Ultravox Are Back and Playing Live in Oxford at the New Theatre

ONE of the defining groups of the 1980s, it is almost 30 years since Ultravox released an album. Now reunited they not only have a new record but are back on the road. For frontman Midge Ure, it’s almost like he never went away.

“Until three years ago, it had been 27 years since we played live – and that was at Live Aid,” he says.

“But we haven’t dated hideously as we were quite futuristic when we recorded.

“And now there’s a young, fresh, curious audience who see us play and get blown away as the sound we make is even more powerful.”

Midge, 58, whose nickname is ‘Jim’ backwards, was a young punk, even playing with former Sex Pistol Glen Matlock in The Rich Kids. He also played with Fade to Grey stars Visage alongside Steve Strange, and in Thin Lizzy, filling in for Gary Moore, before joining Ultravox in 1979.

Most famous for their dark synth anthem Vienna, which spent four weeks at Number Two in the charts (tragically, or amusingly, depending on your perspective, kept from the top by Joe Dolce’s novelty hit Shaddap You Face), the band pioneered electronic music and were at the forefront of the new romantic scene.

Ure became a household name when, after a phone call from Bob Geldof, who had been horrified by footage of starving children in Ethiopia, he co-wrote and produced the Band Aid single Do They Know It's Christmas? In 1984. The following year he helped organise the Live Aid concert – held simultaneously in Wembley and in Philadelphia, and watched by an estimated 1.9 billion, across 150 nations.

“I joined the band when I was 18,” he says. “That was 40 years ago – which is a hideous thing to say,”

Though, he admits, things have changed since he and his reunited bandmates Chris Cross, Warren Cann and Billy Currie reformed for a 30th anniversary tour in 2010.

“In the past there was a lot of rock and roll behaviour,” he says with a mixture of pride and shame. “Various members of the band were heavily involved in substances and I was heavily involved in alcohol.

“We were young, free and single and living life. We were touring the world and had money in the bank. It was the first time everything was available to us. But that was those days; it’s a very different story now.”

So why did they split? “It had run its course,” he says. “For the first few years of the 80s there was a musical revolution going on. Technology changed a lot. It was as important as the early 60s with regard to music and fashion.

“But after Live Aid it was beginning to end. It had gone too far; it was too complicated, pompous and overblown. By the end we had 26 keyboards on stage.

“Then music changed. Dance music started and the Manchester scene began. It had morphed, but we had morphed the other way and it was time to knock it on the head.”

So what is he most proud of? “I’m going to say playing Live Aid with Ultravox,” he says. “We had just flown in from Los Angeles, had a very brief soundcheck. People have looked back with rose-tinted spectacles and described it as the best concert ever – though some of it didn’t sound that great.

“But we sounded pretty good with a very quick set-up and the least equipment possible. We were not just technicians in the studio, but were a good live band.”

And him personally? He smiles. “That would be all the secret moments no one ever talks about. We are all fans of music, which is why we got into music in the first place. So I loved Kate Bush doing a duet on one of my songs and Clapton playing guitar with me. They were real ‘pinch me’ moments.”

And Band Aid, for which he won an Ivor Novello? He remains modest. “You couldn’t plan something like that,” he sighs. “It didn’t take a genius to say ‘if we can write a song and get it to Number One it would raise money for charity’.

“We were thinking short-term; to make the record, send some money out and save a few lives. But no one expected it to make £7m, nor to carry on every year because it is a Christmas record.

“And it wouldn’t have been the huge hit it was had it not been for Boy George, Tony Hadley and the rest – and all their effort. They made it a great record.”

Midge remains heavily involved as a Band Aid trustee. “You can’t plan something like that and just walk away,” he says. “I’m still talking about programmes in Africa, though at some point we are going to have to have a conversation and decide what to do with the Band Aid Trust, as I am not getting younger, and Bob and I are still responsible.”

On September 22 Ultravox play Oxford’s New Theatre – in a set pulling together past gems and new songs. “I’m still trying to get the tour knocked into shape,” admits Midge. “We’ve had to sort out the lights and production – and that was before any wrestling matches over which songs to perform.

“It’s difficult trying to maintain an equal say with democratic input. The only way we can decide what to play is by writing everything down, giving everyone four marks, and marking which ones they want.

“There’s a happy balance that you’ve got to get right so you are not boring people to death. You don’t want any tumbleweed moments. No one wants to hear those words ‘here’s something from the new album’ too much!”

Of course material, from their 11th album Brilliant, which was released earlier this year, will figure heavily.

“It’s not like last time,” he says.

“We’re not just playing those old songs one more time. That’s what keeps us interesting. But will we get away with not doing Vienna? Probably not!”

So, after three decades who is it that comes along to Ultravox shows?

“We get hard core fans – who are first in line to buy tickets – but also new and curious people who have heard us on the radio, found us retrospectively or on the internet – which opens doors to new musical experiences.”

And Midge admits that, with so much to catch up on, they are enjoying their time together.

He says: “We’re talking a lot more to each other than back then, and we are trying to get the music right. I’m not saying we are a bunch of boffins, but the technical aspect is important – and I enjoy the whole process.”

• Ultravox play the New Theatre, Oxford on Saturday, September 22. Tickets are £3.50 from seetickets.com