Midge Ure Breathe Again Tour

Midge revisits Breathe in 2015, 20 years on

Songs, like people have anniversaries and birthdays. None more so than the song and album Breathe...

With Breathe the problem is more a case of ‘which birthday to choose?’. First written and demoed in 1992? Rejected by my record company and re recorded in 1993? Recorded with a new producer in 1994, then put on the shelf by that same record company? Finally finished and toured in 1995? Released in 1996, to little media interest? Used by Swatch watches in 1997, spent over 8 weeks in the Italian charts? A hit across Germany, Austria, Switzerland & Spain in the first half of 1998? 

Confused? I was! So I have gone for 2015 as being 20 years on from the final completion, mixing of the album...

It was also the last time I toured the UK with an acoustic three piece - which is the plan for 2015. A set of dates to recreate the ‘Breathe’ album, with all its acoustic textures and nuances.

Helping me recreate this will be acclaimed folk / roots artists Cole Stacey and Joseph O'Keefe, who usually trade as ‘India Electric Co’.

Anyone who has attended one of my solo shows over the last 20 years will have seen (if not been aware) of the ongoing policy of giving upcoming performers a chance at a support slot. India Electric Co did one of these opening spots in 2011, and the wide range of musical textures they create immediately stood out.

As well as the Breathe album, we'll be giving the usual suspects a make over, so you'll still get to hear the other hits. I'm looking forward to it!

Midge Ure, Nov 2014
 

Breathe Again 2015 Tour dates

The ‘Breathe Again’ shows start in Scotland in March 2015, and will take place in May, June, and late September to mid October.

Thu Mar 19, 2015 Kirkaldy Adam Smith Theatre
Fri Mar 20, 2015 Aberdeen Lemon Tree
Fri May 1, 2015 Milton Keynes Stables
Sat May 2, 2015 Fairfield Halls Croydon
Sun May 3, 2015 Horsham (Sussex) The Capitol
Thu May 7, 2015 Shrewsbury Theatre 7
Wed May 13, 2015 Redditch Palace Theatre
Thu May 14, 2015 Salisbury Civic
Fri May 15, 2015 Minack Penzance
Sun May 17, 2015 Canterbury Gulbekin Arts Centre
Mon May 18, 2015 Colchester Mercury Theatre
Sat Jun 27, 2015 Gateshead The Sage
Sun Jun 28, 2015 Southport The Atkinson

On sale dates will vary from venue to venue, but most venues will be on sale over the next two weeks.

No further UK dates will be added after October 2015, and the will be no solo acoustic dates in mainland UK during 2015.

Band Aid 30

The Unexpected Reunion

Midge Ure and Bob Geldof are re-recording 'Do They Know It's Christmas' for a fourth time today, in its 30th anniversary year, following a call from the U.N. asking for their help in raising fund to fight Ebola in West Africa.

The money raised will keep Band Aid functioning as a "draw-down facility" - essentially a bank used to fund other aid agencies. Midge points to their relationship with the Mary's Meals organisation of an example of how this can work: "We got an email the other day from Mary's Meals when [Band Aid 30] was announced, saying 'Absolutely fantastic, because we are feeding 80,000 children right now in Liberia'."

Artists such as One Direction, Ed Sheeran, Chris Martin, Bono, Paloma Faith, Emeli Sande, Elbow and Bastille are all involved, recording their parts today. Paul Epworth, who has worked with Adele and One Direction, is producing.

The single will be available to download for 99p from 8am this Monday, 17th December, and as a physical single CD for £4 shortly after. You can see the first airing of the video on tomorrow night's X-Factor results show, ITV 8pm.

For the story behind the reunion, see this excellent Rolling Stone Magazine article. Photo by Matt Dunham/AP/Getty.

Vinyl180 Ultravox albums

Ultravox albums re-released on heavyweight vinyl

'Vienna' is the first of Vinyl180's series of Ultravox re-issues. Pressed on 180g vinyl and with initial copies on WHITE vinyl, with a bonus WHITE vinyl 7-inch.

Exclusive to the Vinyl180 online store for pre orders ONLY, you have the chance instead of getting your copy of Vienna on WHITE vinyl, you maybe the lucky recipient of 1 of only 100 copies pressed on CLEAR vinyl. This will be a purely random process when we pack all the pre-orders, and the bonus 7-inch will still be on WHITE vinyl. 

You can pre-order now at: www.vinyl180.com/acatalog/Vienna.html

The album comes in a heavyweight sleeve and inner bag with full lyrics, and the bonus 7-inch single includes live recordings of 'Sleepwalk' and 'All Stood Still' at rehearsals at London's Lyceum Ballroom on 17th August 1980.