Back in 2017 on the Retro Futura tour, Howard Jones, English Beat, and
Modern English all played the Greek Theater. All three returned to the
Greek together nine years later on Howard Jones’ Things Can Only Get
Better along with Wang Chung. The evening’s emcee was none other than
80’s icon Richard Blade and before the show began and during
changeovers Blade hosted an 80’s Top 5 singles countdown from 80-89.
To be able to fit four sets into the show, Modern English took the
stage at 6:45 P.M. playing a 30-minute set. Just a year ago Modern
English played the KIA Forum opening for Simple Minds. Modern English
includes founding members lead vocalist Robbie Grey and bassist Mick
Conroy. Modern English performed a 6-song set of “Gathering Dust,”
“Long in the Tooth,” “Someone’s Calling,” “Hands Across the Sea,”
“Swans on Glass,” and “I Melt With You.”
Next up was The English Beat led by founder lead vocalist/guitarist
Dave Wakeling at 7:35. Wakeling is just one of four surviving members
of the original group. Originally known as The Beat, the group
released just three albums between 1980 and 1982 and the first two
charted at high as 3 on the UK chart and their third album reached 21.
The English Beat played a 30-minute set with their cover of The Staple
Singers “I’ll Take You There,” General Public’s “Tenderness,” and The
Beat hits “Save It For Later,” “Ranking Full Stop,” and “Mirror In the
Bathroom.”
Second to last was Wang Chung with founders Nick Feldman (Bass/Vocals)
and Jack Hues (Guitar/Vocals).Before Wang Chung took the stage, they
had a pre-video of different pop culture references from film and TV
like Austin Powers. Wang Chung also played a 30 minute set and the
songs were “Wait,” “To Live and Die in L.A.,” “Dance Hall Days,”
“Should I Stay or Should I Go/ Should I Wang or Should I Chung,” and
“Everybody Have Fun Tonight.”
Howard Jones closed the show with a set of 12 songs lasting an hour
and 10 minutes. Between 1983 and 1986, Jones had 10 top 40 singles in
the U.K. and has released 15 albums. His 1984 debut album Human’s Lib
went to number one in the U.K. and the following album Dream Into
Action went to number two. Jones’ hit filled set included “New Song,”
“Everlasting Love,” for the first time this tour “Hide and Seek,” “No
One Is to Blame,” and an encore of “Things Can Only Get Better.”
Photo Credit Ariel Goldberg
CALIFORNIA ROCK NEWS 
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