As previously announced, Midge Ure is heading out later this year on ‘The 1980 Tour’, celebrating his time with Visage and Ultravox. Accompanied by Band Electronica, Midge will be performing the album Vienna in its entirety for the first time in 40 years since it was made.

It has now been announced that Visage co-founder Rusty Egan will be joining Midge for selected dates across the UK. This is the very first time that Midge and Rusty will take to the stage together to play some ground breaking dance tunes off the first Visage album, many of which have not been played live before. Rusty will also perform a DJ set for the first part of the show.

Rusty and Midge's paths crossed for the first time in post punk band The Rich Kids along with Glen Matlock from the Sex Pistols. Rusty had started a club night at Billy's in Soho with Steve Strange. Thus the seminal Blitz Club was born and became THE place to be seen.

Visage were formed from this genesis as a studio project taking their inspiration from the Dusseldorf scene combined with sounds of the Blitz Club. “It was a simple idea inspired by the desire to make European electronic dance music with our favourite musicians of the day”, Visage co-founder Ure said.

Rusty has also championed the Irish electronic band, Tiny Magnetic Pets, who will be appearing in Rusty's place at Manchester, Liverpool, Belfast and Dublin, as well as the shows in Europe in 2019. Describing themselves as “Kinda Krautrock-meets-Bowie-in-Berlin jamming with Stereolab/Massive Attack/Goldfrapp/Kraftwerk, sort of thing…” they should fit the bill perfectly!

The tour will now continue into 2020 with more dates added throughout February.

MIDGE URE & BAND ELECTRONICA – THE 1980 TOUR
OCTOBER 2019

6th – Norwich, Theatre Royal
7th – Birmingham, Town Hall
8th – Leicester, De Montford Hall
10th – Cambridge, Corn Exchange
11th – Cardiff, Tramshed
12th – Aylesbury, Waterside Theatre
13th – Glasgow, Barrowlands
15th – Guildford, G-Live
16th – Leamington, Assembly
18th – London, Palladium
19th – Southend, Cliffs Pavilion
20th – Ipswich, Corn Exchange
21st – York, Grand Opera House
22nd – Gateshead, Sage
25th – Manchester, Albert Hall
26th – Liverpool, Philharmonic Hall
28th – Belfast, Ulster Hall
29th – Dublin, Olympia Theatre

DECEMBER 2019

6th – Bochum, Germany
7th – Osnabrück, Germany
8th – Berlin, Germany
9th – Hamburg, Germany
11th – Ravensburg, Germany
12th – Munich, Germany
13th – Kassel, Germany
14th – Düsseldorf, Germany
17th – Aarhus, Denmark
18th – København, Denmark

FEBRUARY 2020

14th – Poole, Lighthouse
15th – Bath, Forum
16th – Blackpool, Grand Theatre
17th – Northampton, Royal & Derngate
21st – Birmingham, Town Hall
22nd – Brighton, Theatre Royal

FURTHER INFORMATION ON ‘THE 1980 TOUR’

At the end of the 1970s momentous change was afoot in Britain and the world – in society, politics, fashion and culture – and the musical landscape was also about to change forever. The guitar-driven dominance that had propelled rock and punk throughout the decade was about to end, as synthesizers signalled the sound of the future and video transformed the look of the pop charts. The 1980s were about to explode into life and nothing would be the same again.

At the heart of this seismic leap into a futuristic new dawn were two records that set the template for much of what was to follow. Visage’s single ‘Fade To Grey’ from the band’s debut eponymous album and Ultravox’s single ‘Vienna’ from the album of the same name were global hits that shared the same stark ambience, European aesthetic and electronic heart. The albums that birthed those landmark singles expanded that sonic palette even further and brought the art-school alternative into the very centre of the mainstream.

Both records were co-written, recorded and produced by one of the leading characters in British music, Midge Ure, and not only transformed the charts around the globe but his life in the process.

“Autumn 1979 was a pivotal point in my career trajectory,” Midge Ure explains. “Over the previous two years I had grown from ‘pop band’ (Slik) to ‘post punk band’ (The Rich Kids) to being a stand in guitarist for Thin Lizzy. Over the course of autumn into winter 1979, while working on the Visage project with Billy Currie, I was invited to join Ultravox. The work we did that winter on the ‘Vienna’ album was an exhilarating rush of creativity the likes of which I had never experienced before.

“Forty years later I want to celebrate this period and as we pass from 2019 into 2020 play the ‘Vienna’ album in its entirety along with highlights from the eponymous ‘Visage’ album. Join me and my Band Electronica celebrating the year of release for both the Vienna and Visage albums....1980”.

Four decades on, as we come towards the end of another turbulent decade, momentous change is once again afoot in Britain and the world. Can we face the next decade with the optimism and futuristic brightness that flooded the 1980s, and will there be a new cultural birth that will change music, fashion and society?

The 1980 Tour reminds us that these things are possible. Both ‘Vienna’ and ‘Visage’ were the sound of the future… and yet still sound unearthly, romantic, impossibly beautiful and full of promise.

The music will be performed in a stage setting designed to reflect the atmosphere and ambience the albums deserve.