Live Aid founder Midge Ure finds intimate Mississauga audience to his liking

Mississauga | Halton | Oakville | Ontario | Entertainment | Latest News | Music |

By

Published November 10, 2021 at 6:42 pm

Iconic performer Midge Ure found an appreciative audience in Mississauga this week (photo by Kevin Alberga)

A legendary musician who played a major role in one of the biggest-selling Christmas songs of all time as well as producing a world-wide fundraising concert event, performed three sold-out shows to an appreciative Mississauga audience earlier this week.

Midge Ure, co-writer of Do They Know It’s Christmas with Bob Geldof in 1984, which the duo spun-off into the Live Aid concerts six months later, performed acoustic sets as part of the on-going concert series presented by Classic Bowl.

 

The Scottish-born Ure brought samples of his more than 50 years of genre-crossing music to the intimate stage as he continues a North American tour.

The 68-year-old has played in such bands as Silk, Thin Lizzy, Rich Kids and most famously Ultravox, but it was his and Geldof’s response to the famine in Ethiopia in the mid-80s that prompted the production of Do They Know It’s Christmas. The recording brought together the top musical talents of the day in the U.K. to form Band Aid which raised more than US $24 million for famine relief.

Subsequent recordings by artists in the United States (We Are The World) and Canada (Tears Are Not Enough) raised millions of dollars more for the cause.

Then, on July 13, 1985, simultaneous concerts in London and Philadelphia and other impromptu events around the world attracted a television audience of 1.9 billion for Live Aid and raised another US $127 million for famine relief.

Most importantly, through the efforts of Ure and Geldof, the world’s attention turned to the persistent crises experienced in Ethiopia which led to an ongoing global response of humanitarian aid to Africa.

But for his Mississauga audience on Monday and Tuesday of this week, Ure sprinkled his two-hour long set of classics with banter and tales from his storied career which ended in a meet and greet with fans afterwards.

The show is part of a reboot of the concert series presented at Classic Bowl as new artists are being lined-up for shows well into next year.

On tap before the end of 2021 are Carole Pope (Dec. 5) and Chalk Circle (Dec. 19)

 

insauga's Editorial Standards and Policies advertising