Bman's Blues Report: Howard Jones launches new radio series on Absolute 80s

TICKETS ON SALE 10:00 GMT
FRIDAY 2ND DECEMBER 2011

National Credit Card Hotline: 0844 477 2000
Book Online: www.ticketweb.co.uk

Howard Jones will embark on a nationwide UK tour on Wednesday 11th April at the O2 Academy Bristol. This will be the first time that Howard will perform his first two studio albums Human’s Lib and Dream Into Action back to back, live in their entirety, on a full-scale nationwide UK tour.

Human's Lib was first released on March 17th 1984. The album peaked at number 1 in the UK charts and spent 57 weeks in the top 40. The album includes the hit singles What Is Love?, New Song, Pearl In The Shell and Hide & Seek (the song Howard performed at Live Aid).

Dream Into Action followed, featuring the hit singles Like To Get To Know You Well, Things Can Only Get Better, Look Mama, Life In One Day and the US number 1 No One Is To Blame.

Howard will perform both albums in full at every show accompanied by Robbie Bronnimann on keyboards and sequencing and Jonathan Atkinson on electronic percussion. The show combines retro synths with cutting edge technology combined with live visuals.

Tickets for what promises to be an unforgettable tour of ground-breaking, classic electronic pop, will go on sale to the general public on Friday 2nd December at 10am by booking online from www.ticketweb.co.uk or calling the 24 hour ticket hotline 0844 477 2000.

Fans that can’t wait for the general ticket on-sale date on Friday December 2nd will be able to take advantage of a special “Ticket Pre-sale” with Absolute 80’s radio at 10am on Wednesday 30th November via the following web links – www.absolute80s.com and www.absoluteradio.co.uk/tickets.

New radio series “Electronic 80s with Howard Jones” on Absolute 80s Radio

To coincide with the tour announcement, Howard will present an exclusive weekly four-part radio series Electronic 80s with Howard Jones on Absolute Radio 80's. The first show will air at 8pm on Sunday December 4th on Absolute 80s which can be heard on DAB, Freesat, Virgin Media, Sky, via the Absolute 80s smartphone app available for iPhone, Android, Windows Phone 7 and Blackberry as well as the online Radio player at www.absolute80s.com.

The radio show will see Howard playing and talking about his favourite electronic pop songs from the decade including classic singles from the likes of Eurythmics, the Human League and Tears For Fears to name a few.

Click here for further info about the series – www.absolute80s.com.

The tour dovetails the release of a 2-disc live DVD Howard Jones: Human’s Lib & Dream Into Action Live at The indigO2. The DVD was originally filmed on 6th November 2010 at the indigO2 in London where Howard performed his multi-platinum albums Human’s Lib and Dream Into Action live in their entirety for the first time. The DVD, packed with additional interviews and features packaged in a specially designed slipcase and individually autographed and numbered, can be ordered from http://shop.howardjones.com or www.amazon.co.uk

National Credit Card Hotline: 0844 477 2000
Book Online: www.ticketweb.co.uk

Agency & CC Bookings subject to a fee

Wednesday 11th April 2012
O2 Academy Bristol
General Admission: £20.00 Advance, £22.50 on the door
Box Office: 0844 477 2000
Book Online: www.o2academybristol.co.uk
Venue Address: Frogmore Street, Bristol, BS1 5NA

Thursday 12th April 2012
O2 Academy Sheffield
General Admission: £20.00
Box Office: 0844 477 2000
Book Online: www.o2academysheffield.co.uk
Venue Address: 37-43 Arundel Gate, Sheffield, S1 1DE

Friday 13th April 2012
O2 Academy Liverpool
General Admission: £20.00
Box Office: 0844 477 2000
Book Online: www.o2academyliverpool.co.uk
Venue Address: 11-13 Hotham Street, Liverpool, L3 5UF

Saturday 14th April 2012
O2 Academy Birmingham
General Admission: £20.00
Box Office: 0844 477 2000
Book Online: www.o2academybirmingham.co.uk
Venue Address: 16-18 Horsefair, Birmingham, B1 1DB

Tuesday 17th April 2012
O2 Academy Newcastle
General Admission: £20.00
Box Office: 0844 477 2000
Book Online: www.o2academynewcastle.co.uk
Venue Address: Westgate Road, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 1SW

Wednesday 18th April 2012
O2 ABC Glasgow
General Admission: £20.00
Box Office: 0844 477 2000
Book Online: www.o2abcglasgow.co.uk
Venue Address: 330 Sauchiehall St, Glasgow, G2 3JB

Friday 20th April 2012
O2 Academy Bournemouth
General Admission: £20.00
Box Office: 0844 477 2000
Book Online: www.o2academybournemouth.co.uk
Venue Address: 570 Christchurch Road, Boscombe, Bournemouth, BH1 4BH

Saturday 21st April 2012
O2 Shepherds Bush Empire, London
General Admission: £22.50 / £50.00 VIP Package *
Box Office: 0844 477 2000
Book Online: www.o2shepherdsbushempire.co.uk
Venue Address: Shepherd's Bush Green, London, W12 8TT

* VIP tickets for the London O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire concert includes
a free double CD of the show recorded at indigO2 in 2010 along with
an after show party and souvenir laminate.

HOWARD JONES - BIOGRAPHY

Howard Jones played his 2011 two-album show at the Sandy Amphitheatre in Salt Lake City on 9th July 2011. The promoters were hoping for 1500 ticket sales but it turned out to be a complete sellout with 2,750 tickets sold and 300 turned away. He encored with the Killers’ ‘Human’ as a tribute to Salt Lake’s Brandon Flowers who had apparently been in line for a Howard Jones in-store signing back in the nineties.

On 3rd September, Howard drew the biggest audience of the 2011 season to the Fremont Street Experience in Las Vegas.

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.

Now Howard Jones has 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 on November 6th 2010 at the IndigO2 in London’s O2 Arena Complex. This two-album show is being repeated throughout 2011 and 2012 at selected venues. The re-mastered albums are available from www.howardjones.com. A special re-mastered box set of the 12” mixes was released in March 2011 and a DVD of the IndigO2 concert will be available soon.

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 808 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 today’s 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 and ‘Into the Dark’ with Ferry Corsten.

Jones continues to tour extensively and will be playing multiple dates and festivals in 2012 with Robbie Bronnimann on live sequencing/sampling and effects using Ableton Live and various controllers, and 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 latest studio album ‘Ordinary Heroes’ which features 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’.

2012 will mark the return 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.