Howard Jones - 'Emerge's' as the God of keyboards!

February 20th 2015
London, Indigo2, UK

Howard Jones WoW's!!! fans with two amazing sets!

80's legend Howard Jones hit the London, Indigo2 for two amazing sets.

'Emerge'

Howard Jones ***** has over the years delivered not just music from the heart, but music with a mission powered by a courageous vision to get his audience into a rhythm. The first offering for this evening 'Emerge' set didn’t feel like it was just a showcase of the new album. There was much more going on in this show. It was a bold move to fuse Ballet, Modern Dance and Electro with philosophy and syncopated visuals. The audience is moved away from a passive immersion in a beautiful spectacle, and challenged to engage in an emergent, harmonious space.

The first part of the set was played from behind a veil, which was perhaps intended to make us feel like we were entering a sacred space. This may well have inspired a quiet sense of awe and anticipation of seeing what was behind the stunning visuals projected on to it.  We seemed to be invited to see ourselves as playful creators, and become part of the music. Gloves, makeup and an app that Howard Jones developed with ‘Spacestream.com’ allowed the audience to interact with the live show. Howard asked us to come out to play, quite literally, the audience could play air keyboard with florescent gloves against a giant projection of a keyboard to five pianos from the new album and eve create banner messages on their phones.

It was a brilliant concept, only let down a little by some of the audience tentatively faffing around with the app, a little ensure about how to use it, or having arrived too late to get a glove.  Personally I found myself being torn between using the app and using the camera on my phone to take photos of the amazing visual effects. The new album is seriously creative. It is a move away from hooking his audience onto catchy tunes and more about awaking the inner creative. Howard Jones is no longer positioned as a pioneer and innovator of Synth, but has an evolutionary.

'Greatest Hits'

Howard Jones ***** let 'Engage' speak for itself, and then he set out to get a little more personal for the next section of tonight with his 'Greatest Hits'. In this set... let's just say he engaged (like what I done their!!!) in light banter about his thirty two year journey in music and his pending landmark birthday on 23rd February (Which I actually share with him!!! which made it even more personal to me and I felt when they sang happy birthday) to him I got some of the good vibes to.  

The mood for this performance was light and joyful as the audience sang along to classic hits from 'Like to get to know you Well' to 'What is Love' and the simply amazing 'Just look at you Now'. Playing on the theme of the relationship between the song writer and the listener, Howard told us the story of how his own interpretation of a particular favourite, 'Hide and Seek', “hope you find it in everything you see” which was changed by a fan. Somehow there was a bigger metaphor lurking in this story. Howard Jones' power to inspire is not to be underestimated. 

The show is ended on a 'Things can only get Better' original and Dance remix which is so modern it could have been done by David Guetta or Basshunter showing that Howard Jones can really do anything he puts his mind to. This is a remix that would send any dancefloor into an Ibiza style frenzy, with it's big anthem Esq sound of the beats and the jumpin' vibe really ends the set in an unforgettable way. This 80’s icon has kept moving with the times and is definitely worthy of our accolade “God of Keyboards”.  His understatement was endearing,

As a bonus for people who managed to purchase VIP tickets they got a really intimate acoustic set upstairs, which was almost like a pub sing-a-long with acoustic guitar and a lot of banter and a very special version of the 10cc classic 'Dreadlock Holiday', Which the fans didn't just like it, they loved it. I really can't wait to see Howard again he is an artist that will not go away. So I will leave you with his own words “I don’t want to be hip cool,” ... we have to disagree with this and say sorry Howard this is the one thing you failed to do. You will always be cool with Music Trespass

Review by Devorah Lentii and Photo's by Dan Devour

Check Out! the Video for 'What is Love ?' Below...

Share

You can purchase: Music Trespass Magazine Issue 1 - Jan/Feb 2024

Digital: https://online.fliphtml5.com/qdazl/tbtj/

Also available from Amazon  - And will be hitting the shops soon.

Recommended Albums

Coming Soon

Album Chart

Coming Soon

 

Advertising

Please Email: Dan-MusicTrespass @live.co.uk