Midge Ure/Scenius
Bournemouth Pavilion
As a young and impressionable child, the first music I was exposed to was hearing “Forever and Ever” by Slik, played repeatedly by my cousins. It’s a track I still love to this day. Not long afterwards, one of our neighbours knocked on our door and offered my sister and me a couple of free tickets to see Ultravox in Poole on their 1986 U-Vox Tour. I later discovered that neighbour was Bob Ure, Midge Ure’s brother, who lived in the same road as me in Canford Heath, Poole.
Midge Ure’s career has featured some unbelievable highlights, and the Scottish musician’s CV is the envy of most in the industry. At 72, he is still creating music and, thankfully, still touring. Tonight, his latest tour arrives in Bournemouth to promote his newest album, A Man of Two Worlds.
Before the headliners, we have Scenius, a cross-channel project composed of duo Steve Whitfield from Leeds, UK, and Fab Nau from Angers, France. Their sound blends synth-pop, dark wave and post-punk, drawing inspiration from pioneers such as Kraftwerk, Brian Eno and John Foxx, alongside post-punk icons Joy Division, New Order, The Cure and Depeche Mode, while also embracing contemporary electronic influences including LCD Soundsystem, Boards of Canada and Boy Harsher.
The duo receive a warm welcome from the audience in this old Art Deco building. Kicking off with “Make It Shiny”, a track with gothic leanings, the soaring synths combined with Fab’s melancholic vocals showcase the band’s unique creativity.
“Cookie Cutter” is a highlight, with its electronic metronomic rhythms and infectious lyrics. Fab switches to his native language during “La Même Nuit”, whose instrumentation bears more than a passing resemblance to Bronski Beat’s “Smalltown Boy”. The French lyrics add further mystique to the track.
For their final song, “The Chinese Room”, the band save one of their very best. Steve’s sublime soundtrack-like arrangement, with its ethereal textures, captivates the audience. The duo take their bows and are rewarded with enthusiastic applause.
After a 20-minute interval, Band Electronica—featuring the youthful Cole Stacey (bass and keyboards), Joseph O’Keefe (keyboards and violin), and Russell Field (electronic drums)—arrive on stage alongside Midge Ure. Kicking off with “A Different View” from the latest album, three members of the band gather around the same keyboard, while drummer Russell amusingly mimics air-drumming before launching into the track in earnest. The instrumental begins quietly before building beautifully as additional layers are introduced.
Excitement among the crowd continues to grow. The audience is a mixture of first-timers and fans who have been there since the beginning. Most, however, have one thing in common—they are over 50. “Your Name (Has Slipped My Mind Again)” from Ultravox’s Rage in Eden reminds me of the remarkable diversity of the band’s catalogue. Its powerful lyrics evoke sensory loss, memory fade and disorientation—the devastating symptoms endured by dementia sufferers.
Smack bang in the middle of the set comes the unmistakable intro to the 1981 classic “Vienna”, and ripples of joy sweep through the audience. While the song retains all the majesty and passion of the original, Midge’s vocals are not quite as powerful as they once were. However, the audience more than compensates, singing the chorus at the top of their voices.
The second half of the set becomes a Midge Ure and Ultravox jukebox, with the audience encouraged to leave their seats and dance. From a personal perspective, the following 30 to 40 minutes were among the most joyful live music experiences I have had in a long time. With tracks such as “If I Was”, “The Voice”, and a superb version of Visage’s “Fade to Grey”, the hits keep coming.
The icing on the cake is “Dancing with Tears in My Eyes”, a song centred on the threat of nuclear holocaust from the perspective of an ordinary family. It remains a huge anthem, and Midge delivers it with real fervour.
The band leave the stage, but after a tremendous roar from the delighted crowd, they return for the encore and launch into Philip Lynott’s “Yellow Pearl”, famously known as the theme tune to Top of the Pops.
The evening ends on a high with one of Ultravox’s most emotive songs, “Hymn”, with is lyrics making the song like a musical version of the Lords Prayer. Once again, the audience joins in, and the Bournemouth crowd are in fine voice. Whatever your beliefs, it is impossible not to be moved by both the lyrics and the occasion. The four musicians take their final bows and are rewarded with an outpouring of enthusiastic support from their appreciative fans.
Set Lists
Midge Ure
A Different View
Again We Love (Visage)
Call of the Wild
Accent on Youth
Your Name (Has Slipped My Mind Again)
Astradyne
Wastelands
Man of Two Worlds
Lament
Monster
Vienna
Reap the Wild Wind
If I Was
The Voice
Fade to Grey (Visage)
Dancing With Tears in My Eyes
Encore
Yellow Pearl (Phil Lynott cover)
Hymn
Scenius
Make It Shiny
Some of Your Nights
melancholic
La Même Nuit (The Same Night)
Funny Sky
Five-Arm
Swift As Light
Chinese Room
Links
http://www.midgeure.co.uk
https://www.facebook.com/sceniusband
Article By David Chinery (Chinners)
Photographs used by Kind Permission of Rockstar Images (Allan Jones)
