doing the odd instrumental section means that Astradyne just might make a re-appearance somewhere during the evening.
Let’s face it; you opened many a show with Astradyne didn’t you?
I did, yes. Ultravox did, and I have to say that it was a great opener; it was a great way to break the ice with people. It’s dramatic, and it has that wedge effect that I talk about. As you know, it starts with a click and then builds and builds and gets bigger and then finishes the way that it does. It was a great way to segway from that to your first song.
When you are in the studio, do you intentionally set out to write an instrumental piece?
Yes, I recently finished an album of instrumental music, and I started it during lockdown. I just thought ‘okay I am going to indulge myself here’ and I started specifically writing instrumentals. A hell of a lot of people think that an instrumental track is simply a song that you can’t write decent lyrics for (laughter). Let me tell you, it doesn’t work that way (laughter). There are many an Ultravox tune that you could lift the vocals off and do a remix and yes, it’s got something and you could use it as just a piece of music.
Having said that, an instrumental has to have the melody, the countermelody, together with the structure that makes it work without lyrics. So, it is a very different thing, I think, although most of the songs that I write start from the seed of an idea and it starts with an atmosphere, a chord sequence or whatever and then you build a song on that. I write songs in a very different way than most normal songwriters (laughter). I’m not saying that it is any better or any worse, I’m just saying that it’s different. I use all of the tools in the studio to help me create the atmosphere that I need to create the song.
Listening to an instrumental piece of music or reading a book is almost identical because you make it your own. It can take you to wherever you want it to take you. There are no restraints.
It’s the soundtrack isn’t it. I had never thought of that, but I do it a lot. I put music on and then read a book, and I hadn’t actually thought of that. I recently did a talk about a world without music, and what it would be like if you could imagine a world without music. And then you think ‘okay Jaws, can you imagine Jaws without that music’ (laughter). It just wouldn’t work. It’s not nearly as ominous or scary or psycho without those screeching violins.
Music is such an important thing. It is the soundtrack to what it is that you are actually doing. Music, for all of us, is what we have chosen as our particular life playlist; they are the soundtracks to our individual lives. We choose what we hear when we are down, we choose what we hear when we are up, we choose what we hear when you need to escape the reality that you are in at the time, and music is the vehicle for that. So yes, I hadn’t actually thought about sitting down and listening to instrumental music in those terms, but I do it (laughter).
It’s funny that you mention Jaws because someone recently wrote, ‘how do all of these people get eaten by a great white shark, can’t they hear the music (laughter).
(Hysterical laughter) not underwater maybe, I don’t know (laughter).
You will be playing here in Nottingham at the Royal Concert Hall on Saturday 30th May.
That’s right, and I have to tell you that I can’t wait to be back in Nottingham. It really is a remarkable city.
I can remember reading a quote from you saying that whenever you and Ultravox played at the Royal Concert Hall it was one of the best venues acoustically that you had ever played at.
That’s right, it really is a brilliant venue; it’s a beautiful place. We didn’t do it on the last tour for some reason, and I have to say that I missed it. You are at the mercy of other artists when it comes to booking venues and you see it. Whenever you announce a tour there is always someone saying, “hey but you are not playing Scunthorpe” or “you are not coming here” or “you are not going there” (laughter). You have got to understand that these places are not sitting empty waiting on me (laughter). You are dictated as to where you are going to play by who else has booked the venue. So, yes, I am really looking forward to playing the Royal Concert Hall once again. It really is such a lovely place.
The last time that I photographed you here in Nottingham was when you played Rock City.
Yes, that’s right, the last time that we played in Nottingham it was, as you say, at Rock City. Equally brilliant I have to say but in a very different way. There is something about doing standing venues which not all of the audience want I have to say. It really is a divided audience. Half the people can’t stand up for the whole time, and don’t want to so they won’t go to a standing venue, whilst the other half don’t want to sit down because they do want to stand up and dance. In a way I am trying to cover all bases with the forthcoming tour where you are allowed to do both (laughter). You are not dictated to at all, you can choose what you want to do (laughter).
When I first read that this tour would contain some of your instrumental tracks, I started to think what other instrumental tracks springs to mind, and it was Green Onions by Booker T & The M.G.s.
Of course, Green Onions by Booker T, well I will let you into a secret, I won’t be doing that (laughter). To me instrumentals are like everything from The Shadows. I was a guitar player so that was it really, the sound of a guitar, that distant haunting twang all the way through to what you hear coming out of Iceland now. To me, that is all instrumental music, or film soundtracks. As you know I really do love film soundtracks.
Do you have any thoughts on a support as yet or won’t there be one?
To date, I haven’t actually had that discussion. The boys will be there; the Band Electronica guys will be there as they are in the band. They have opened up for me now on a couple of tours, whether they want to or whether it is the right thing to do, or whether we do a longer set ourselves; I’m really not sure. Let’s just say that at this stage it is a decision to be had.
I know that over the past few months you have been bombard with questions about Live Aid which no doubt you have had enough of so all that I will ask you is, are you proud of what you achieved.
Oh God yes. It is not for us to be proud of it; I am proud to have been a part of it. I am proud to have been allowed to be in there and still be in there. It achieved more than Bob (Geldof) and I can answer. You have got to talk to any journalist, you have to talk to the people who survived that famine, you have to talk to people like yourself who went out and bought the record, that’s the achievement. I will probably never meet these people; I will never meet the people who bought the record. It was at a time when the world seemed to care and it all came together at one point to have a unified voice, and that is the achievement. The other achievement is that there are people alive today who wouldn’t have been alive had the audience not gone out and bought that record. That’s the bottom line. So, me still being a part of it is a major achievement really, I suppose.
Taking you back to the 25th March 2024 we sadly lost Christopher Thomas Allen (Chris Cross). I will give you the last word on that Midge if I may.
It was the end. The idea that Ultravox may get back together and play something again, was always dangling, even though Billy (Currie) had always said that he would never do it. I think that there was always a chance that we might have done something. However, with Chris going a little light went out in my life there.
Midge, on that note let me once again thank you for taking the time to speak to me today, it’s been a pleasure as usual. You take care and I will see you when you get to Nottingham.
As always, it’s been an absolute pleasure Kevin, stay safe and do make sure that you bring your camera (laughter).
