San Francisco on the Friday after July 4th was remarkably quiet, but inside the walls of the Regency Ballroom, synth-pop legend Howard Jones was bringing his “Transform Tour 2019” to a room full of middle-agers ready to relive their glory years. But hold on … this is not a show to chalk up to ’80s New Wave nostalgia. Jones has proven to be prolific, dropping album after album since his 1984 breakthrough, Human’s Lib, 2019’s Tranform being just another step in his evolution.
The evening kicked off with a thirty minute set by duo All Hail The Silence followed by Men Without Hats. Anchored by lead vocalist and founding member Ivan Doroschuk, MWH plowed through a shockingly entertaining set that was punctuated by the one song you probably recognize, “The Safety Dance,” which got the crowd moving for the first time this evening.
Howard Jones took the stage promptly at 10PM, greeted the room and launched into “Hide and Seek” from behind the keyboard before being joined by his guitar player and keyboardist. With the band set up at the back of the stage, Jones had plenty of room to move with his hand-free mic, occasionally rocking the keytar.
The crowd, which had previously been content to quietly sip their cocktails to the openers, finally woke up, singing along with Howard as he tore through 90 minutes of material from Transform and his first two albums (Human’s Lib and Dream Into Action) while leaving the night devoid of anything released between 1989’s Cross That Line and 2015’s Engage. But with Transform being his first album in a decade, it deserved to be celebrated.
Of course no Howard Jones show would be complete with the song that arguably put him on the map so long ago, but the San Francisco crowd was going to have to be patient because “Things Can Only Get Better” was saved for the encore.
HOWARD JONES
MEN WITHOUT HATS
ALL HAIL THE SILENCE
HOWARD JONES SETLIST
Hide and Seek
Transform
Take Us Higher
Equality
No One Is To Blame
Beating Mr Neg
Everlasting Love
Hero in Your Eyes
The Human Touch
Life in One Day 2.0
Life in One Day
Like to Get to Know You Well
Tin Man Song
The One to Love You (with All Hail the Silence)
What Is Love?
New Song
ENCORE
Things Can Only Get Better
MEN WITHOUT HATS SETLIST
Moonbeam
Where Do the Boys Go?
Antarctica
I Got the Message
I Like
Pop Goes the World
Head Above Water
This War
SOS (ABBA cover)
The Safety Dance
