Dream Into Action: Howard Jones in Concert

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I attended another conert of an artist that I missed in the 80’s.  I saw Howard Jones at one of my favorite venues, 4th & B.  I went with my concert buddy and best friend Janice.  We then met up my friend Merrick, who used to be in my choir.  Janice also met up with two of her friends from work, so it was a nice Wednesday evening get together.  I normally love opening acts, but I was actually glad that HoJo did not have one.  I liked that it was all Howard Jones, all night long.

Calling Mr. Jones, I must have your glitter pants!

After a minor technical glitch right following the first song (which was “Conditioning”), Mr. Jones played two sets of music:  all of the songs from Human’s Lib, and all of the songs from Dream Into Action.   I only own Human’s Lib, so all of my favorites were played early on: “Pearl In Shell,” “Don’t Always Look At The Rain”, “New Song” and of course, “What Is Love?”  Every song was a trip back down memory lane.   I have this album on vinyl and listened to it everyday for a few months after I bought it back in 1983.  I used to know the hand gestures from the “What is Love?” video by heart.  It was obvious that night that I had forgotten them all.  Please note another appearance of the beloved keytar (seen here at the Human League concert).

One costume change later, and we were treated to all of the music from Dream Into Action.  After giggling a bit about the Michael Jackson inspired jacket, Howard Jones launched into some of the best music of the night.   I don’t own the album (yet), but his most popular songs came from this album: “Like To Get To Know You Well”, “Things Can Only Get Better” and “Life in One Day”.  I really enjoyed “Specialty” and “Dream Into Action” live and will add these and the rest of the songs from Dream Into Action to my iPod playlist.

One of my favorite songs had a funny little event happen, that I only found about recently.  During “No One is to Blame” and the lyric It’s the last piece of the puzzle/but you just can’t make it fit, people from the audience suddenly threw objects at Howard.  Since I was right next to the people who threw it, I realized that they were puzzle pieces, which was hilarious because I wondered why he didn’t react initially to the things flying at him.  In this article from Sign On San Diego, it states that it is a tradition to throw puzzle pieces at him during this part of the song.  It reminded me of when people threw ping-pong balls at Guster onstage during “Airport Song” (meaning I was just as confused).

After the conclusion of the second set, Howard Jones and his bandmates came together to bow and wave at the grateful audience.  The  house lights came on half way, signaling that the concert was over.  The crowd started to dissipate, some leaving the premises.  But one very persistent fan kept yelling “EVERLASTING LOVE!”   I’m not sure why my friends and I decided to stay, but we did.  Maybe we were hoping that her cries for her favorite song would be heard.  Then suddenly the house lights dimmed, and out came HoJo, alone sans jacket.

Her prayers were answered.  Because we were so stunned, I only started recording with my Flip camera at the second verse.  Below is “Everlasting Love”, almost unplugged.  I had such a great time at this concert because it was so specific to the very early years of Howard Jones.  I felt like I was given a ticket back in time to see him as I would have back then.

I also included my outfit for the evening, which was my “Nevermind the Bollocks” Sex Pistols skirt by Idil Vice (last seen here).  As has been the case for the last few concerts I’ve seen lately, there was some very drunken fun, including the enthusiastic girl who nearly tackled me to tell me how much she loved my skirt.  Hope you had a great weekend!

Outfit – Brass Plum cardigan; Old Navy tank; Idil Vice skirt; Rampage boots; Rebecca Minkoff belt (used as a bracelet); Wendy Brandes ring; Cotton On hoops; Tiffany & Co necklace; Lucky Brand glasses