Midge Ure is preparing to perform in East Anglia as part of The Voice & Visions Tour, 40 years since Ultravox's Rage In Eden and Quartet albums. Rachel Banham reports.

The technology of the time was a long way from the equipment that musicians have today, yet the songs of the 1980s are still popular with those who grew up with them – and they’re garnering fans from younger generations too.

At Norwich Theatre Royal on September 26, Midge Ure and Band Electronica will transport the audience back to that decade of electronics, experimentation and synthesizers, showcasing highlights from Ultravox’s Rage In Eden and Quartet albums, alongside hits from Midge’s back catalogue.
It’s a tour that has been a long time coming - and it’s one that Midge is looking forward to.
“They’re both albums that I haven’t played for a long, long time,” he says.
“I think maybe after the success of the previous tour, which was The 1980 Tour (in 2019), when we did the entire Vienna album – people absolutely loved it – so we felt the logical thing to do now was go forward and look at the next two albums and highlight those.”
At the start of 1981, Ultravox were laying their claim to be one of the defining acts of the 1980s following the global success of their hit Vienna.
Heading back into the studio the same year, they recorded their second album with Midge as frontman, Rage In Eden, which made the Top Five in the UK album charts.

Great British Life: Midge Ure is highlighting two of his early albums on The Voice & Visions Tour, which he is bringing to Norwich.Midge Ure is highlighting two of his early albums on The Voice & Visions Tour, which he is bringing to Norwich. (Image: Midge Ure)

Quartet, their third album with Midge, was released in 1982 with production from legendary Beatles producer Sir George Martin. It became their third Top 10 album, featuring four Top 20 singles including the anthem Hymn.
Midge says: “The whole period was such a fantastic time. The early ‘80s - modern technology appearing, drum machines and synthesisers, all of that stuff - all at that time when song writing was incredibly important, so it was a really vibrant time. You felt as though you were doing something that felt fairly unique in the world of music.
“The thing that puzzles me is how we actually did what we did back then because the basic technology was so incredibly basic, but we managed to do amazing things with it. Now, of course, you can do it all on a computer, it’s all quite straightforward.
“Being able to create something like that nearly 40 years ago was quite something, so that’s been a real eye opener for me.”
The key to it all, he says, was writing a really good song.
“With Ultravox, back in the day, we just said we would use whatever instruments were available to make the noise that we could hear in our heads – so everything from a violin all the way through to a drum machine, so we encompassed all of that in those early recordings,” he adds.
“For us it was all about just doing whatever was in our hearts and not aiming to try and get Top 10 records. The fact that a lot of them became fairly commercially successful was despite the fact we were writing music – it was kind of an added bonus really.”
And it’s not just the original 1980s generation who are now keen to hear the music performed.
“It’s moved over to a whole different generation as well. It’s moved down into the younger generations…,” Midge says.
“It’s great that people who were back there at the time relive their youth a little bit. But also the younger generations are seeing something they never thought they’d see or hear live.”

Great British Life: Midge Ure plays Norwich Theatre Royal on September 26, 2022.Midge Ure plays Norwich Theatre Royal on September 26, 2022. (Image: Copyright:Alan Wild Photography/www.alanwildphotography.com)
Midge has performed across East Anglia in the past, including Bury St Edmunds, Ipswich, Cromer and King’s Lynn, and is delighted to perform at Norwich Theatre Royal.
“I think it will be quite emotional, to tell you the truth,” he says.
“This tour – The Voice & Visions Tour - has been postponed twice and that’s just heart-breaking - not just for an audience but for us because we are so looking forward to it.
“Performing live is something I’ve done since I was 14 and it’s not something I have to think about, it’s something I’ve just always done.
“To have that taken away has been devastating, but to have it coming back is thoroughly exciting. It will be emotional - and it will be fabulous.”
Midge Ure and Band Electronica bring The Voice & Visions Tour to Norwich Theatre Royal on September 26. To find out more and book, visit: norwichtheatre.org
See other dates on the tour at: midgeure.gigantic.com
Visit Midge’s website at: www.midgeure.co.uk

Great British Life: Midge Ure features in the September 2022 issue of Let's Talk magazine.Midge Ure features in the September 2022 issue of Let's Talk magazine. (Image: Archant)