Live Review: Howard Jones w/ Midge Ure @ 9:30 Club — 7/19/22

Posted on July 22, 2022 by Mickey McCarter in Live Review and tagged 9:30 Club, England, Howard Jones, Midge Ure, new romantic, new wave, sophistipop.

Howard Jones delivered a superb performance at 9:30 Club on July 19, 2022. (Photo by Mickey McCarter)

“I’m going to write the most positive song I’ve ever written in my entire life!” Howard Jones declared to himself when crafting the pandemic-era album, Dialogue, which has released this year. He was inspired to write as “things were getting better,” and the result was worthy!

Now, the British new wave singer-songwriter is known for his share of positive messages, so this was a tall order in deed. The new song, however, “Celebrate It Together,” one of three new tunes performed by Howard in his recent appearance at 9:30 Club, was embraced with enthusiasm by the very full house.

In fact, the entire night was something of a lovefest with the talented Mr. Jones in top shape, commanding a full array of synthesizers, accompanied by his long-time friend Midge Ure as opener.

Ticket Giveaway: Retro Futura Tour @ Pier Six Pavilion (Baltimore, Md.), 7/30/17

Posted on July 20, 2017 by Mickey McCarter in Live Review and tagged Annabella Lwin, Baltimore, Dave Wakeling, free tickets, Howard Jones, Katrina, Men Without Hats, Modern English, new wave, Pier Six Pavilion, post-punk, The English Beat, ticket giveaway.

Howard Jones is headlining the Retro Futura Tour 2017. (Photo by Simon Fowler)

In recent months, Parklife DC has talked to the legendary Howard Jones and English Beat frontman Dave Wakeling, both of whom are excited about embarking on the summer Retro Futura Tour, now underway. (Read our interview with Howard here and our interview with Dave here.) The ’80s icons are heading to Pier Six Pavilion in Baltimore, Maryland, on Sunday, July 30, along with Modern English, Men Without Hats, Katrina (formerly of The Waves), and Annabella Lwin (formerly of Bow Wow Wow.) You can win tickets to go with Parklife DC!

Don’t Miss: Careless Memories @ Dodge City, 6/8/17

Posted on June 8, 2017 by Mickey McCarter in Live Review and tagged Bow Wow Wow, Careless Memories, dj party, Dodge City, Howard Jones, Katrina, Men Without Hats, Midge Ure, Modern English, new wave, The English Beat, Thompson Twins.

Howard Jones performs at The Hamilton on Sept. 3, 2016.

Tonight — don’t crack up, bend your brain, see both sides, and throw off your mental chains with Careless Memories! And dance the evening away as if we were at a summer music festival. Starting at 8pm at Dodge City, I’ll play artists like Howard Jones, The English Beat, Modern English, Men Without Hats, Bow Wow Wow, Katrina and The Waves, Thompson Twins, Midge Ure, and others, inspired by the summer Retro Futura Tour.

To get ready for all of it, I chatted with Howard Jones himself last week! Revisit our Parklife DC interview with Howard, and then join our listening party at Careless Memories tonight.

Interview: Howard Jones (on Retro Futura Tour @ Pier Six Pavilion [Baltimore, Md.], 7/30/17)

Posted on June 1, 2017 by Mickey McCarter in Live Review and tagged '80s music, Annabella Lwin, Baltimore, Bow Wow Wow, England, Howard Jones, Interview, Katrina, Men Without Hats, Modern English, music festival, new wave, Paul Young, Pier Six Pavilion, Retro Futura Tour, synthpop, The English Beat.

Howard Jones (Photo by David Conn)

“Do you feel scared? I do, but I won’t stop and falter.”

So, sang Howard Jones in his smashing 1985 hit “Things Can Only Get Better,” which in my opinion perfectly framed Howard’s ethos. The Englishman is unflappably upbeat and optimistic, and he makes fantastically irresistible music still today.

Around Town: Careless Memories @ Dodge City, 6/8/17

Posted on May 22, 2017 by Mickey McCarter in Live Review and tagged Careless Memories, dj party, Dodge City, Howard Jones, Katrina, Men Without Hats, Midge Ure, Modern English, new wave, Retro Futura Tour, The English Beat, Thompson Twins.

Howard Jones at Rewind Festival in 2013. (Photo courtesy Universal News and Sport)

Editors Note: This event was originally scheduled for May 25, but we have moved it to June 8. On May 25, we will present an evening of music dedicated to bands from Manchester in solidarity with the city after this week’s tragedy.

For the last several years, an ’80s festival called Retro Futura has presented some of our favorite artists, including Howard Jones, The English Beat, Modern English, Men Without Hats, Katrina (of The Waves), Tom Bailey of the Thompson Twins, Midge Ure, and many others.

We’ll celebrate the ’80s festival circuit with these artists and others, alongside your requests, at the next edition of Careless Memories: A New Wave Party, this Thursday, May 25.

Snapshots: Annabella Lwin of Bow Wow Wow (@ Retro Futura Tour [Pier Six Pavilion, Baltimore, Md.], 7/30/17)

Posted on April 12, 2017 by Mickey McCarter in Live Review and tagged Annabella Lwin, Baltimore, Bow Wow Wow, Chester Simpson, Howard Jones, Katrina, Men Without Hats, Modern English, new romantic, new wave, Pier Six Pavilion, Retro Futura Tour, The English Beat.

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Annabella Lwin at Dreamland in San Francisco on Sept. 28, 1981. (Photo by Chester Simpson)

The fascinating thing about hitting pop stardom in 1980 when you’re aged 13 — like Annabella Lwin, former lead singer of Bow Wow Wow — is that some 37 years later you might still have energy and creativity yet to tour anew. In the case of Annabella, Baltimore receives a treat when she appears on the bill of the Retro Futura Tour, replacing Paul Young on one of the dates for the traveling ’80s festival, on Sunday, July 30.

Don’t Miss: Retro Futura Tour @ Pier Six Pavilion (Baltimore, Md.), 7/30/17

Posted on March 9, 2017 by Mickey McCarter in Live Review and tagged '80s music, Annabella Lwin, Howard Jones, Katrina, Men Without Hats, Modern English, music festival, new wave, Pier Six Pavilion, post-punk, reggae, Retro Futura Tour, ska, synthpop, The English Beat.

Today is a presale for the touring ’80s festival known as the Retro Futura Tour, which stops at Pier Six Pavilion in Baltimore on Sunday, July 30. DC folks may remember it as The Regeneration Tour, but it has been reshaped and rebranded since its visits to Wolf Trap a few years back!

Visit Live Nation and use the presale code MAGIC until 10pm today to get advance tickets to see the 2017 tour with Howard Jones, The English Beat, Modern English, Men Without Hats, Katrina (formerly of Katrina and the Waves), and Annabella Lwin (formerly of Bow Wow Wow, standing in for Paul Young on July 30). Tickets become available to the public on Friday.

Music Park: Parklife DC Top 10 Concerts of 2016 by Mickey

Posted on December 23, 2016 by Mickey McCarter in Live Review and tagged 9:30 Club, Belinda Carlisle, Birchmere Music Center, CHVRCHES, Culture Club, David Bowie, DC9, Dragonette, Duran Duran, Echo and the Bunnymen, Echostage, Gary Numan, glam, Gwenno, High Waisted, Howard Jones, Midge Ure, neo-psychedelia, new wave, OMD, Operators, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Pet Shop Boys, post-punk, Rams Head Live, Savages, Squeeze, Strathmore Music Center, surf rock, Survive, synthpop, The Go-Go's, The Sounds, top 10, Verizon Center, Warner Theatre, Woody Woodmansey's Holy Holy.

Lauren Mayberry of Chvrches sings at Echostage on Oct. 17, 2016. (Photo by Mickey McCarter)

I’ll confess that I’m a man whose taste in music is readily apparent. If you have new wave tunes to play, particularly from 1976-86, I’m going to show up and listen to them. That said, a number of incredible legacy new wave bands happened to travel through the DC metro area over the past year, and I took the opportunity to review them for our humble blog.

That said, a number of younger bands definitely broke through and seized my attention, most notably Canada’s Operators, who were the most exciting new band I’ve seen in some time. As with Operators, many of the best performances I witnessed in 2016 came from bands whose leaders are among the Masters of Synthpop, and so I have dedicated a postscript of really great synthpop shows that may have “missed” the top 10 but otherwise deserve a lot of applause.

Check out my top 10 list of concerts I saw for Parklife DC. (Click on the concert slugline to revisit the full review.)

Music Park: Howard Jones @ The Hamilton Live — 9/3/16

Posted on September 9, 2016 by Mickey McCarter in Live Review and tagged England, Howard Jones, new wave, synthpop, The Hamilton, The Hamilton Live.

Howard Jones performs at The Hamilton Live on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016.

I didn’t see my first concert until I was an undergraduate at the University of Delaware in 1992, and that concert was a performance by Howard Jones! It was a busy time for Howard, who released a new album that year. As college kids, we were still consuming his last album, Cross That Line, which introduced two quintessential songs in Howard’s catalog — “The Prisoner” and “Everlasting Love,” both US top 40 hits.

So of course I was thrilled that Howard Jones performed both songs when he stopped at The Hamilton Live on Saturday, Sept. 3, continuing a mini-tour on the heels of wrapping up his summer travels with the Barenaked Ladies.

Music Park: Stronger Sex @ The Hamilton Live — 9/3/16

Posted on September 7, 2016 by Mickey McCarter in Live Review and tagged art pop, art rock, cabaret, Howard Jones, Johnny Fantastic, Leah Gage, quirky, Stronger Sex, synthpop, The Hamilton Live.

Stronger Sex perform at The Hamilton Live on Sept. 3, 2016.

The definition of fantastic? fan·tas·tic /fan’tastik/ [adj.] imaginative or fanciful; remote from reality.

Enter Johnny Fantastic, whose up-tempo electronic cabaret certainly fits his name — and in a good way. Let’s add to the mix Leah Gage (also of local band BRNDA), who stands beside Johnny on synthesizers and vocals, and you have a Fantastic Duo indeed in DC indie synth outfit Stronger Sex.