It had to happen, sooner or later…
So there it is. Up front and as bold as life. I got an email last night from Jordan, who comments here in occasion. My wife has been holding out for a JF+TM tour of some sort, and when “The Machine” was pencilled in for release last year, I had hoped that the album would be tourable, but it’s not really a “rock” album and thus would not support a tour. I get that. It now seems that all that will happen live with the band for the first time since their tour opening for OMD back in 2013, is this one-off pairup with #1 acolyte Gary Numan. It makes total sense. Without Numan talking up Foxx, chances are many might have never heard of the man. Personally, I’m over Numan. I have been for years, but if a kindly reader with several thousand to tithe made the effort, sure, we’d go. Heck, I’d even stay to see how Numan was.
The Liverpool Event Centre is a large venue with a seating capacity of 10,600 and the ticket prices for the concert are what I consider modest, especially for a venue of this size: £33.50/£42 [$41.63/$52.19]. The Maths lineup seems to be a trio this time with Foxx on synths, Benge on synths/SDS pads, and Hannah Peel on synths/violin. Tickets go on sale Friday, March 3rd at 10 a.m. here. Doubtlessly top commenter Echorich will be kicking himself for heading over to the UK over five months too early. Chin up, chum! We’re all in this together.
Speaking of John Foxx and Hannah Peel of The Maths, the quiet man has just recorded vocals with Ms. Peel for her new single B-side, available as a DL on her webstore. The A-side is “Hope Lasts” from her new album, but Foxx has sang a duet with Ms. Peel on the B-side, a cover version of the wonderful Paul Buchanan song “Cars In The Garden” from his stellar “Mid Air” album and don’t you just know that this will be quite the lovely thing to hear! Unfortunately, we will have to wait a few months for this to reach our ears since the release date is April 7th, 2017. Those interested in sampling and pre-order should click here.
Not to be outdone, ‘Vox Vocalist #2 is getting ready to rock out… In Germany
Readers may know that I enjoyed the Midge Ure tour of North America last year, and last month. I caught shows on both legs [I almost can’t believe I can say that…] and lapped up his great, stripped down electric rock show, in contrast to the acoustic/folkie show he was staging in the UK and OZ/NZ. Well, it looks like he’s taking it back to his roots for a German tour this Summer. Electronic rock music with a four piece band, this time! Get down with your bad self, sir! Tickets go on sale tomorrow here. Mr. Ure promises on his website that it’s time to get back to his electronic roots with a band that can play songs “that haven’t been aired in a while.” Hmm. That seems like code words for many of the same delights that we got in North America; namely half of the “Vienna” album. With a larger band, expect a longer set list that we go, lucky Europeans. For those in the UK who just had Ure touring with mandolin and violin as backing, he adds that he hopes to bring this big show to the UK for a leg afterward.
Midge Ure Electronic German Tour | 2017
27 September | Frankfurt | Batschkapp
28 September | Munich | Technikum
29 September | Cologne | Kantine
1 October | Bochum | Zeche
3 October | Hamburg | Grünspan
4 October | Berlin | Columbia Theatre
– 30 –
Post-Punk Monk 
I’d love to see a Gary Numan and John Foxx and the Maths bill. (Numan was fantastic when he played here in NYC last year…and I’ve never had the pleasure of seeing John Foxx perform.)
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Steve – In America? It might be the only way Foxx could tour here. OMD had a fat US tour on the backs of Barenaked Ladies. Let’s start applying pressure to Numan!
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Numan will likely tour the US – major cities, limited shows when the Pledge project debuts. Bringing JF+T would mean a roadtrip for me. Although Numan has performed within 100 miles of Tampa in recent years, it was as an opening act.
As for the UK tour, yes Monk, I did think “WHY??” out loud when I read the same email notice. I will have to be satisfied for now with seats to The Machine Stops in 8 days while in London.
Still need to be convinced seeing Midge is a necessary show to see. He has strayed too far from his center, well the center I can appreciate, for far too long. The last Ultravox album and his recent solo effort show no evidence of a return to form, even if he can manage to play out the songs of his past.
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Echorich – Who did Numan open for in Central Florida??!! I’m curious. I wanted to buy Ure’s latest album when I last saw him. I felt I should give it an actual listen. As it turned out, his merch never made it to America for the 2nd leg, so instead of my best intentions to buy his new album at the merch table that time [I demurred in Atlanta, where it was there for sale], it didn’t happen for me. Yesterday, I was looking at the “Fragile” booklet on Discogs and the title track had the lyric “a weeping clown, just fragile” which jumped directly into my eyes like a laser, as if to warn me. I thought, maybe it was better this way. I’ll see the man play the material. He does it very well, but I still say he needs to stop doing it all himself [“played/produced/mixed by Midge Ure”] if he continues to record. Especially lyrics. Take him out of the New Romantic bubble and it all goes pear-shaped. With the right catalyst, I still say he could be a contender and surprise us all.
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Numan open for NIN on a few shows in 2013 including Orlando. I passed. I wish I had gone to the recent NYC show which I was Replicas plus a ridiculous wealth of classics like Films, Metal, We Are Glass and I Die:You Die (still one of the greatest song titles of all time).
As for Ure…I suppose if you found the right producer – not sure who that would be – and forced Ure to color within the lines, maybe the results would impress. But anything that harkens back to the disaster that was Brilliant must avoided at all costs.
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Echorich – NIN?? Of course! Who else??
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Echorich – I’m sure Tony Visconti could wring gold out of Mr. Ure. After all, he did once already by proxy! I still maintain that a team up with his friend Glenn Gregory could yield fat dividends. Maybe the insularity of his working methods works against him.
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I don’t know if I see Visconti finding working with Ure an ideal situation – at least on a full album. If say he could be brought in to “manage” the recording, maybe, but I don’t think Ure would allow any producer much input in the “process.” It’s some wonder that Conny Plank got two albums in (and how much we can be thankful he did) before the move to George Martin ushered in the new era which went steadily downhill. I wonder if someone line Peter Walsh might have some luck with Ure. He has managed to work with Scott Walker on four albums now and it is a magnificent creator/producer relationship.
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Echorich – You may have something there. Ure is enough of a Walker fan to perhaps submit to Walsh’s hand on the reins, but I maintain the Bowie connections of Visconti would hold equal sway, if not moreso.
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Wish I had the bucks to see that gig (CAD $ don’t go that far lately); Numan was in Calgary a few years back and the show was great; the new material off Splinter and his back catalog meshed well together albeit a tad too industrial sounding near the end of the night. His stage presence was what surprised me the most; some actual crowd interaction that I hadn’t seen much of in the live vids.
As for Fragile, I took the plunge and was impressed with the music but found the vocals a bit thin; not sure if that is related to tech use but still enjoyed the CD. Better than expected but not the killer stuff I had hoped for given the endless live/alternate presentation of his back catalogue that seemed to be all he offered for many years.
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KeithC – The first time I see “Fragile” in a store, I’ll probably bite and report back with my findings. Of course, this could take years.
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One might think that Numan would stray back to his older, better material on a tour with his Lord and Saviour John Foxx on it, as that metal/NIN type thing (which admittedly is probably much more profitable) isn’t gonna fly with Foxx fans. Sounds promising, and just four days after my birthday! Now if the Brexit debacle can just bring the pound down a little further …
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chasinvictoria – The £ has been in a decline since Brexit, but my wife priced plane tickets alone for this show: $3300!! So there’s still the problem of getting there!
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