Ultravox performance

Press, 4 February 1982, Page 4

Ultravox performance

Ultravox at the Town Hall last evening. Running time, 8.30 p.m. to 10.45 p.m. Reviewed by Nevin Topp. Ultravox ended by creating a rage in the Town Hall last evening, with many of the audience sweating it out front with the band. At times the English rock music band, which relies heavily on keyboards and synthesizers, was reminiscent of Pink Floyd, in a kind of another brick in the thin wall.

There was a kind of shock of the new in some ways from the sound that Ultravox made. For example, to my knowledge, it was the first time that a drum machine has been used in a rock concert in the Town Hall, and with the four members of the band all handling keyboards together in some instances it created an interesting sound.

Ultravox opened with “The Thin Wall,” which proved immediately popular, although this song and the next three were spoiled by a muddy mix, particularly in the vocals, which were difficult to hear. Ironically the same thing happened on the final song, “The Voice,” which like “The Thin Wall,” sounds as though it will be a commercial hit single. Live however, it seemed repetitive, lacking punch in the vocals.

THe setting at first seemed cramped, but the lighting effects and the backdrop of obelisks (looking like a section of Stonehenge) was interesting. As the show developed the claustrophic feeling of the stage was lost, and finally even Chris Cross stepped out from behind his bank of keyboards and jived around on bass.

Midge Ure was effective as the frontman both on vocals and guitar. The stage setting of him in a chair under a single hanging light (with a pull switch dangling from it) on the song, “Your Name,” had the atmosphere of an interrogation. “Vienna” seemed short, but the vocals were excellent and did not require the backing that “The Voice” seemed to need.

Billy Currie, on keyboards and electric violin, seemed quiet, but the drummer, Warren Cann, looked like a demented concert pianist, with his tousled hair, by the end of the show in spite of the occasional use of the drum machine., At first Ultravox seemed detached from the show, but even Ure smiled a few times during the performance, and the show gathered pace with songs such as “Sleep Walk” and “All Stood Still,” before “The Voice” encore. But for all the highlights there were also many lows in the sound, which failed to create enough interest.