Courtesy Midge Ure
HELLO THERE!
It’s been an exceptional year so far and we are only 7 months in.
I think I mentioned in January I had 3 movies waiting to be Green Lit and if they all happen at once I am in trouble. Last Tuesday they were all green-lit within the same hour!
Luckily they follow back to back rather than all shoot at the same time. It means for me there is no time off between now and Christmas, but this is what I have lived for all my life, to be exceptionally busy in an industry I love.
And the name of the movies? I dare not mention them in case I jinx everything, I will let social media reveal what is going on, but I will say the last project of the year is a Netflix project……. soooooooo exciting.
I now own most of my back catalogue, the albums since 1987 and they are being scheduled to be re-released by Demon Music in CD and Vinyl within 12 months.
Taylor Swift’s legal battle with her back catalogue has caught my eye as I would like to buy my early catalogue and my interest is being blocked, see:
Billboard article
Variety article
Guardian article
NME article
DANCE IN THE HURRICANE was released as a single on Friday. This is a new mix making it suitable for radio as the album version is twice as long. You can download or stream it now.
For 20 years I’ve nibbled my way through bags n bags of liquorice only to discover if you’re over the age of 40 you shouldn’t eat it because it causes high blood pressure. YIKES!
Bali was stunning. Landing at Bali airport women where running up to me shouting “welcome Toyah, we are so happy you are here!” I had no idea I was known this far east. There were 2000 applications for tickets from the Philippines alone for a show with only 500 places available.
Anyone who has been to Bali knows how deeply spiritual the culture is, it’s steeped in ritual, our driver even made offerings to stop the volcano in Sumatra from erupting.
Dear Midge Ure went down with food poisoning immediately but managed to perform. Marc Almond was a scream, so funny, so wicked in all the best ways.
Carol Decker was the life and soul as usual, the glue holding us jet lagged souls together, telli
ng the most outrageous stories of rock star behaviour on planes.
The show was hot, even a light rainfall didn’t cool the evening down. The audience were totally up for it and so many from Manchester who had flown in especially….(I saw a few of them the following week at the O2 Newcastle.)
Next year we are planning Dubai and Singapore
Wherever I am in the world no one believes the amount of water I drink. They also don’t know WHY I want to drink so much water. It’s not because I am thirsty, its toxin flushing. I drink 5 litres a day, and when I requested this at the hotel reception they thought I’d got my calculations wrong…….They would allow me four bottles a day only, but by hook and by crook I got my 5 litres and I needed it in the 40% heat, it kept my top notes happy.
The past month has had an air of normality with an undercurrent of madness/ sadness and unacceptable behaviour.
I made it back to play Bognor on the Sunday, in a surprisingly relaxed state, but there was an atmosphere I couldn’t understand at the venue. Butlins like all of the venues is brilliantly run and super safe but two evenings before our show a fight had broken out, apparently a mass brawl among 200 people, which resulted in a guest dying, it was heartbreaking.
As a performer one of the most moving and compassionate experiences I ever have is looking out over a sea of faces and wishing them safety and happiness, for this to happen at a music event is tragic, my heart goes out to the man’s family.
I said something that night, whilst on stage that changed the room. The staff mentioned it to me as I came off, that the atmosphere lifted when I said what I said. The words that came out are “The audience are God.”
