ABC and Howard Jones tour again

I guess the last tour was so successful that Howard Jones and ABC are doing it again. No Haircut 100 this time but DJ Richard Blade (SiriusXM and KROQ) will be opening!! I'll be there early

Feb 6, 2025 – San Francisco, CA – The Masonic
Feb 7, 2025 – Rancho Mirage, CA – Agua Caliente Casino Resort
Feb 8, 2025 – Anaheim, CA – House of Blues – Anaheim
Feb 11, 2025 – Denver, CO – Mission Ballroom
Feb 14, 2025 – San Antonio, TX – Tobin Center for the Performing Arts
Feb 15, 2025 – Dallas, TX – Music Hall At Fair Park
Feb 16, 2025 – Austin, TX – Paramount Theater
Feb 17, 2025 – Houston, TX – House of Blues – Houston
Feb 19, 2025 - Omaha, NE - Steelhouse Omaha
Feb 20, 2025 – Waukegan, IL – Genesee Theatre
Feb 21, 2025 – Nashville, IN – Brown County Music Center
Feb 23, 2025 - Washington, DC - Warner Theatre
Feb 26, 2025 – New Haven, CT – College Street Music Hall
Feb 27, 2025 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Paramount Theater
Feb 28, 2025 – Glenside, PA – Keswick Theatre

Nashville, Indiana? That must be a typo. According to Wikipedia, Nashville IN is a small town -- the only incorporated town in its county, with a population under 1,300 people.

Not a typo. Nashville, Indiana is one of those odd little small towns that became a cultural center. It has a pretty well-respected performance venue - I remember Elvis Costello & Nick Lowe played there a few years ago. There's a weird little strip of artsy and progressive little towns in southern Indiana that goes from Bloomington in the west to Columbus (which is famous for modernist architecture) in the east, with Beanblossom and Nashville in the middle.

I should've asked our in-house expert on the Midwest in the first place. Thanks Reno!!

Where they get the warm bodies to fill the venue is beyond me - as you say Nashville has a population of 1300, pretty much all of whom are artists. Who I'm sure make a decent living being located in a proverbial artist's colony/NPR listener tourist trap, but they're still artists and will only make real money when they're dead.

The only town of any size in the region is Bloomington, and it's 30 miles away via country highways winding through hills and forests, which I would be hesitant to drive on at night due to my advancing years. But I guess they do well enough to keep attracting performers that seem to be targeted at my demographic, like Elvis & Nick and Howard & ABC. (All the hip young bands that would attract the U of Indiana students play Bloomington itself.)

As a Hoosier, I think Nashville Indiana is a pretty cool town, but I haven't been there to see a show. I'm kind of thrilled to see that national act would choose to tour there, even though this isn't exactly my thing.

By the way, it's Indiana University, not "University of Indiana." I am obligated to say that someone whose mother was faculty there.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/2024 11:33PM by zwirnm.

Looking at the upcoming schedule, it appears the Nashville, IN venue gets a mix of the sorts of people who play the little converted movie theater in my town - the Lovin' Spoonful (which is currently the bassist plus hired hands, none of whom are John Sebastian) and Kansas (actual original band members unverified by me, but pretty sure they don't include Steve Walsh or Kerry Livgren) - and aging vets who still have enough gas in the tank to play the big towns - besides Jones & ABC, other upcoming shows include ZZ Top and Cheap Trick.

They don't appear to have any tribute bands on the docket, which is how the small town venues in my area keep the lights on between visits from "Guy Who Played Tambourine on One Album and Somehow Ended Up with the Rights to the Band Name" bands. So good for them.

I definitely can relate to what Reno's saying. Between the Historic Everett Theatre and Kings Hall (a new venue that opened here the year before), the good people of Everett (or at least the ones with money) can easily see at least one tribute act a week. Both venues get plenty of the "one original member plus ringers" touring bands, too, such as Blue Oyster Cult, The Motels, A Flock of Seagulls, The Alarm and Sweet.

Both venues occasionally feature a musician who still carries some gravitas with fans, such as Elvin Bishop, Charlie Musselwhite, Midge Ure, Roger Fisher (the original guitarist in Heart) and Lee Oskar (the harmonica player in War)*. And the HET has been bringing in an increasing number of stand-up comedians lately.

*Being Pacific Northwest natives and still-residents, Roger and Lee can get gigs in these parts any time they want.

Never in all my borned days did I ever think I'd ever see the name Midge Ure mentioned in the same breath as Charlie Musselwhite or Elvin Bishop! Check's in the mail, Delvin!

Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

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As a perennial Howard Jones naysayer from waaaaay back, let me give two thumbs up to HoJo's current touring band and creative decisions. I thoroughly enjoyed his recent tour with Haircut 100 and ABC ★★★ as he transformed the material I never really liked in a way to integrate it in a band now sporting the mighty Nick Beggs on Chapman Stick/basses. I saw the tour in Cleveland, but if they were coming to a local venue I'd definitely double dip. It was a great night out.

Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

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