Concert review - Howard Jones at Birmingham O2 Academy

Birmingham O2 Academy

By Ian Harvey

It always seems to be a landmark event when 80s electro-pop star Howard Jones plays Birmingham.

Back in 1985, when he played the NEC Arena (now the LG Arena) it was the last date of his UK tour and was filmed for a video release.

See more Howard Jones gig photos to the right

"It's always going to be very, very special to me because it was an amazing gig," Jones told the Express & Star earlier this year.

On Saturday night Twitter addict Jones - @howardjones - was celebrating for a different reason, as he broke the 10,000 followers mark . . . during the concert.

Some fans were caught out early as Jones took to the stage at 7.45pm, without a support act, for the first of two sets.

The first hour-and-a-quarter was dedicated to the whole of his second album, 1985's Dream Into Action, played out of order to keep things fresh and featuring, among others, hits like Things Can only Get Better, Look Mama and the sublime No One Is To Blame.

The format allowed non-single album tracks a chance to shine and most songs benefited from slightly extended workouts, with the sound excellent throughout.

A relaxed Jones was backed up by a drummer and keyboard player, allowing him to occasionally escape his own keyboards and wander down to the front of the stage and better interact with the healthy-sized audience.

The second half of the show hopped back a year to his debut album, once again giving fans the full mix of album tracks and singles from Human's Lib.

What Is Love developed into a big singalong, while Don't Always Look At The Rain was simply beautiful.

Jones joked later on Twitter that it might be the dawn of a new artificial intelligence after his keyboardist's gear decided to extend Hunt The Self, not that the fans seemed to mind.

The evening ended, inevitably with the still uplifting and soulful Hide And Seek and another big singalong to New Song.

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