Midge Ure at Bath Forum
Catalogue - The Hits - Tour
I’m going to throw it back six months, to the 12th of November 2024 ,when I visited the Bath Forum to photograph Midge Ure and his band.
If you’ve been following me for a while then you will probably know that I tend to photograph Midge whenever he tours. This, however, was the first time I had been to one of shows since his EPIC performance at the Royal Albert Hall. My photographs from that performance went on to be featured on a specially realeased LP and DVD so I was excited to see what the new tour had in store.
As it so happened, the show in Bath was the first night of the “Catalogue - The Hits” tour. I aimed to arrive early, grab a coffee and catch-up with the band. But being, as ever, a very technical show, soundcheck unfortunately ran rather late. Instead I found myself wandering the aisles, re-familiarising myself with the venue and offering to run the occasional errand to help out.
I had once again been granted an AAA pass (Access All Areas) to document the entire performance. I never take priority access such as this for granted - especially during the first night of a new tour - and so I am always grateful when it is offered.
Bath Forum is an interesting venue. I love it for concerts but I do find it rather challenging to shoot. For seated performances such as this, there really isn’t a great way to get close to the stage without getting in the way of the audience. Consequently I tend to find myself shooting more or less from the side of the stage (which doesn’t offer the best angles) or crouched down in one of the aisles (which means I can’t see the performers feet and my ever-aging knees don’t allow me to get back up whilst carrying heavy camera equipment so easily)! BUT the freedom I am given to shoot the entire set (rather than the typical three song limit) more than makes up for those restrictions.
As ever it was an amazing night! India Electric Company opened the show as normal - I always feel rather proud seeing my friends up on stage, even if I am watching them through a viewfinder most of the time! After showcasing a few of their new songs, Midge joined them onstage (after the interval) for the main event.
I’m not a music journalist so I won’t give you a review of the show. All I’ll say is that I very much enjoyed it! The hits were all there and I had a lot of fun running around the venue - front to back, top to bottom - endeavouring to get the best photographic angles for each song.
I’ve included a selection of my photos below which, in reality, represent a very small proportion of the images I actually came away with. During the edit I seem to have leant heavily into atmospheric black and white photos which I’m not mad about. I’d love to hear what you think.
