AS the man behind 80s band Ultravox, co-creator of Live Aid and one of the men responsible for ‘Vienna’, Midge Ure has a magic touch when it comes to writing hits.

‘Vienna’, despite only reaching number two in the charts remains one of the biggest selling records of its year of release (1981) – famously kept off the top spot by Joe Dolce's novelty hit, ‘Shaddap You Face’.

‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’, meanwhile, is the biggest selling single in the history of the British Charts, and Midge’s single ‘If I Was’ from his solo debut album ‘The Gift’ went straight in at number 1.

Now his latest tour will see him reworking some of his best-known hits with completely new instrumentation.

“Some of these songs I’ve been playing for over 30 years, so you’ve got to change them and make them fresh,” he explained.

“Otherwise it becomes a chore, it becomes boring, and it’s like running up and down an escalator – you’re just not going anywhere.”

As well as a selection of hits, Midge will also be revisiting his Celtic roots by performing his 1995 album ‘Breathe’ in its entirety for the first time, ably accompanied by two musicians from India Electric Co, to recreate the nature of the album.

Always one to ring the changes, Midge’s fourth solo album had a very Celtic feel with a plethora of acoustic instruments from Uilleann pipes to mandolins and accordions.

“It’s an album not many people connected with at the time, but it seems to have touched a lot of people – it’s very organic and acoustic sounding,” said Midge.

He said the idea of creating a show around the album started after Electric India Company opened for him on some previous gigs.

“I was overwhelmed by how talented these guys are – they’re versatile and technically brilliant.

“I asked them if they would do some instrumentation for me on ‘Breathe’, since it was 20 years down the line, although they would probably have been in short trousers 20 years ago, he joked.

“I never played this album live – a lot of these songs have never been played – so it took a while for the nervousness to die down.”

But, for Midge, the hardest part was not recreating the ‘Breathe’ album but rearranging his classic tracks.

“Some of the things people would expect to hear just didn’t work in this format, but we’ve found something else that works brilliantly and so even audiences who have seen me before will be hearing something completely different.”

The reworkings have been going down a storm with audiences – at a recent session appearance on the Chris Evans breakfast show, Midge and band played both ‘Vienna’ and ‘Fade to Grey’ with a violin and accordion, prompting some listeners to proclaim it better than the original.

“The response was ridiculous,” he said, “people seem to love the fact that you can strip it down but it’s still that song.”

On why the time was right to revisit these traditional Celtic sounds, he said: “I think it’s been interesting that suddenly over the last few years modern acoustic folk music has become really important.

“With Mumford and Sons, for example, the fact that they were using organic instruments but sounding really powerful has had an effect on people.

“These days people just want to hear good music – they don’t care if it’s made with drum machines or on a matchbox.”

Midge’s glittering career has spanned over three decades - first as a member of Thin Lizzy, then Visage, Ultravox and finally as a solo artist.

He has also been a tireless campaigner for ‘Save the Children’, has an OBE, multiple Brit and Ivor Novello awards, and once came close to winning Celebrity Masterchef whilst enjoying his cookery hobby.

His most recent album ‘Fragile’ jumped onto the Radio 2 playlist last year and was voted one of the top 10 albums of the year by the Huffington Post.

“Obviously music is a completely different ballgame now – I wouldn’t like to be a new artist trying to get my music heard,” he admitted.

“You can put it on the internet but how do you point people to it, how do you get shows unless you’ve already got success?

“It’s great that people have got access to stuff, the problem is we now have an entire generation of people who think music should be free, and eventually it will grind to a halt.

“The technology’s not going to go away, you’ve got to try and make it work for you.”

The Breathe Again tour will see Midge stop at Ulverston’s Coronation Hall on October 15, and Preston’s Guildhall Charter Theatre the night before.

Midge has been choosing to play intimate venues in lesser-visited parts of the UK for years, as he explained: “When I first went out after Ultravox and started doing acoustic shows they tried to put me in, like, aeroplane hangars and it didn’t work.

“There’s something about the intimacy of these venues – I don’t want people watching me through screens, I don’t want them seeing me as a dot in the distance.”