Howard Jones
About Howard Jones
Due to logistical travel issues, Howard Jones must cancel his first tour date at The Wellmont Theater, scheduled for November 21st, 2016. Tickets can be refunded at point of purchase
After an extraordinarily successful 2012 which included tours of Japan, UK, USA, Singapore and Australia, Howard Jones continued touring in 2013 which marked 30 years since the release of his first single ‘New Song’ in 1983. A tour of the USA with Erasure’s Andy Bell in August and three very successful special UK concerts in November marked this special milestone.
The August 2013 US Tour included a long overdue return to the legendary Greek Theatre in Los Angeles and a spectacular sold out concert at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga (San Francisco). This was the first time Howard had played The Greek since the eighties. The tour culminated at the Arena Ciudad de Mexico in Mexico City playing to an astonishing 13,000 people. This was the first time Howard had ever played a concert in Mexico.
At the November 2013 30 year celebration UK concerts Howard debuted a brand new suite of songs under the name ‘Engage’ which were presented with bespoke video and multi-projection. The response to this new material was extraordinary with many claiming it was the best music Howard has ever written and performed.
Howard appeared as special guest to Michael Sheen on January 4 2014 at BBC Radio Two in London. Howard performed ‘Hide and Seek’ live and Michael played the world premiere of ‘Human Touch’ from the Engage set.
Howard Jones is playing multiple festival dates in the UK in the summer of 2014 including the Rewind Henley festival on 17 August 2014. He then embarks on a huge US, Canada and South America tour co-headlining with The Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey.
It was in 1983 that Howard Jones first burst upon the contemporary music scene with his very English song-writing and pioneering synthesizers. Anyone who was around in the mid to late eighties will remember those high energy gigs and his first two albums Human’s Lib and Dream into Action. They lived in the higher reaches of the album charts in the UK, USA, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Canada, Australia and many other countries in the 1984-86 period, and the hits kept coming……..New Song, What is Love?, Pearl in the Shell, Hide and Seek,(which he performed at Live Aid in 1985), Like to Get to Know You Well, Look Mama, Things Can only Get Better, Everlasting Love and the quintessential No One is To Blame, which reached No.1 in the US.
Howard Jones re-mastered those first two classic albums ‘Human’s Lib’ and ‘Dream into Action’ and played them both live in their entirety for the first time at the IndigO2 in London’s O2 Arena Complex. The re-mastered albums are available from www.howardjones.com. A special re-mastered box set of the 12” mixes was also released together with a DVD of the IndigO2 concert. A third box set in the trilogy was then released which featured re-mastered versions of the next three albums ‘One to One’, ‘Cross that Line’ and ‘In The Running’.
A classically trained pianist, Jones applied his technique to the early synths particularly the Roland Juno 60, the Jupiter 8 and the Moog Prodigy. He also pioneered the classic Roland TR808 drum machine and the Sequential Pro-One. In the early days he was triggering sequencers live on stage whilst playing and singing, something that no one had done before.
These days he still operates on the cutting edge of technology and has been one of the leading exponents of the Roland Fantom G8 and the Roland V-piano. Many contemporary giants of the dance world have shown interest in working with Howard which has resulted in tracks such as ‘And do you Feel Scared?’ with Eric Prydz, ‘Into the Dark’ with Ferry Corsten, a 2012 collaboration with Grum and the 2013 version of ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ with Cedric Gervais.
My Space used this version to launch their new service at the Miami Winter Music Conference in March 2013 by advertising the track on 300 taxis, 50 trucks and even a plane with a banner which flew up and down Miami Beach. The track was released worldwide in July 2013 and reached the top 10 in the US Dance Chart. Howard Jones incorporated this version into his 2013 live performances.
Jones appears on stage with Robbie Bronnimann on live sequencing/sampling and effects using Ableton Live and various controllers, and usually Jonathan Atkinson on electronic drums.
Always one to take chances, Jones continues to write great songs inspired by his Buddhist beliefs as is evident on his last studio album ‘Ordinary Heroes’ which featured a string quartet on every track and one of the best Welsh male voice choirs in the world The Morriston on the song ‘Soon You’ll Go’.
In June 2012 Howard made a Kaleidoscope documentary in ‘The Song that Changed my Life’ BYUTV series. The documentary premiered on 8th October 2012 in USA and has subsequently received great reviews. It can be streamed at www.thesongthatchangedmylife.com.
Throughout 2012 school choirs from all over the world recorded Howard’s song ‘Building Our Own Future’. The project called ‘Voices Around the World’ started in Namibia and went viral with over 300 schools taking part. A compilation of some of the performances can be viewed at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqNY1j7nmwc&feature=share
A second Voices Around the World video ‘Unshakeable’ was launched in February 2014 and features 3500 voices from 42 countries.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPFT5IhHHQk
But 2014 will mark the continued touring of one of the true eighties icons and godfathers of modern electronic dance music in full electric mode. If you were too young the first time around it’ll be a chance to find out where all those beats and sounds came from, and if you were around it’ll bring all those memories flooding back.
