Following a wildly successful run of North American tour dates earlier this year, new wave icon Howard Jones and synth pop stars ABC are set to return to the Unites States for more co-headlining tour dates in February 2025, including a stop at the Brown County Music Center in Nashville, Ind., on Friday, February 21. SiriusXM First Wave DJ Richard Blade will open the show with his world-renowned DJ set.  

Of the new tour dates, Howard Jones commented, “So excited to be teaming up with the excellent ABC once again for another run of dates in the USA. When I heard that Richard Blade was on board with us, I knew that this tour will be something extra special. Join the party… see you out there!”  ABC frontman Martin Fry stated, “Keenly anticipating some incredible nights with good friends Howard Jones and Richard Blade on stage. This tour’s gonna be unmissable.” Richard Blade added, “I'm thrilled to be asked to go on the road with two such important musical artists - and great friends - Howard Jones and Martin Fry of ABC. Their live performances are always so good, I'm definitely going to have to step up my game. It's really going to be an exceptional tour.”

Electronic music pioneer Howard Jones has been a constant presence on the international touring scene for the past four decades, playing live in a number of different configurations including intimate solo shows and dates with his full high-tech band set-up.  He first burst upon the contemporary music scene in 1983, with his very English songwriting and pioneering synthesizers with “New Song.” His first two albums HUMAN’S LIB and DREAM INTO ACTION were worldwide hits. HUMAN’S LIB reached #1 in 1984 in the UK and featured the hits “New Song,” and “What Is Love?”  In 1985, Jones released the follow-up, DREAM INTO ACTION, which quickly became a Top Ten Platinum album in the United States and featured the smashes: “Things Can Only Get Better,” “Life In One Day,” “No One Is To Blame,” and “Like To Get To Know You Well.”  

Howard Jones has sold upwards of 10 million albums worldwide and continues to make new music and tour the world.  Jones has performed on NBC’s top-rated morning and nighttime shows respectively, Today and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. His ubiquitous hits can be heard in such high-profile television series and films such as “Stranger Things,” “Breaking Bad,” “Watchmen,” “The Carrie Diaries,” “Superstore” and “Bumblebee.”  Howard Jones’ most recent studio album is DIALOGUE, which was released in September, 2022.  DIALOGUE is the third album in a trilogy of electronic releases from Jones with multi-media project ENGAGE coming out in 2015 and studio album TRANSFORM out in 2019.  DIALOGUE garnered serious coverage in outlets such as Spin, Stereogum and more.  

ABC’s career has been nothing short of spectacular, helping define the 80’s with a unique brand of pop that set a new standard for the decade. Their debut album THE LEXICON OF LOVE , released in May 1982, skyrocketed to number one on the UK charts. Showcasing Martin Fry’s distinctive, soulful voice with unforgettable hits like “Poison Arrow” and “The Look Of Love” and “All of My Heart.” Produced by the legendary Trevor Horn, and voted by many as the best British album of the decade, cementing ABC’s place in music history. More hits would follow with subsequent albums BEAUTY STAB, HOW TO BE A ZILLIONAIRE and ALPHABET CITY including “How To Be A Millionaire,” “Be Near Me” “Vanity Kills” and “When Smokey Sings.”  ABC have released nine albums to date. With upwards of 20 million albums sold worldwide. ABC’s influence has only grown. They continue to thrill audiences globally with their stunning live show. In 2016, Martin Fry released the highly acclaimed LEXICON OF LOVE II album which entered the top five of the British album charts. ABC have also toured Europe extensively to great acclaim with an orchestral show conducted by Anne Dudley and featuring The Lexicon Sinfonia. Martin Fry has recently published his memoir celebrating four thrilling decades in the music business, “A Lexicon of Life.” 

Richard Blade is one of the most popular and best-known DJs in America, hosting a daily radio show on both SiriusXM 1st Wave Ch. 33 and middays on KCBS, Jack FM.  In the 1980s, he was the top-rated morning drive DJ on KROQ, Los Angeles, and hosted and directed numerous TV shows and series including Video One, MV3 and VideoBeat. Other notable radio stations Richard worked at included KMGN, Bakersfield, KZOZ, San Luis Obispo, KNAC, Long Beach, and KYSR, Los Angeles. In 1991 he created, with Andy Schuon and Lewis Largent, Richard Blade’s Flashback Lunch which aired daily at noon and was copied by many stations across North America. It also spawned a series of six CDs on Sony Music, Richard Blade’s Flashback Favorites. He has won numerous awards, including, most recently, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  Richard is the best-selling author of World In My Eyes, his autobiography, and four novels: SPQR, Birthright, Imposters, and Ghosts of the Congo, all of which made #1 on Amazon’s best-seller lists. He also has two non-fiction music books, The Lockdown Interviews and The Unlocked Interviews. His latest novel, Slapton Sands, was released on June 6th – the 80th anniversary of D-Day - and is inspired by the true story of a disaster that befell the American soldiers training for the Normandy invasion. Within 24 hours of its release, it debuted as Amazon’s #1 New Release.