The 80’s came alive this past Friday night as the OLG stage welcomed Howard Jones, ABC and Haircut 100. These new wave acts along with many others were on constant rotation on MTV through the 80’s. For me, that is how I became familiar with them and I’m sure how others were introduced to them as well. Fast forward 40 plus years, this was my first time catching both ABC and Haircut 100. I saw Howard Jones just a few years ago.
First up was Haircut 100. The band still consists of original members guitarist and vocalist Nick Heyward, bassist Les Nemes and lead guitarist Graham Jones. Also, longtime Haircut 100 drummer Blair Cunningham was with them as well. The band did a half hour set but it felt more like an hour set. Haircut 100 only focused on their 1982 ‘Pelican West’ release. The 5 tracks included great renditions of “Love’s Got Me in Triangles” and of course, the hit they are most associated with in “Love Plus One.” They had a terrific horn section that really insinuated their songs throughout their set. I was really impressed by the band and overall spirit of Heyward. Especially, since it’s the band’s first tour in North America in forty years.
Next up was ABC. The band is still led by founding member and original vocalist Martin Fry. The other members have changed throughout but Frey still wears a tuxedo, as the band has been known to dress going back to its inception. They played 13 songs that lasted an hour. They opened up with their October 1987 10 top single, “When Smokey Sings.” Frey still has that suave and debonair attitude that permeates when he sways about the stage. His voice has held up extremely well too. He did great on songs like “Poison Arrow” and “Vanity Kills.” They closed their set with one of their biggest hits in “Look of Love.”
Headlining the 80’s revival was Howard Jones. Jones was a huge artist in the 80’s, placing 5 tracks in the top 20 Billboard charts. The previous aforementioned bands had some periods of inactivity. Jones has been chugging all along, making records releasing 15 studio albums including ‘Dialogue’ back in 2022. The little over an hour set was delayed twice. The show was supposed to start at 9:05pm but band members (minus Jones) didn’t take the stage until 9:25pm. Then after about 2 minutes, the band exited, and the techs came on to fix an issue. After all of that, the band reappeared and Jones followed suit. Appearing in big puffy pink coat, he went into two tracks off the 1984 ‘Human’s Lib’ album in “Pearl in the Shell” and “New Song.” Jones was a delight and seemed in great spirits. He lost the coat for the 3rd track of “Like to Get to Know You.” What should be noted as the musicianship of the band he has surrounded himself with, especially Nick Beggs on bass. You may know Beggs from one of his other bands called Kajagoogoo. They had a huge hit called “Too Shy” back in 1983. Jones played this as the crowd sang along loudly to it. Beggs gave a heart sign to them once the song completed. Beggs also played a Chapman stick, which I think I never seen another artist perform using. He also played various style basses throughout their set. He was very impressive overall. A slowed downed and more poignant “No One Was to Blame” was played. I thought it was more meaningful the way Jones and the band did it. He closed with one of his biggest hits in “What Is Love” and had people clapping their hands throughout. It should be noted that longtime keyboardist Dan Clark passed away right before the tour was to start. Jones dedicated the tour to his memory.
It was a night of reminiscing about days gone by, but all three bands brought it back in a big way by providing a stellar show for the fans in the Niagara region.
Setlist:
Pearl in the Shell
New Song
Like to Get to Know You Well
Eagles Will Fly Again
Everlasting Love/Twist and Shout
The One to Love You
Too Shy (Kajagoogoo cover)
Life in One Day
No One is to Blame
Hide & Seek
The Human Touch
You Know I Love You, Don’t You?
What is Love?
We would like to thank Steven Cahill from Fallsview Casino for the credentials to review the show.
