Live Review: Howard Jones

28 years into his career, synthpop stalwart Howard Jones has returned to tour the two albums that made his mark as a pioneer of the genre. An antipodean jaunt perhaps proving too cumbersome for the transportation of an armoury of keyboards, a somewhat spartan array of equipment set the scene with Jones commanding just two synths (no surprise to see a Roland Fantom), while John Atkinson sat behind a deceptively simple looking electronic drum riser and the brilliantly quiffed Robbie Bronniman manned the keys.

The concept to play Human's Lib (his 1984 debut) followed by Dream Into Action ('85) in their entirety was tinkered with liberally, starting with a megamix of hits and launching into Automaton, a rearranged ordering of the latter album coming first. With a heartfelt dedication to his dear mum Nora, Look Mama was the first big hit and stirred a bit of bouncing from the mostly listless crowd (complete with some of Perth's wankiest hecklers). During Dream Into Action's title track, Jones' voice drastically took a turn for the worse as jetlag and the cold weather got the better of him. Hunger For the Flesh was valiantly started but quickly aborted as he literally couldn't sing another note and had to take a time out off stage. Bouncing right back after hot honey and lemon (“Always go with the classics!” he assured), he made an admirable recovery, managing to hit the falsetto highs of Life In One Day (and later, an emotional Don't Always Look At The Rain) thanks to regular quaffing of the hot drink. So rock'n'roll.

After an unnecessarily long intermission, Conditioning opened the Human's Lib set. For the HoJo trainspotters, there were thrills in the visuals as performance artist/early collaborator Jed Hoille contributed facial projections for Natural, and the title track was set to some brand new (and darkly disturbing) artworks from the cover artist Steg. Perhaps more aligned in theme with the other Howard Jones (ex-Killswitch Engage singer), the works were a welcome backdrop.

Leading the whole house into song with What Is Love and concluding with a fabulously deconstructed New Song, Howard left the stage as graciously as he arrived. Some things, it would appear, can only get better.