Ultravox
Live @ Vox Club - Nonantola (Mo) 14.04.2010

We hope this is not the last tour, as announced via the usual well-informed sources. We really hope not, because the show put on last night at the Vox Club of Nonantola, near Modena, was hot, very hot. I attended an Ultravox concert for the sixth time, the fourth with the line-up Cann-Cross-Currie-Ure. I even went to London last year to see the band again after 16 years (25 with that particular formation), and this time was the best.

Some modifications were made to a few arrangements compared to the 2009 setup, and the result rewarded the choice of a small, intimate, low-key club, which was actually ideal for band-audience communication. The musicians themselves were surprised by the audience's participation, and they had a lot of fun. Added to the 2009 setlist were "New Europeans," "White China", and "Love's Great Adventure". I could have done without the last two, not the first. Still a full harvest from "Vienna" and "Rage In Eden," the two albums that more than any others define the sound and meaning of Ultravox in the colorful British music scene of 1979-1985.

Average age of those enslaved by passion: 40 years (at least), a few older fans with children (the best thing, generational communication), and a few live gems, meaning amazing versions, such as "We Stand Alone," "Astradyne," "Rage In Eden," "Hymn". The Ultravox smiles lasted until getting on the bus heading to Zurich. We hope they continue to deliver shows like this. And continue choosing not to release new material. The rumor (or rather, "The Voice") is that at the end of this European tour, everyone will go back to doing what they were doing before, separately. We shall see.

Cross looked revitalized compared to the old man at Hammersmith a year ago. He was bouncing and happily accompanying all the tracks taken from "Rage In Eden." Currie even broke the violin strings in "The Thin Wall". Cann had a series of laughs, Ure engaged in dialogue with the audience. So much for "cold electronic pop-rock."

Very hot. Like me, inside the Ultravox sweatshirt.