Hold onto your hats, it's Ultravox!


I know, I thought they were dead too. In fact at one point I was convinced we were watching a personal appearance by the cast of 'Last of the Summer Wine'. But in reality, Ultravox are alive and well, and playing the Brighton Dome on a Thursday night in April. Sometimes I wonder if there's an 80s act Lisa won't buy tickets for.

Admittedly Midge Ure is looking like a cross between Phil Collins and Dr Evil these days, and appears to have fed not just the world but himself, but don't let that put you off. The man can still belt out a tune and play the guitar with the best of them.

To be honest, I'm too young to remember Ultravox (although I can sing 'Shaddap You Face' by Joe Dolce), but as luck would have it, Lisa's considerably older than me and permanently living in the past. So she booked the tickets without telling me. And what better way to pick myself up after a family funeral, than dancing with tears in my eyes to a live rendition of 'Vienna'. Thank God the babysitter was willing to work two days in a row.

Lisa and I saw Midge Ure play live four and a half years ago, and his ex-wife lives about two hundred yards from our flat, so we're practically family. I enjoyed his performance in 2004, despite knowing virtually none of his songs (I didn't say we were close family), so I was looking forward to last night's reunion. And I wasn't disappointed...


Well, not until the second song. To be honest, I loved their opening number, an instrumental piece which left me hungry for more and with high hopes for the rest of the night. Hopes which gradually faded as the evening went on. I don't think I liked any of the subsequent songs as much. I couldn't help feeling that about half of them would have benefitted from a tune. They finished on a high though, with 'Vienna', 'Dancing With Tears in My Eyes', and a third one which Lisa claimed I really should have known. I keep telling her, this was the early eighties. I was too busy buying records by The Smurfs and Orville the Duck.