Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

As the music of a generation plays, as the notes of the keyboard play out the tunes and songs that captured the soul of any who were enthused with its drive and upbeat melody, the pumped dry ice that crawls on stage, that litters the air and shrouds each track with its steely presence, is almost spectral, wraith-like and pronounced and it offers the Epstein Theatre audience a type of nostalgic yearning to head back to the days when Howard Jones, one of music’s true gentlemen, was never off the radio.

The gentle aspect to Howard Jones life, the calming influence that his personality brings to music isn’t just stamped firmly into place, it is reflected in his songs and this latest tour in which the stripped back affair of his electronic prowess is measured by the narration of certain tales of how the songs in question came about and by how beautiful they sound when played in certain retrospective ease.

Unlike previous trips to Liverpool where the venues rocked out and the sweat of the audience glistened underneath the false illumination above their heads, this was sedately cool, the ease of a life understanding that music can take you places in which you never imagined, down roads in which a song can change its meaning or the attitude of the listener when heard in a different style, relevant and significantly attuned to the ghosts that surround us all; the change in the music stance from glorious pop to introspective and splendid triumph sitting well with an audience perhaps unaccustomed to such wonderful scene stealing acoustic pomp.

With some of the stories being greeted as heartily as the songs, especially the warning of the dangers of a song title being translated into a different tongue, Howard Jones played songs such as Pearl in the Shell, Hero in Your Eyes, taken from the new film about British Winter Olympian Eddie Edwards, Like To Get To Know You Well, Look Mama, Hide and Seek and the superb What Is Love to great applause. Arguably though the night belonged to a song that was written by the great Liverpool’ musician Colin Vearnacombe who recently sadly passed away in Ireland. Howard’s beautiful rendition of Wonderful Life, urged on by a sincere crowd, brought memories of triumphs and love very much to the forefront of the night’s appreciation.

Howard Jones may never have been popular with the British media, for that it doesn’t matter, what is important is how much his crowd love him and after so long entertaining them with well thought out lyrics and a superb attitude to music, the audience certainly were not let down at the Epstein Theatre; a night of beauty and precision.

Ian D. Hall