People were queuing down the street half hour before doors in eager anticipation, as I arrived. The venue itself was beautifully illuminated it’s huge columns glowing in pink and blue, in a typically beautiful Bath fashion. This was my first time experiencing The Forum as a venue and I couldn’t have asked for a better introduction than Synth Pop legend Howard Jones. Howard is currently touring his ‘Dream Into Action’ 40th Anniversary Tour.
Seats filled up fast, ready for the opening act Roxanne de Bastion who was wonderfully recieved. In a bold yet charasmatic move Roxanne asked for audience participation from the opening song, the crowd quite dutifully cooperated. She played guitar for the first two songs, before playing the keyboard for one accompanied by a guitarist. By the third song she had warmed the crowd completely. She played ‘Molecules’ and ‘3r-av’, treated us to a song of her new album ‘Biometrics’ and a cover of ’99 Luftballoons’ as a nod to her heritage and then finished on a punky number. As far as half hour sets go, she made a wonderful impression.
Howard Jones had the most powerful entrance I’ve ever witnessed, white lasers spread out towards the crowd as the electronic music played, building anticipation, suddenly flashes of white light hit the back of the stage keeping the rhythm. All of a sudden we were plunged into darkness only to find the man himself stood centre stage, playing Synth and sporting glasses that shot red lasers out to the audience.
I thought the response to his entrance was fantastic but the crowd truly erupted on the second song. Song after song the stage lighting/lasers became more theatrical, the crowd grew increasingly more lively, reacting instantly to each intro. Howard going from Keyboard to Synth to yet another keyboard, singing even the highest notes seamlessly, all the while making several (atleast four) sequined outfit changes. He was joined for most of the set by a very talented group of supporting musicians.
Yet between each tune Howard, who was delightfully polite and soft spoken, gave us a little back story to each song, for instance ‘Prisoner’ was born right there in Bath, infact I believe a couple of his songs were. He told us of songs written for Eddie the Eagle and how ‘Look Mama’ had quite upset his mother when he wrote it, he’d had to explain that he was channelling other people’s frustrations into his art, ofcourse he dedicated this song to her when he played it. He mostly played from the album ‘Dream Into Action’, as this was the 40th Anniversary Tour however he also snuck in some newer tracks and showed us some older one’s he’d humorously toyed around with. He played many of his well known songs such as ‘No One Is To Blame’ and ‘Like To Get To Know You Well’. For the last few songs people, me included, had taken to dancing in the aisles no longer able to contain ourselves fueled by the infectious rhythm. All in all it isn’t hard to see how Howard Jones has made such a long lasting career he is truly a phenomenal performer and an undeniably cool person.
