Midge Ure in Concert at Soiled Dove

Do you remember where you were during Live Aid in 1985? I understand this dates me, but I was 15 and glued to the television. As much as it pained me, I was too young to attend the American concert in Philadelphia. But I knew who Midge Ure was even then. In fact, Ultravox‘s “Dancing With Tears In My Eyes” remains a favorite song till this day. And, of course… OF COURSE… “Do They Know It Is Christmas?” is my all-time favorite holiday song. (Band Aid was co-formed by Midge Ure and Bob Geldof.) The idea of music bringing important messages around the globe is something that has inspired me, my entire life.

On top of his other talents, the man is a kick-ass photographer as well.

So when I saw that Midge Ure was playing a small stop in Denver from his festival tour with Howard Jones, I pretty much beat down their door asking to shoot the show.

The Soiled Dove is an intimate venue downstairs from a bar and restaurant in east Denver. I like attending shows there because the acoustics are great and there really is not a bad seat on the house. Such was the case for Midge Ure, where my friend Sam and I were one row up, able to see and hear perfectly.

Midge started off a little rough, in that his voice was crackly. Which went away very quickly as he whaled through his hits like “Dear God” and warmed up his voice. His Scottish sense of humor came through when he asked if we could understand his accent. “I know I sound like a mix of Craig Ferguson and Shrek.”

No, actually, he sounded like a world-class songwriter performing tunes we all loved from back then, as well as new gems from 2014’s “Fragile.” By the end of the night, Sam and I kept looking at each other… marveling how great he sounded, how his voice is so distinctive, and how much he commanded the whole room – just him and his guitar.

He had me glued to him, again.