63 year old, synth Icon, Howard Jones, did it again! ANOTHER SOLD OUT Toronto show, cranking out his hits one right after the other, as he revved us up with 'Like to Get to Know You Well' from his international chart-topping gold and the platinum-selling studio album, 'Dream Into Action' (1985). This hit was clearly the most ebullient piece to kick off both the July 13th Toronto Phoenix Concert Theatre & the July 14th Peterborough Music Festival with. Howard charged up his legions of fans with his crowd-pleasing selections,
though each performance resembled each other, there were slight differences. By adding in familiar hits, 'Look Mama' & 'Engage' into the club atmosphere set list was genius, also, adding in 'Don't Always Look At The Rain' was such a fitting inclusion, as we were fending off raindrops prior to the outdoor Peterborough curtain call.
July 13th, TORONTO Phoenix Concert Theatre 2018
Pearl in the Shell
Conditioning
Look Mama
New We're All in This Together (Animal Crackers)
Equality
Everlasting Love
Hide and Seek - 33rd Anniversary of Live Aid and Hide and Seek
Engage
Human Touch
Life in One Day
What is Love?
Things Can Only Get Better right into his extended club landis re mix.
Encore: Howard's biggest single, No One is To Blame
Peterborough Music Festival July 14, 2018
Pear in The Shell
Conditioning
Life in One Day
New Animal Crackers - Stay with Me song - We're All in This Together
Don't Always Look at the Rain
Equality
Everlasting Love
Hide and Seek 33
Human Touch
What is Love?
New Song
Howard states, “If things in your life get to you and you feel bad, you say to yourself” and the audience screamed, "THINGS CAN ONLY GET BETTER" (Dream into Action – 1985) and that was his cue. The stages lit ablaze with both his regular version, continuing into the revised extended new dubstep version and the crowd went berserk!!
Encore: No One Is to Blame.
HOJO's 3 Ontario dates, especially July 13th, were in celebration of his 33rd anniversary regarding his appearance on LIVE AID and the release of his song 'Hide and Seek' from his debut album 'Human's Lib'. As well, his performance in Peterborough marked the music festival's 32nd year as an entertaining service to the community, and who was more fitting to host than Peterborough celebrities, DBIA's Terry Guielle and
The Wire Megazine's Michael Bell.
The Wire Megazine's Michael Bell.
It was solid excitement to see my boss on stage as co-host, and overall festival sponsor after interviewing HOJO for the front cover of the Wire Megazine, thus, setting myself and fellow Wire Megazine Photographers loose throughout the event, snap-happy fans we were for certain.
Both show attendances climbed into the thousands, the sound at both venues was nothing short of spectacular. However, I do prefer the fresh air to the dry ice & the squishy, sweaty, up close and personal audience feel. Every square inch of the 18,000 square foot Phoenix was occupied. Yet, Peterborough's Summer show had double the crowd capacity, but, being alongside Little Lake provided a welcomed breeze.
He continued to engage his audience and incorporated them into his shows, encouraging the audience to howl "While the wolves are gathering round your door" as
fans sang word for word, loud and proud as HJ continued to mimic a wolf howl...totally PRICELESS!
Being closer to his childhood hometown of Ottawa during his Ontario tour, he reflected on what great times he had in both the amazing cities of Ottawa & Toronto growing up and touched on the Wonderland's Kingswood Theatre memory when he was an opening act on tour with the multi-award-winning Eurythmics in 1984. This fond memory was regarding himself looking for a grand entrance to his stage and he decided to climb the fence and come thru the crowd, with a little boost over the fence from Eurythmics Dave Stewart.
"So for me, I thought that was my role in music, was to present a positive view. Everyone has down times or bad times or is struggling with something or other. Nobody escapes that. Music and art can have that function of giving you a bit of a boost at the time you need it. I was always very aware of that, as a person listening to music and benefitting from it, so I set it out as my mission and to put positive messages in everything I do," Howard Jones shared.
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He has continued to define techo/new wave/electronica for the past 35 years & well into the 3rd millennium, he exudes an infectious adrenaline and is constantly breaking new ground and still going strong. Howard is in rejuvenating form, full of organic new elements as he has been going back into the vaults and remastering his greatest hits to introduce those songs to newer generations. Gentle and shy off stage yet, under the bright lights with headset mic and keyboard within reach, Howard’s persona explodes full of passionate energy. HOJO stated, “songs can really lift your spirits & that his work hit a chord with young people who were struggling.” I agree as this is the reason I have always been a HJ fan. His lyrics resonated in my heart as a teenager, helping me to get above some really tough times & still lifts my spirits to this very day.
Thanks to my fellow Wire Megazine Photographer Chris Robson for capturing this momentous shot back of
Del Crary Park Stage!!
Thanks to my fellow Wire Megazine Photographer Chris Robson for capturing this momentous shot back of
Del Crary Park Stage!!
Stay in Tune with Mr. Jones at www.howardjones.com as he sports 15 top 40 hits and over 8 million albums solidifying his legacy into music history.
Check out his latest works BEST: 83-87
Announcing Cherry Red Records releases of expanded reissues of
Human’s Lib and Dream Into Action.
Originally released in March 1984, Human’s Lib entered the UK Album Charts at No.1 selling over 100,000 copies in the first week and spending a total of 57 weeks in the chart whilst achieving Double Platinum status with sales in excess of 600,000 copies. Four songs from this album were released as singles in the UK, all of which reached the Top 20: ‘New Song’ peaked at No.3, ‘What Is Love?’ at No.2, ‘Hide and Seek’ at No.12, and ‘Pearl in the Shell’ at No.7. As well as achieving great success in the UK, “Human’s Lib” and the various singles taken from it also enjoyed tremendous success internationally in such countries as USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and throughout most of Europe.
With Howard’s full involvement, this prestigious debut album is being re-issued in four remastered formats including a Super Deluxe Box Set with the following features:
THE DELUXE EXPANDED 2CD+DVD SET
12” PICTURE DISC FEATURING THE STEG ORIGINAL ALBUM FRONT COVER ARTWORK
THE WHITE TAPE REPLICA PRE-CONTRACT DEMO CASSETTE CONTAINING REMASTERED VERSIONS OF FOUR ORIGINAL DEMO TRACKS
AN EXTRA BONUS CD CONTAINING FURTHER PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED STUDIO, LIVE AND BBC SESSION AND REMASTERED TRACKS
THE LONG DELETED LIVE IN JAPAN CONCERT RELEASED ON DVD FOR THE FIRST TIME TA REPLICA OF THE ORIGINAL HOWARD JONES FAN CLUB RISK MEMBERSHIP CARD
HUMAN’S LIB ARTWORK LITHOGRAPH
REPLICA OF HUMAN’S LIB 1984 TOUR PROGRAMME
SET OF 5 BUTTON BADGES
Released in March 1985, Dream Into Action reached No.2 in the UK Album Charts and achieved Gold Album status. Like its pre-decessor “Human’s Lib”, “Dream Into Action” contained four Top 20 hit singles; ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ reached No.6, ‘Look Mama’ at No. 10, ‘Life In One Day’ at No.14 and ‘No One Is To Blame’ at No.16. In addition to these four Top 20 Hit singles, the original CD version of “Dream Into Action” also contained a bonus track, namely Howard’s hit single from the previous year - ‘Like To Get To Know You Well’ - which reached No.4 in the Singles Chart. “Dream Into Action” also enjoyed massive international acclaim and success; particularly in the USA where it reached No.10 in the Billboard Album charts achieving Platinum status. It spawned three Billboard Top 20 hit singles including ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ at No.5, ‘Life In One Day’ at No.19 and a re-recorded version of ‘No One Is To Blame’ featuring Phil Collins on backing vocals and drums (produced by Hugh Padgham), which gave Howard his biggest ever US hit single reaching No.4. As well as achieving great success in the UK (# 1) and USA, “Dream Into Action” and the various singles taken from it also enjoyed tremendous success internationally in such countries as Canada, New Zealand, Australia and throughout most of Europe.
Again, the Cherry Red reissue will come in four remastered formats, the Super Deluxe Edition of which has the following features:
THE DELUXE EXPANDED 2CD+DVD SET
12” PICTURE DISC FEATURING ORIGINAL ALBUM FRONT COVER ARTWORK
AN EXTRA BONUS CD CONTAINING THE FARMYARD SESSIONS PLUS OTHER PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED AND REMASTERED TRACKS
THE LONG DELETED LAST WORLD DREAM CONCERT RELEASED ON DVD FOR THE FIRST TIME
REPLICA OF THE HOWARD JONES FAN CLUB RISK MEMBERSHIP CARD
DREAM INTO ACTION ARTWORK LITHOGRAPH
REPLICA OF DREAM INTO ACTION 1985 TOUR PROGRAMME
SET OF 4 BUTTON BADGES
The other three formats include white and green vinyl editions, a deluxe 2CD and DVD digipack edition and an expanded single CD edition.
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