The new music website Tunited which Midge has been developing for the past 12+ months has officially launched, and Midge has been doing the rounds of Breakfast TV etc etc this week.

Midge says -

'it's great to have Tunited up and running at last. A fair, open door music site for anyone who is interested in making or listening to
Independent music. Music not picked by a panel of people who decide what you hear but music recommended by and for music lovers'

Find Tunited here, where you can also find a new work in progress song - "Become" by Midge.

Frid. Oct 22nd Dudelange, Luxembourg, Opderschmelz 00352-470895-1

Sat. Oct. 23rd Memmingen Kaminwerk 0049-(0)180-5004222

Sun. Oct. 24th Darmstadt Centralstadtion 0049-(0)6151-3668899

Tues.Oct. 26th Dortmund Piano 0049-(0)231-604206

Weds. Oct. 27th Zoetermeer Boerderij 0031-(0)79-3211012

Thurs. Oct. 28th Stuttgart . LKA Longhorn 0049-(0)711-4098290

Full ticket links on the gig guide page

A final pair of Ultravox shows in the UK have been added onto the end of the Scandinavian dates - the shows are at the O2 Academy venues in Sheffield and Newcastle - both cities that were missed out on the April dates due to venue unavailability....

Ultravox shows have been added in Sweden in August.

Dates are as follows -

Friday August 6th Bergs Slussar, Linkoping, Sweden

Saturday August 7th Varbergs Fastning, Varberg, Sweden

Friday August 13th Stromsholmen, Eskilstuna, Sweden

Saturday August 14th Hamntorget, Helsingborg, Sweden

Monday August 16th TBC

Tuesday August 17th TBC

Weds August 18th TBC

Friday August 20th Gasklockorna, Gavle, Sweden

Saturday August 22nd Kalmarsundsparken, Kalmar, Sweden

Tickets for all the shows in Sweden, which are all under the Festival banner of Forever Young can be found here, with further line up info here

Rich Kids guitarist passed away yesterday - Midge has issued the following short statement -

In January The Rich Kids got back together to perform one last time to help guitarist Steve New.
Sadly Steve lost his battle with cancer last night.
Another one of the good ones gone.
My thoughts are with Steve's family and close friends.

Midge Ure May 25th 2010

Radio 2 and Radio 4 are places Midge can be heard in the near future....

The Steve Wright Show on BBC Radio 2 - Thursday April 1st from 14.00 (recorded this Monday March 29th), and -

BBC Radio 4 on Saturday April 17th 10.30 AM - an investigation into the history and influence of the Blitz Club, and its far reaching effect on the UK music scene.

 Both shows will be available to listen again via the BBC websites.

Midge will be featured on the Sky Arts Songbook programme on Thursday December 17th at 20.00.

The programme which was recorded at Real World studios in Box in August of this year features Midge playing both Ultravox and solo songs in acoustic mode, and talking about his influences....

Link to the Sky Arts webpage here

A little late adding this - the press release from Live Nation for the UK Ultravox shows that were added to the European tour -

ULTRAVOX BACK ON THE ROAD - RETURN TO EDEN PT II

Strictly Embargoed until 9am Monday 23rd November

London, Monday 23rd November, - Following their amazing 15 date comeback sell out tour of the UK, which included two outstanding shows at Hammersmith Apollo and The Roundhouse in London this year, Ultravox have today announced a some UK tour dates in April 2010 on the eve of their first European Tour in 25 years.
Due to phenomenal public demand, Ultravox will venture out on the road again in April 2010, aptly named 'Return To Eden Part II' this follows amazing fan reaction and very high critical acclaim and stellar reviews from the media. The band's line up of Midge Ure, Chris Cross, Warren Cann and Billy Currie, will perform 6 shows across the UK and Europe. Fans can look forward to the band performing material from all their albums, including Vienna, Rage in Eden and Quartet and material not covered in the last tour.

Ultravox were one of one of the primary exponents of the British electronic pop music movement of the early 1980's.

"When we talked about the possibility of getting together to do the 2009 tour it was only ever going to be a one off celebration of our achievements and to mark the fact it was the 30th anniversary of writing Vienna so this was never, ever on our radar. This has simply come about by the desire and phenomenal reaction by the public to see and hear more. We have all agreed to perform a handful of shows in the UK in 2010 to coincide with the release of the live DVD we recorded at the Roundhouse back in April. It just seems like a great way to leave a little addition to our substantial legacy before we all move on. We were always a live performance band and the DVD and demand for the new shows kind of confirms that" states Midge Ure

Live At The Roundhouse DVD and Live CD coming soon….

Return To Eden Part II April 2010
TUESDAY 06 BIRMINGHAM SYMPHONY HALL
WEDNESDAY 07 LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL
THURSDAY 08 MANCHESTER APOLLO
SATURDAY 10 OXFORD NEW THEATRE
SUNDAY 11 LONDON HMV HAMMERSMITH APOLLO
MONDAY 12 BRISTOL COLSTON HALL

Tickets will go on general sale from Friday 27th November, at 9am and will be available from www.livenation.co.uk

All tickets subject to booking fee £32.50 / £29.50- Regional £32.50 / £35.00 - London

A Live Nation and Solo presentation

The full date sheet now looks like this -

Tues April 6th Birmingham Symphony Hall
Weds April 7th Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
Thurs April 8th Manchester Apollo
Frid April 9th Off
Sat April 10th Oxford New Theatre
Sun April 11th Hammersmith Apollo
Mon April 12th Bristol Colston Hall
Tues April 13th Off
Weds April 14th Off
Thurs April 15th Zurich Volkhaus
Frid April 16th Off
Sat April 17th Munich Tonhalle
Sun April 18th Offenbach Capitol
Mon April 19th Koln Musical Dome
Tues April 20th Off
Weds April 21st Hannover Capitol
Thurs April 22nd Off
Frid April 23rd Hamburg Grosse Frieheit
Sat April 24th Berlin Admiralspalast
Sun April 25th Off
Mon April 26th Amsterdam Paradiso
Tues April 27th Copenhagen Pumphuset
Weds April 28th Stockholm Berns
Thurs April 29th Off
Frid April 30th Oslo Sentrum Scene
Sat May 1st Bergen Old Bull Theatre
Sun May 2nd Off
Mon May 3rd Bochum Zeche
Tues May 4th Off
Weds May 5th Luxemburg Den Altier

Full ticket outlet details on our gig guide

The original (and only) line up of The Rich Kids will reform for one night in January 2010...

The press release from Live Nation is as follows -

Steve New - Rusty Egan - Glen Matlock - Midge Ure
Watch 'Ghosts of Princes in Towers'

Former Rich Kids members Glen Matlock and Midge Ure have come together to organise a celebratory benefit concert in London. This very special evening will see the coming together of all four original Rich Kids: guitarist Steve New, drummer Rusty Egan, bassist Glen Matlock and singer Midge Ure. The event will take place at the O2 Academy, Islington on Thursday 7th January 2010. The show will start promptly at 7pm and tickets will be on sale from Friday 4th December from www.livenation.co.uk.

Guests confirmed so far are The Illuminations (featuring Clive Langer, Steve Allen and Ian Broudie), TV Smith (from the Adverts), Viv Albertine (from The Slits), Carbon Silicon (featuring Mick Jones and Tony James), Patti Paladin and Gary Kemp (from Spandau Ballet).

Glen and Midge will perform solo slots on the night and Steve New will play with his band Beastellabeast before all four of the Rich Kids take to the stage for one night only. The special guests will no doubt “join in the racket and play guitars very loudly” according to Midge Ure.

Rich Kids – For One Night Only

Thursday 7th January 2010 O2 Academy Islington, London

Tickets go on sale Friday 4th December at 9am and are priced at £17.50 and can be booked through www.livenation.co.uk (all tickets subject to a booking fee)

For PR Enquiries: vanessa.cotton@triadpublicity.co.uk

Vanessa Cotton 020 7267 5121

For further Rich Kids info: Rhys Mwyn rhys@rhysmwyn.com

A quick short dash around Germany has been fitted in to start 2010 off - dates are

Tues.Jan 19th The Fabrik, Hamburg. +49 40 3910 70

Weds. Jan. 20th The Zeche, Bochum. +49 234 298795 72

Thurs. Jan. 21st Speicher, Schwerin. +49 385 512 105

Sat. Jan 23rd Hohnerkamps Ballsall, Melle. +49 5422 704546

Sun. Jan 24th The Scala, Ludwigsburg. +49 7141 388 144

Mon. Jan 25th The Capitol Theatre, Mannheim. +49 621 3367333

Two gigs have been added to the Ultravox tour of April 2010 -

Zurich on April 15th, and Amsterdam on April 26th.

Both shows will go on sale this Saturday , September 26th.

Ticket links can be found on our gig page here

Midge will play at the "Homecoming Live gig at the Glasgow SECC on November 28th 2009,alongside many other Scottish acts.

The gig is designed to tie in with both St Andrews Day 2009 and a year long celebration of Scottish music and arts in what is the 250th anniversary of Robbie Burns birthday. The SECC will be effectively transformed into an indoor festival site for the show.

Tickets go on sale on Friday Sept.11th at 9.00AM

Some info can be seen here

On the same theme Midge will be hosting the Burnsong "Song Final Awards" at the Scottish Parliament on Monday November 30th.

Midge will be the guest on tomorrow (Monday May 11th) nights BBC radio 2 Jools Holland show.... Midge will join Jools and his big band for an interpretation of Man Of The World in a slot where guest artists choose and then perform a favourite song.... Links here and here..

This guest appearence was recorded on Feb. 17th this year.

Midge presents another of his infrequent Radio 4 documentaries, this time focusing on African music from the townships both historically and in 2009 .

Featuring South African act Abavuki the programme was recorded in and around Soweto township in the last week of January this year.

To be broadcast on Radio 4 on Saturday April 11th at 10.30 AM, listen again will be available on the Radio 4 web page

Ultravox are featured in the April edition of the UK music and record CD review magazine Record Collector.

Info can be found here

Ultravox will play the Isle of Wight Festival on Saturday June 13th 2009.

The band will play the Big Top, mid to late evening.

Tickets are available here

Ultravox will play the long running Lokerse Festival in Belgium on Saturday August 8th 2009.

Tickets are 25 euro in advance, or 30 euro on the day, and will be available here

Midges albums Pure (1991) and Breathe (1996) get repackaged with many extra tracks by Edsel Records (Cat No: EDSD2034 ) for release on April 6th

Track Listings -

Pure

1 I See Hope In The Morning Light
2 This World Has Music
3 Pure Love
4 Sweet 'n Sensitive Thing
5 Let It Go?
6 Rising
7 Light In Your Eyes
8 Little One
9 Hands Around My Heart
10 Waiting Days
11 Tumbling Down

Bonus tracks:
12 Flowers
13 Supernatural
14 I See Hope In The Morning Light [single remix]
15 The Man I Used To Be
16 Madame De Sade
17 Dear God [live]
18 Just For You [live]

BREATHE

1 Breathe
2 Fields Of Fire
3 Fallen Angel
4 Free
5 Guns And Arrows
6 Lay My Body Down
7 Sinnerman
8 Live Forever
9 Trail Of Tears
10 May Your Good Lord
11 The Maker

Bonus tracks:
12 Breathe [live]
13 Man Of The World [live]
14 No Regrets [live]
15 Cold, Cold Heart [live]
16 Trail Of Tears [live]
17 Tor

The soundtrack Midge recorded for the independent movie "Went To Coney Island" is back in print after many years of being unavailable...

For those who don't know the CD it leans musically more towards Move Me than Breathe, and is a good example of "instrumentalUre"

Available here.... go buy it... Richard who did the movie is a nice guy !!!

Midge yesterday recorded a session for future broadcast on Jools Hollands BBC Radio 2 show which goes out every Monday evening at 22.30...exact broadcast date is as yet undecided..

Midge will be on BBC Radio 2 on the Jonathan Ross radio show this Saturday Feb 21st at 10.00 AM, available to listen online here

Just to clarify (somewhat late I know) that the live "extra" tracks on the I tunes download version of "Ten" are from the Intimate Moments 2 CD/DVD and as such are not unreleased in any shape or form.......

If you own IM2 , then you have these tracks already...

Apologies for not making this clear from the outset - we were not kept up to date about the inclusion of these songs on the download version....

An acoustic session is being recorded at Abbey Road studios tomorrow AM, for Absolute Radio (Virgin radio as was) which will be broadcast later in the day - possibly during the drivetime spot from 16.00 onwards...

Info here, the show can be heard online here, or on a radio (!) at 105.8 FM in London, or 1215 AM in the rest of the UK

Midge can be seen on the ITV daytime chat show "Loose Women" on Wednesday September 24th at 12.30 PM...with various repeats during the following few days...

Loose Women has a website here, where clips can be seen.....

"Ten "is now available form the MU shop to preorder...

The first 100 copies will be signed and numbered by Midge...

The CD will start shipping on Monday September 29th to be with you (UK that is) the day after......

Talking about Ten, Ultravox reissues, and life in general !!!!

Usually around 9.05 AM (after the news!) - BBC1...

The BBC has a "watch again" facility called BBC I Player, if you want to try and find BBC Breakfast on it here is the link. ...(good luck!!)

Confirmed a few days ago by EMI are the track listing details, and release dates of the remastered / expanded versions of the Ultravox CDs of Vienna and Rage In Eden

Track listings are -

Ultravox - Vienna (2 CD remastered edition)

Local cat no: CHRX 1296

CD 1:

1. Astradyne

2. New Europeans

3. Private Lives

4. Passing Strangers

5. Sleepwalk

6. Mr. X

7. Western Promise

8. Vienna

9. All Stood Still

CD 2:

1. Sleepwalk (Early Version)

2. Waiting

3. Face To Face (Recorded live at St Albans, 16/8/80)

4. King's Lead Hat (Recorded live at The Lyceum, 17/8/80)

5. Passionate Reply

6. Herr X

7. All Stood Still (12" Version)

8. Alles Klar

9. Keep Talking (Cassette recording during rehearsals)

10.Sleepwalk (Recorded live in rehearsals at The Lyceum,17/8/80) (Previously unreleased)

11.All Stood Still (Recorded live in rehearsals at The Lyceum,17/8/80) (Previously unreleased)

Ultravox - Rage In Eden (2 CD remastered edition)

Local cat no: CHRX 1338

CD 1:

1. The Voice

2. We Stand Alone

3. Rage In Eden

4. I Remember (Death In The Afternoon)

5. The Thin Wall

6. Stranger Within

7. Accent On Youth

8. The Ascent

9. Your Name (Has Slipped My Mind Again)

CD 2:

1. I Never Wanted To Begin

2. Paths And Angles

3. I Never Wanted To Begin (Extended Version)

4. Private Lives (Recorded live at Crystal Palace, 13/6//81)

5. All Stood Still (Recorded live at Crystal Palace, 13/6/81)

6. I Remember (Death In The Afternoon) (Recorded live at Hammersmith Odeon, 1981)

7. Stranger Within (Recorded live at Hammersmith Odeon, 1981)

8. Rage In Eden (Recorded live at Hammersmith Odeon, 1981)

9. Accent On Youth (Recorded live at Hammersmith Odeon, 1981)

10.The Ascent (Recorded live at Hammersmith Odeon, 1981)

11.Your Name (Has Slipped My Mind Again) (Recorded live at Hammersmith Odeon, 1981)

12.Stranger Within (Work in progress mix)

13.The Thin Wall (Work in progress mix)

Release date for both CDs is set for September 22nd

The track listing , cover and release dates for Midges CD of cover versions are all finally with us ...(only taken 25 years eh ??!!)

Track listing is as follows -

1 Alfie.

2 Man Of The World.

3 Goodbye To Love

4 Day After Day

5 Let The Heartaches Begin

6 My Minds Eye

7 Song For While I'm Away

8 Nevermore

9 To Sir With Love

10 Lady Stardust

Release dates are at the moment set as -

UK - September 29th

Europe - October 10th.

Front cover looks like this -

Which in case you were wondering is taken from one of Midges photos, of a famous UK landmark......

The CD will be available for pre order from the MU on line shop approx one week before release date, and will be shipped on 29/9/08

The finished mix of Man Of The World gets an early release on a free CD on cover of the July / August edition of music magazine Rock'n'Reel.

Available from most large newsagents / HMV / whatever Virgin is called now, or try www.rock-n-reel.co.uk. Price is a reasonable £4.25....

We are pleased to announce that Midge has been asked to join the Night Of The Proms shows in Belgium and The Netherlands in October & November 2008.

Midge will be joining the house band, replacing long time MD John Miles who is touring with Tina Turner....

Midge will be playing guitar in the house band as they back the likes of Sinead O'Connor and Simple MInds as well as singing a song or two of his own..

Ticket details can be found on our own gig page and on the official Night Of The Proms web page here

Midge has a guest vocal appearance on a track called "Smile" released on a new CD called "Colour" by an artist called Andy Hunter.....

The guest spot came about at the invitation of the album co - producer Robbie Bronniman (a friend / co keyboard player of Howard Jones) who Midge has known for a long time....Robbie played keyboards at the Wicked Women Breast cancer charity concert that Midge was MD for in Hyde Park, London in July 1999

Samples of the track can be heard here and here....

The song can be purchased via Andys web site - www.andyhunter.com

Two tracks from the long talked about (27 years!!) "covers CD" will be released as a promo single to German radio for the tour in April,

This limited edition (1000 copies) 2 track CD (to be called "Two" ) will also be sold (in an attempt to undermine ebay trade ) at the German shows, and online in the MU shop (shipping to begin after the German tour on April 28th.

The two tracks will be -

1 Man Of The World - Real Player and Windows Media ,

2 Alfie - Real Player and Windows Media

Proposed CD artwork looks like this

The full CD, entiltled "Ten" will follow later this year...date to be discussed

We are very very pleased to be able to announce that Midge will be playing this years Cropredy Festival in Oxfordshire on Saturday August 9th.

For those not in the know the festival is hosted by English folk / rock legends Fairport Convention - however the festival should not be considered a "folk festival" by any sense of the word - as this years line up - featuring Supergrass, The Levellers, Joe Brown, The Muffin Men (a Frank Zappa tribute act) is as varied as always....

Midge is playing the prestigious "special guest" spot just prior to Fairports headline slot - typically a 3 hour + show !!

Tickets for the 20,000 capacity event, which generally sells out well in advance will be on sale from March 1st

The release date for this seems to have gone back to December 2008 !!!

We would suspect this means - "forget it" !!!!

If we have any more news we'll let you know !!!

Midge has two tracks - If I Was & Dancing With Tears ...... on a new double CD and DVD (catchily entitled "Das Konzert") of the concert he performed at in Wolfsburg for VW on June 3rd 2007 with the all star band "The Soulmates"

Other artists on the collections include Paul Young, Chris Thompson (from Manfred Manns Earth Band) Nick Van Ede (from The Cutting Crew), Chris De Burgh, Howard Jones, Robin Gibb (the Bee Gee), and German superstar Peter Maffay.

Available (according to Amazon) from January 27th as a double CD and a DVD....

It is unlikley we will have any copies to sell in the online shop, so grab em where you find the best price !!!!

Link to Amazon...which is German (cos its Amazon .de) - but it does show the full track listing.........which I'm not going to type out again here!!!!

Link to DVD info here

 To be released just in time for Christmas is the next Midge Ure shop Live CD from the archives of oblivion....

"A Live Xmas Gift" - as it will be called is taken from a 1985 Radio broadcast of the show at Wembley Arena, with 4 tracks to fill the single CD from Crawley a month earlier in the tour.

Track listing is as follows -

1 When The Wind Blows... Sample - Real Player Windows Media

2. Living In The Past ..........Sample - Real Player Windows Media

3. Wastelands

4. No Regrets

5. After A Fashion

6. The Chieftain

7. Dancer

8. Fade To Grey

9. Sleepwalk

10. If I Was

11. Antilles

12. That Certain Smile

13. The Gift

14. She Cried

The front sleeve looks like this