Friday 29th May 2026 saw a return visit to Bradford Live to watch an artist who was an integral part of my initial love affair with synthpop music.
For those of you who are not so familiar with the name Midge Ure, you may, if you are of a certain age, be familiar with the band Ultravox. Midge is best known as their lead vocalist, having also played with the bands Slik, with whom he had a UK Number One single in 1976, Rich Kids and Thin Lizzy.
Having released a new double album entitled “A Man of Two Worlds” earlier in the month, I was intrigued as to what format the show would take, bearing in mind the first of the new albums was purely an instrumental affair. As it turned out, he opened the show with “A Different View” which is the first track from album one and that was the only piece of music he played from either album!
The way Midge curated the performance meant he played forty-five minutes of abated music to start with before he interacted fully with his audience. On this occasion he confessed to having a problem with his throat although, I would say it did not impact the quality of the show in any obvious way although, he did seem to shorten the time he spent away from the stage before the encore, possibly because he wasn’t feeling one-hundred percent.
The opening salvo was certainly the more serious half of the show as we were treated to some epic Ultravox cuts such as the sublime “Astrodyne” and the somewhat haunting “Man of Two Worlds”.
He ended the opening section with “Vienna” which I thought was quite appropriate. Upon its conclusion he suggested that if the audience wanted to dance then the rest of the main show was the time to do so. Although it was an all-seated show, people were openly moving towards the stage and starting to strut their stuff to classics such as “If I Was”, his cover of “Fade to Grey”, which he co-wrote for Visage and “Dancing with Tears in My Eyes”.
The encore featured a version of the Phil Lynott (Top of the Pops theme) track “Yellow Pearl” which they co-wrote followed by “Hymn” which I felt rounded out the performance perfectly as it is probably my favourite Ultravox song. The iconic refrain “the power and the glory till my kingdom comes” is what does it for me.
Overall, I would rate the gig as four out of five stars. If you like Midge’s (and Ultravox’s) music, I would certainly recommend that you go and see him should he come to a venue near you.