Howard Jones and Midge Ure to team up for summer U.S. tour; multiple projects underway

Here's some exciting news on two of my past interview subjects. I talked to Jones in 2018: https://newwavegeo.blogspot.com/2018/02/howard-jones-interview.html

Howard Jones plans to release Dialogue, the third album in a trilogy, this summer and hit the road with Midge Ure to support it. 

Jones full band/electronic set-up is supported by Robin Boult (guitar), former Kajagoogoo member Nick Beggs (bass/chapman stick), longtime collaborator Robbie Bronnimann (keyboards) and Dan Burton (keyboards/drum pads). The Jones/Beggs/Boult trio will put out "Live at Union Chapel" this spring (see track listing below).

“I am beyond excited to be touring the U.S. this summer with my great friend Midge Ure," Jones said in a prepared statement. "As we take safe steps to put the pandemic behind us, the tour will be a celebration of being together, enjoying the power of live music again. Expect plenty of hit songs as well as cuts from my new album DIALOGUE."

Ure (pictured below) added, "What a joy to be touring North America with my friend Howard Jones again. With the emphasis on technology, quality and performance I am looking forward to dusting off the synthesizers, cranking up the guitar and playing with the brilliant musicians who will be sharing the stage with me. We first collaborated live together back in 1989 on Howard’s ‘Cross the line Tour’ which holds nothing but great memories for me, so I am hoping to not only rekindle those but add new ones to the memory bank."

In recent years, Jones has been playing live in different configurations including completely solo and a full band. On 2019's TRANSFORM, Jones worked with BT (half of All Hail The Silence).

Joining Ure for what he calls a "synth heavy" set will be musicians Dan Burton, also playing keyboard with Howard Jones and Tony Solis, who has played with Midge on previous American tours. Ure was last in the U.S. this past fall on a solo acoustic trek and has been hosting his Backstage Lockdown Club giving fans exclusive access to a series of intimate, musical events on a monthly subscription basis.

Ure has also been busy making music including an instrumental album: "Having hosted a radio show ’The Space’ on Scala Radio last year, where I indulged myself and the listeners to textural, ambient music from some of the Neo-classical composers, I felt inspired to follow my lifelong passion for instrumental music and wrote and recorded an album which I am really pleased with. Every album I have ever released has had instrumentals on, but this is my first completely non-vocal album. Due for release late ’22."

The former Ultravox leader recently published a book of photographs ‘In A Picture Frame’ taken between 1980 and 1986. Moments behind the scenes with Ultravox and Visage. "Because we never toured with photographers, we ended up grabbing these intimate moments ourselves. This book has my personal selection of the ones I was responsible for."

Listen to Band Electronica feat. Midge Ure 'Das Beat'

Live at Union Chapel track listing:

1. Assault and Battery
2. Don’t Always Look At The Rain
3. What Is Love?
4. Specialty
5. At The Speed Of Love
6. No One Is To Blame
7. Tomorrow Is Now
8. Falling Away
9. You Know I Love You Don’t You?
10. Transform
11. Hide & Seek
12. Life In One Day
13. Like To Get To Know You Well
14. New Song
15. Things Can Only Get Better

Jones/Ure U.S. tour dates:

JUNE

17 Tulalip, WA Tulalip Casino
18 Portland, OR Aladdin Theater
21 Sacramento, CA Ace Of Spades
22 San Francisco, CA Bimbo’s 365
24 Los Angeles, CA Ace Hotel Theater
25 San Diego, CA Humphrey’s By The Bay
26 Mesa, AZ The Venue At Farnsworth Hall
28 Salt Lake City, UT TBA
29 Denver, CO Ogden Theatre

JULY

1 Milwaukee, WI SummerFest
2 Des Plaines, IL Des Plaines Theater
3 Detroit, MI Magic Bag
6 Cleveland, OH House Of Blues
8 Pittsburgh, PA Carnegie Of Homestead Music Hall
9 Wilkes-Barre, PA F.M. Kirby Center
13 Boston, MA Wilbur Theater
14 Norwalk, CT Wall Street Journal
15 Philadelphia, PA Keswick Theater
16 Red Bank, NJ Count Basie Theater
17 Patchogue, NY Patchogue Theater
19 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
21 Savannah, GA District Live
22 Atlanta, GA Buckhead Theater
23 Clearwater, FL Bilheimer Capitol Theatre
24 Sanford, FL TBA
26 Houston, TX House Of Blues
27 Dallas, TX Amplified Live

Howard Jones photo by Simon Fowler, courtesy Hired Gun Media

Midge Ure photo courtesy Erika Tooker

MidgeUre.com

howardjones.com