Midge Ure & The Band Electronica: ‘The 1980 Tour’ – Cambridge Corn Exchange.

By Paul Monkhouse.

Photography by Jan Roberts.

The old clichéd joke is that ‘nostalgia ain’t what it used to be’ but that wasn’t true of Midge Ure & The Band Electronica’s performance on this dark Autumn night in a Cambridge. Certainly, it was great to revisit those tracks, after almost forty years, but it was also a potent reminder of just how groundbreaking that era was and how the influence of European electronica had infiltrated a UK music scene that had become clogged with stodgy disco and novelty acts.

When Ure joined Ultravox in 1979, following the departure of original frontman John Foxx, he brought not just a passion for the band's heavily synth-based style but an already rich and varied musical history; having played with chart hitting bubblegum rockers Slik, Sex Pistols offshoot Rich Kids and a stint in Thin Lizzy amongst others. As Ure stated early in the set, ‘’1980 was the year when everything changed.’’ And that was certainly true for Ultravox as his involvement saw the band break into a new purple-patch that would produce some of the finest music of the ’80s.

An eclectic opening set by his friend and fellow bandmate from Visage, Rusty Egan set the tone perfectly for the evening as he mixed a string of anecdotes about how the music changed with some of the tracks he worked on via a specially curated selection played DJ style. It was fascinating to hear the background behind how this legendary music-maker and producer formed the Blitz Club and ending up being such a strong influence and key figure in what was to come.

Still having huge hits in collaboration with other artists, his inclusion on the tour was a masterstroke of genius and brought not just a warm glow for those hedonistic and flamboyant days but highlighted just how a few people can change the world. Such a thing can certainly be said of Ure himself.

The lights dimmed as snatches of soundbites from the 1980s filled the air, the band and Egan strolling onto stage and diving straight into the Ure/Phil Lynott cowritten ‘Yellow Pearl’, immediately bringing back memories of the halcyon days of ‘Top of the Pops’, a show where the music was great and the Radio 1 DJ presenters jumpers were awful. This morphed into a run of Visage tracks starting with the band’s titular song, followed by ‘Blocks on Blocks’ and ‘The Dancer’ each one full of spiky electronica that spoke of grey Berlin towers suddenly flooded with light from within as chunks of guitar were shattered by keyboard jabs, Ure’s voice as distinctive and strong as ever.

Their version of Zager and Evans ‘2525’ swept along, both otherworldly and intimate whilst ‘Mind of a Toy’ left no doubt to just how Visage shook the scene up with their mix of dark and disturbing lyrics filtered through accessible New Romantic music.

The aptly named ‘Glorious’ was a dip into the latest collaboration between Ure and Egan, a track that showed there is still plenty of gas in the tank between these two creative souls before an achingly beautiful ‘Fade to Grey’ closed the first section of the set. Ure’s vocal interpretation adding extra colour and warmth to the song.

Egan then left the stage, giving it solely over to the rest of the band as the Ultravox section opened with the extended instrumental of ‘Astradyne’, small flames lighting up across the sweeping backdrop and cones of light swept across the audience. A bold choice to open the ‘Vienna’ album, the tracks hypnotic bubbling synths were both brave and thrilling creating a sound big enough to fill arenas.

‘New Europeans’ brought us back into more of a New Wave territory with its Stranglers meets ‘Metropolis’ steampunk and ‘Private Lives’ juxtaposed powerful funk, kaleidoscopic keys and gliding vocals.

As epic and panoramic as ever, ‘Passing Strangers’ filled the hall with music and light and the end section saw some visceral guitar work that brought back Ure’s days as a guitar hero with Thin Lizzy. With a cry of ‘’are you allowed to dance?’’ the pneumatic ‘Sleepwalk’ elicited a huge cheer and saw a new burst of movement from the seated audience as they did their utmost to truly shake a leg whilst still staying in their seats.

‘Mr X’ and ‘Western Promise’ followed before the track that probably every soul in the hall had been waiting for started with that familiar synth/drum combo. Time has done nothing to diminish ‘Vienna’, it’s grandeur inescapable, it’s powerful peaks no less magnificent and the drama in both the build-up and crescendo just as breathtaking, Ure’s vocals at their finest.

A full pelt the bruising ‘All Stood Still’ closed the main set before the band came back on stage to play ‘Passionate Reply’, a song that was part lush orchestration with delicate vocals to match and part industrial heft. Again, sandwiched between better known Ultravox songs, this B-side of ‘Vienna’ showed the strength of their songwriting and vision for the future whilst capturing the beauty of the past.

The closing salvo of ‘Dancing with Tears in My Eyes’, ‘The Voice’ and ‘Hymn’ ended the evening perfectly, finally spurring the audience to get to their feet and sing along lustily as they celebrated not just the music but the era.

Ure has never stopped looking forward, continuing to grow as an artist whilst never denying his past and, as such, ‘the 1980 Tour’ perfectly encapsulates this ethos as he breathes new life to songs that aren’t just empty re-runs of previous glories but monuments to the game-changers, past, present and future.