Ure condemns Edinburgh violence

Midge Ure condemned anti-G8 protesters who sparked violence in Edinburgh city centre as “abhorrent” today.

The former Ultravox singer, a leading light in the Long Walk to Justice movement, also announced final details of a huge Live 8 follow-up concert at Murrayfield tomorrow night.

Late additions to the bill include Neneh Cherry, Will Young, George Clooney and Claudia Schiffer.

The singer also said there would be no goody bags for performers and they would be fed backstage on pie and chips rather than the more luxurious fare that was available at the Hyde Park concert at the weekend.

Ure was clearly dismayed by yesterday’s skirmishes between police and protesters.

Speaking in Edinburgh, he said: “Watching what happened yesterday afternoon is abhorrent to us guys.

“We are here as the antithesis of what those guys want to achieve. I still can’t understand what they are trying to do.

“We are here because we have an agenda, a point we want to make and we are doing that. Forget those guys with masks and swaddling or whatever it is around their heads.

“They should go home, there is no place for them here. We are here to do something positive and they are here to do something negative.”

Tomorrow’s concert in front of 40,000 people at Murrayfield will be opened by The Proclaimers and will also feature James Brown, Annie Lennox, Bono, The Corrs, Travis and Texas among others.

Youssou N’Dour and other African artists from Peter Gabriel’s Womad organisation will also perform.

Speeches will be made by campaigners including Bob Geldof.

Ure said: “The whole thing about tomorrow is it’s an event, not just a concert.

“We are not trying to compete with what happened in London. We don’t have a Madonna or a Robbie Williams.

“What I have pushed for is collaborations and combinations of musicians working together that you will never ever see again.”

He said he still believed firmly that music could be used as a vehicle to influence politicians.

“How amazing is it that politicians are now sitting listening to bloody musicians? It’s frightening.

“George Bush probably saw Live Aid 20 years ago, Tony Blair certainly did and Gordon Brown certainly did.

“They are there now to go and make a change, they are the guys in the hallowed halls.”

Responding to suggestions that bands involved in the Live 8 movement were benefiting from increased record sales, he said: “I expect to sell no more records than I sell anyway by doing this.

"People are there to add their little platform to what we are doing.”

Comedian Eddie Izzard, who was appearing with the singer at a press conference in Edinburgh, said bands and celebrities involved in the movement should also be judged on what they did afterwards.

He also condemned violent protesters, saying: “We have seen this before with the G8 and every G8 for the rest of history there will be this.

“They believe that by doing this, they are going to create more change for the agenda they have.

“We don’t believe that, we believe in people power, the kind of power that brought the Berlin Wall down. History will judge what people do this week.”