LIVE REVIEW: Midge Ure, Emma Dunlop, Kelvingrove Bandstand, Glasgow, 06/06/2025
Back in December 2024 Midge Ure fans were treated to a fantastic show at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and he is now back in his home city to play a very unique venue in the Kelvingrove Bandstand right in the heart of Kelvingrove Park in the west end of the city. Celebrating one hundred years since it was built in 1924 the program of events at the amphitheatre seems to be growing by the year making it a standout when the weather is nice and thankfully we had not a drop of rain all night.
On a very poignant day when the D Day commemorations take place around the UK Bellshill singer-songwriter Emma Dunlop was selected as the support for the show and we can see why, the vocal range from this talented singer was astounding. There were already a few hundred in the venue when she took to the stage at 7.45pm, it’s a solo performance using mainly backing tracks as the set begins with Run, the acoustic guitar comes out for Flags that for us was the best of the bunch, although Last song What Do You Say also stood out. 7/10
This stage has already been donned by some big names on the days leading up to the Midge Ure show with Paul Carrack and Camera Obscura being just two of those for the Big Nights Out festival, Jim Ure and his Band Electronica take to the stage as the venue fills up nicely for what would be a sixteen track set. It was a little shorter than his previous set but nobody was complaining as the set began with If I Was, one of his most recognisable tracks and it gets the crowd up dancing from the off (well some of them anyway), it’s more of a collective singalong really. Passing Strangers is next up and is the first of an impressive ten Ultravox covers played tonight, that’s what most of the crowd are here for anyway no doubt while Jim Ure shows off his musical diversity by swapping guitar for keyboard during Reap The Wild Wind, that gets a fantastic response from the crowd.
Jim tells the story of his Top Of The Pops debut in 1976 with his then band Slik where he remembers The Walker Brothers played a cover of Tom Rush song No Regrets, this later influenced him to do his own cover of the track in 1982 and is one we get to hear tonight, it’s among the best of the set. Another Ultravox one is Sleepwalk that has the most memorable guitar riffs coming from Ure’s guitar and this is quickly followed by Peter Green Splinter Group cover Supernatural that goes down well with the knowledgeable crowd while Breathe is an acoustic moment for the band with three of them sitting on the stage and playing together with great cohesion. Vienna is the best moment of the night for us, a song that is recognised and revered worldwide, the crowd response is decent too even though it is a slow one, things soon pick up with Fade To Grey, the old Visage track that always seems to be the one to get everyone on their feet, it is the same again tonight as we all face our own mortality joining in with the chorus “Aaah we fade to grey”, this is more like the energy we are all looking for! The last five songs of the night are Ultravox ones kicking off with Love’s Great Adventure, Hymn and One Small Day, the latter being one of the songs Ultravox played at Live Aid in 1985, was that really forty years ago!
Before the always excellent Dancing With Tears In My Eyes we all join in with a short rendition of Flower Of Scotland, it didn’t do much good this Friday night though as Scotland’s football team lost 3-1 to Iceland. There was time for one song in the encore – The Voice – as all four band members are down at the front of the stage in a line playing keyboards or drums, the crowd are lapping it up as they realise this is the final chance to release any energy they had left. Tonight proves that there is plenty of life left in the Glaswegian who is now in his early seventies and looking at his tour schedule in 2025 is eye watering, Midge Ure and band have just finished a very successful North American tour and head to Germany later in the year for an extended tour while in between that they make an appearance at the Isle Of Wight Festival. 10/10
Written by: Alan Brown
