I will be seeing Howard Jones later this week on Saturday night in Kettering, OH, outside of Dayton at the Fraze Pavilion. I’ve been fortunate enough to see a number of shows at the Fraze over the years, and as previously discussed, I will make my return this weekend to catch the annual Mix Summerfest.

I’ll be a bit late arriving for the show, due to a shift at the radio station on Saturday morning, so it looks like I will miss Naked Eyes, A Flock of Seagulls, and The Romantics.

I’m bummed to miss Naked Eyes, but okay with missing the other two. I saw The Romantics about a year ago (cool set,) and honestly don’t care for A Flock of Seagulls. The action will start for me at 1:30pm with the John Payne version of Asia.

Here’s the rundown of scheduled set times for the day:

12:00 PM – Naked Eyes
12:30 PM – A Flock of Seagulls
1:00 PM – The Romantics
1:30 PM – Asia featuring John Payne
3:00 PM – Patty Smyth & Scandal
4:00 PM – Howard Jones
5:30 PM – Taylor Dayne
6:45 PM – Survivor
8:15 PM – Lou Gramm
9:45 PM – Night Ranger

This will be my fifth time seeing Howard Jones in the past 10 years, and the first time that I will see him play an “electronic set” accompanied by keyboardist Robbie Bronnimann. Of the gigs that I have seen prior, the 1996 gig at Cleveland’s Odeon Concert Club (R.I.P.), a show that featured Howard on acoustic piano, accompanied by percussionist Carol Steele, stands out as a highlight.

I miss those gigs with Steele, and thankfully, they captured the essence of how great that tour was, on the live album Live Acoustic America, which if you are a Howard Jones aficionado, hopefully you already own it – it’s a must have!

Jones has a new acoustic live album, Live in Birkenhead, available via his website, and also plans to release a new studio album by the end of the year. Scroll down to hear a couple of those new tracks live via a related concert download that is linked for your listening pleasure.

Stay tuned for details after I catch the gig this weekend.

Need to brush up on your Howard Jones? Here are some must haves for your musical collection:

Must-own albums:

1. Dream Into Action – chock full of many of the hits that you know, and also is the place to find the key version of “No One is To Blame” without drum machine.
2. Cross That Line – Some might call this the last really good Howard Jones album. I disagree. Features “Everlasting Love” and “The Prisoner.”
3. In The Running – Jefito wasn’t so much of a fan of this album, but this is really one of my favorites in the HoJo catalog. After everything that came before this album, the songs on In The Running might have pulled the emotional curtain back a little bit too far for many, but I thought it was genius stuff.
4. Live Acoustic America – For me, a document of how great In The Running material translated live, mixed with all of the hits – one of my all-time favorite live albums.
5. People – This one took a while, but I’ve really grown to appreciate it. “Dreamin’ On” and “Wedding Song” are highlights.

Honorable Mention:

Perform ’01 – Basically, a re-recording of many of Howard’s past hits and favorite tracks, live in the studio with his current band at the time. This disc notably includes a great duet with Duncan Sheik called “Someone You Need,” a track that remains a highlight of Jones’ current setlist.

I prefer the limited edition Pefawm (which sold out very quickly at the time of issue), a double disc set that includes the material found on Perform ’01, and also an additional 30 minutes of additional music. The version of “Hide and Seek” that is on both editions, is stunning.

Top 5 Favorite Howard Jones Songs:

1. The Prisoner – video
2. Someone You Need – video
3. Lift Me Up video
4. What Is Love video
5. Pearl In The Shell video

Dig on this:

If you can deal with foreign announcer play-by-play (a common occurrence in most Euro broadcasts,) you can check out 90 minutes of recent live Howard Jones from this past March, including two new songs from his forthcoming new album, which will hopefully be out by the end of the year.

Here’s the details:

Howard Jones
FM Radio HR1 Lounge, Frankfurt, Germany
March 14th, 2008

Complete Zipped Download

Track Listing:

01 – Announcement by Radio DJ
02 – Pearl In The Shell
03 – Like To Get To Know You Well
04 – Someone You Need
05 – Straight Ahead (new)
06 – Everlasting Love
07 – Don’t Always Look At The Rain
08 – You Know I Love You Don’t You
09 – The Prisoner
10 – Look Mama
11 – Life In One Day
12 – Hide & Seek
13 – Say It Like You Mean It (new)
14 – No-One Is To Blame
15 – What Is Love
16 – Respected
17 – Tomorrow Is Now
18 – Things Can Only Get Better

Relevant Links:

Purchase the new acoustic live album (featuring guitarist Robin Boult) Live in Birkenhead from the Howard Jones Official Website

Hear a sample track from the live album by visiting Howard’s Myspace page.

Purchase The Best of Howard Jones on Amazon.