It’s really hard to think that the 80s was 40 odd years ago. A time to look back on with great fondness to those who lived thru the decade. The TV we watched, the movies in the cinema and above all the great music of that era that is still prevalent and, in some cases, thriving to this day. One artist who stood out in the mid-80s was keyboard wizard Howard Jones. With a string of chart singles and albums to his name, he was always mentioned as a rival to Nik Kershaw who saw a similar vein of form at the same time. Howard is back on tour, this time promoting his 2nd album Dream into Action for its 40th anniversary. A selection of tracks and other hits would be showcased on this tour.
Opening for Howard Jones tonight is Roxanne de Bastion. The singer songwriter, based in London originally hails from Berlin and she has been performing her own material from the tender age of 15. Her music is a complete contrast to that of the headliner, with a stripped back, sometimes acoustic approach, just her and a guitar or keyboard, and assisted by another guitarist. She opened with a track Molecules which required some audience participation, to which the crowd duly obliged.
A main point of her short set was a duet crafted between herself and a piece penned by her grandfather Stephen de Bastion, aka Istvan Bastyai Holtzer. A Hungarian by birth, he was a concentration camp survivor and a noted musician and composer before the war put paid to his career. Roxanne had written a song incorporating a recording of her grandfather’s music adding a lyric and her own stunning vocal to create a very moving moment. A cover of Nena’s 80s classic ’99 Luftballoons’ followed later as a homage to her German heritage, which the crowd joined in with on backing vocals again. Her set went down well with the Glasgow crowd, a great start to the evening.
And now for the main event. A technical glitch meant the bands introduction to the stage was temporarily postponed for a short period, but 5 minutes later the lights in the hall dimmed for a second time as the music boomed from the PA system. Fanfare for the Common Man heralded the band’s introduction to the arena, with Howard appearing from a bright orange spotlight at the rear of the main stage. Armed with a keyboard and wearing red laser omitting glasses, the familiar horn introduction of Pearl in the Shell signalled the concert was off and running, with debut hit New Song and Like to Get to Know You Well carrying on.
The record Dream into Action is 40 years old, the 1985 album reached number 2 in the UK album charts and included top twenty singles such as Look Mama, Life in One Day and No One Is to Blame. All of these were included on tonights setlist, some of the bigger hits of Jones’s career and the main reason so many packed out the concert hall this evening. Other album tracks Assault and Battery and Bounce Right Back were among the tracks reworked, reimagined and remastered for the tour, with Howard proclaiming ‘he likes to reinvent things.’ He provided an insight to the tracks in between songs which is always nice to hear how the music was nurtured and developed.
Theres a wide and varied selection for tonights set but one which would cover all bases, with choice album tracks and the main top tunes all performed and it was these numbers the crowd came to hear. Everlasting Love, Hide and Seek and You Know I Love You, Don’t You had the crowd enthralled before Howard’s top charting single What Is Love lifted the roof with the crowd melding with the band in vocal duties. A terrific single back in the day and still sounding fantastic played live 42 years after its release. There was one more song to round off the evening in the encore, and he would never get out of town alive if he hadn’t given the audience one more singalong, and one more costume change. Things Can Only Get Better hit number 6 in the charts in 1985 and rounded the evening off perfectly.
Howard Jones played an important part in the sound of the 80s. His body of work stands the test of time and the fact he still sells out gigs all over the world is a testament to this. His fans love the music as much now as they ever did and with performances like tonight it’s easy to appreciate why. He is still in great voice, he knows his way around a synthesiser or two and the songs he wrote a few decades ago still sound great and get the people on their feet. Jones performs with an enthusiasm which is infectious, he bounds around the stage like he was 21 again and is clearly enjoying performing his songs to the fans, old and new. Things can only get better he says? Well, they don’t come much better than this!
Review & Photographs by Stephen Wilson Photography
