ULTRAVOX (SUPP. SONJA HAERING, 26-04-2010) (NL + E)

Bijna 30 jaar geleden was er een megahit: Vienna. De vier heren die destijds vooral in het begin van de jaren tachtig furore maakten gelden als pioniers in het New Wave genre. Als je beseft dat Ultravox al uit 1973 stamt wordt duidelijk dat de heren Midge Ure (gitaar, zang, toetsen), Billy Currie (toetsen, viool), Chris Cross (bas, toetsen) en Warren Cann (slagwerk, elektronische percussie) al aardig op leeftijd zijn.

Voordat deze rijpe vijftigers echter het podium op mochten, was er eerst een lieftallig Belgische, genaamd Sonja Haering die samen met Fedra Coppens onder de naam Mitras recentelijk een interessant album uitbracht. Zij bespeelde iets wat op een simpele melodica leek maar vooral een 'klassieke' viool als wel een elektrische. De begeleidende percussie en synths kwamen via de Apple lap top en daaroverheen speelde Sonja prachtige melodietjes en aardige solo's. Het licht was een ramp: schijnwerpers recht op het publiek gericht, maar de muziek mocht er wezen!

Daarna was Ultravox aan zet. De bekendste nummers uit die fameuze jaren tachtig werden met verve gebracht en als je deze muziek nu beluistert zoals die die avond op het podium werd gepresenteerd had het evengoed Muse of misschien wel Coldplay kunnen zijn. Laat Midge Ure dan wat moeite hebben met de hoogste nootjes en laten deze heren niet de meest virtuoze muzikanten zijn, zij hebben wel een nieuwe stijl helpen creëren en de nummers staan als een huis. Van New Europeans tot Dancing With Tears In My Eyes, van Rage in Eden tot White China en van Vienna tot Sleepwalk: alles klonk strak en zeker in het normale bereik bleek Midge Ure nog een zeer begenadigde zanger. Na een krappe 1 uur en drie kwartier was het tijd voor The Voice als laatste toegift. De nagenoeg volle poptempel heeft meer dan genoten, geklapt en meegezongen.

 
Voor de fotografen helaas wat minder succes: na een paar nummers in sfeervol maar erg mager licht moesten de camera's worden opgeborgen terwijl een paar honderd mensen met allerlei kleinere toestellen maar bleven schieten, vaak met flits. Een vreemde benadering van hoe je je artiesten een goede publiciteit kunt geven!!

ENGLISH:

Ultravox has been around for over three decades, dating back as far as 1973. Originally the line up featured a vocalist later known as "John Foxx" but Billie Currie, Chris (St. John) Cross and Warren Cann were part of the line up that recorded the first albums.
The big hits came after 1979, when Midge Ure came into the band as a replacement of John (Dennis Leigh) Foxx. In those early eighties Ultravox recorded songs like Vienna, Lament, Dancing With Tears In My Eyes and are regarded as pioneers of the New Wave genre. Nowadays, with dance music & modern technology, in my opinion Ultravox's music still stands the test of time and I'm inclined to call their music 'progressive' in the sense the melodies, the violin and the use of multiple electronics, both on stage as well as on their albums.

As always The Amsterdam Paradiso was full of enthusiastic fans, in this case mostly people in their forties and fifties. The support act was the lovely Belgian musician Sonja Haering. Recently she put out an interesting album together with Fedra Coppens under the monniker of "Mitras". Barefooted, she played a classical violin, an electric violin and a melodica, accompanied by electronic keyboards and percussion, provided via her Apple lap top. Because of the really horrible lighting, namely some 6 spotlights at the back of the stage pointed directly towards the audience and thus making it virtually impossible to see Sonja really clearly. The melodies and solo's she played were tasteful and the appreciation of a big part of the crowd was understandable and completely justified.

Then it was time for the 4 guys responsible for all those lovely songs in the eighties: Ultravox. Featuring their most successful album Rage In Eden, the band played professionally and with concentration. The major role was of course for the now bald Midge Ure, who sang most if not all the lead vocals during the performance. Although he experienced some difficulties with the highest notes, for me his voice was remarkably well preserved and most of time the renditions of all the songs were pretty close to the original recordings, including the sound of the synths!
Cross switching from his Rickenbacker bass to keyboards, Cann from drums to electronics, Currie from keyboards to violin and Ure from guitar to keys: it was quite busy on the stage. Although none of the musicians can be regarded as virtuoso's on their instruments, it's the combination of the melodies, Ure's voice and the arrangements that makes the sound of this band still unique. It might well be some of the music by bands like Coldplay or Muse have been inspired by Ultravox.
Songs like opener New Europeans, Rage In Eden or White China are all little gems in the genre of symphonic pop music. The crowd clapped, danced and sang along with hits like Lament and were ecstatic when after some 1 3/4 hours the last encore The Voice filled the venue.

The right time and the right place for Ultravox in the Netherlands and personally I really hope the band will try to record a new album because in my opinion there is still a place for 'eighties new wave' in 2011!

Epilogue from a frustrated photographer:
It makes no sense to me to allow hundreds of people to use little flash camera's throughout the whole concert, while people like me with bigger camera's, not using flash, trying to promote the bands and their music, are forced to stash away their gear after fifteen minutes of music while in that period, except Midge Ure, the members of the band were in the dark for almost the whole time! During the time frame photographers were allow to 'shoot' the performing artists, the lighting was truly crap.

Line up:
Midge Ure - Lead vocals, guitar, keyboards
Billie Currie - Keyboards, violin, backing vocals
Chris Cross - Bass, keyboards, backing vocals
Warren Cann - Drums, keyboards, backing vocals

Setlist Ultravox:
New Europeans
Passing Strangers
We Stand Alone
Mr X
Visions In Blue
Thin Wall
Death In The Afternoon
Astradyne
Rage In Eden
Lament
White China
Hymn
One Small Day
All Stood Still
Vienna
Reap The Wild Wind
Dancing With Tears In My Eyes
Loves Great Adventure
Encore 1:
Sleepwalk
Encore 2:
The Voice
Links: www.ultravox.org.uk