San Francisco, July 28th, 2017

It had been just over a year since I’d seen an OMD show (was supposed to have been at their Butlins gig last December but then some changes made that not the case anymore so..) and almost 2 years ago since I’d seen one up close. And THAT show wasn’t a 4 man show so..the last time I was at a more ‘full band’ show UP FRONT was at the Liverpool Museum 2014. To say I was excited for Friday’s San Francisco show would be an understatement but I could also say it felt a bit strange and surreal too. Add that my friend Mark was going to be there and we hadn’t bounced to an OMD show for 4 years and…yeah…just very surreal and almost a bit foreign for me. Which is SOOO not normal when OMD is involved. Anyone who knows me can vouch for that!

But before all of that, I had 4 days of sunny California! 😀 My friend Algis and his wife Sommer lived about 4 hours south of San Fran and kindly invited me to stay with them. I had met Algis in Dallas way back during OMD’s first return NA tour in March 2011 and we had stayed friends since. He was out of the country when OMD returned later that year and they didn’t have Texas on their tour list in 2013 so…Algis and I had not seen each other since 2011 and I’d never met his wife LOL! 😮 But we kept in touch via texts, calls, the usual Xmas card and we had PLENTY to talk about once I was there and Sommer was lovely too! Being not too far from Hwy 1, we could see the ocean from their windows (once the fog cleared each morning…thanks to me since we’ve had a TON of rain back by me…I must have brought something along with me LOL 😉 ) and are right by a number of beaches so I had 3 days of relaxation. Lots of sun and water, got to see Hearst Castle, great company, some yummy food (I of course asked Algis if there were any good donut or cupcake shops around since those are the 2 things I look for when I travel and he right away took me to Slo Donuts…Slo= St. Luis Obispo…which totally filled the donut desire! 😀 ) and even a cool sock store where they had pretty much everything you could imagine (yes, I walked out with a stuffed bag full LOL). I gotta say, if I ever won the lottery, I could TOTALLY see myself living by the ocean! Such beauty and tranquility…I could get use to that! 😀 😀

Sadly, Algis couldn’t come up to San Fran for the show as his in-laws were arriving within hours of me leaving so I drove up the 4 hours to go meet Mark and surprisingly didn’t hit any major back ups until near the end so it was a nice, easy drive! 🙂 To add to that, I found street parking AND it was a spot I could just pull into (I’m not good at parallel parking…don’t judge. 😉 ) so I was only a few minutes late of when I thought I’d be there and was quickly walking to the venue when I got a text from Mark asking if I wanted to do sound check. 😮 Um…sure LOL. 🙂 He had seen Mr. M. while waiting for me at the venue and we got invited so when I finally got there, we waited a few minutes and as we stood, Pat and his wife Beth came up. TBH, I hadn’t thought about who else was going to be there. (though I DID think of someone who WOULD have been there but wasn’t. My friend Missy Renee, who I also met on the first 2011 tour and did shows together with since then, had passed away earlier this year. 😥 OMD had put a lovely mention of her on their FB page and I was wearing an OMD necklace she had made for myself and a few others on the 2013 tour in her honor. She would have been in line waiting for front with us so…she was with us in spirit!

It was a much bigger venue than I’d expected…my guess…3,500 capacity (not sure if I’m right and not going to google LOL)…so was impressed as someone said Mr. M. had mentioned they sold tics well. YAY! 😀 Mark had found out from Mr. M. that they were going to be playing TWO new songs. Yay again right?!?! NOPE! Not for me at least. I’m a strange one when it comes to my favorite bands. I don’t like hearing bits and pieces or full songs (aka, spoilers) prior to the album release. It probably won’t make much sense but…I just LOVE the first time hearing an album and having it be ALL fresh and new. I turn the phone off, get comfy in my bed and hunker down for the thrill. Plus, often there is a ‘feel’ or a ‘flow’ to an album. Many times bands have a reason for the order of the songs and you can feel and pick up on it when listening to the full album from head to toe. If I know stuff ahead of time, it kind of ruins that. Not sure if I explained it well enough but, when Mark told me (he had stayed away from listening to Punishment of Luxury but had been listening to Isotype) I was like “noooo!”. Though can’t say I was 100% surprised. BUT, since my plan was being blown out the window, it WAS exciting to see them do both songs in sound check! Talk about getting to hear it early and stripped down! 😮 😀 I wasn’t sure if we could record but I was already feeling bad Algis wasn’t there, then to be in sound check and him missing that too..I decided to non-chalantely record Isotype though then saw others recording wide open so got a better version later (they did it a few times as it was still obviously new to them) and also recorded PoL. (and Mark asked Mr. M. later if he could upload his vids as I had planned on just making it private and sending Algis the link. Mr. M. was fine with any uploads AFTER the show so…for those of you not wanting to avoid spoilers, they’re on the website and my YT channel LOL 😉 ). VERY cool to hear them first there! Not to mention that it was great fun to see Mr. H. repeatedly trying to explain a keys part at the beginning of PoL that they weren’t getting loud or standing out enough. 😀 😀 😀 We saw some other songs too of course like She’s Leaving, Messages and a couple more I’m forgetting now. OH, and part way thru, Monica came in so…8 total. Nice and intimate. 🙂

It ran quite long due to the new songs needing some extra practice (tho no complaints!) so once they seemed done, Monica and I searched for the bathrooms as the original plan to go get some food that Mark and I had (and I think the others did too) got scrapped in favor of getting out in line in hopes to get up front. Mr. M. came out to have a short chat, then we all headed out and found maybe 25-30 people in line. We took turns going to get munchies (many of us getting from CVS if you can believe that LOL) and also found a few more fans we knew. Elizabeth I’d met on the 2013 tour and Tara I met thru Missy way back in 2011. That’s the thing with OMD shows…RARELY am I ever on my own LOL. 🙂 The venue was large enough to fit about 20 in the front row so I wasn’t TOO worried right away. But then they started a line on the other side of the door which was for “will call and special guests” and those people got let in at the same time. AND, we had to literally go thru a metal detector (only other time I’ve ever had to do that ANYWHERE was at OMD’s LA show in fall 2011….otherwise I’ve never had to so was a bit surprised). It got jammed up so that added minutes to our line, allowing others on the other side to get in first so by the time Monica, Mark and I rushed in, the front row seemed full and people were already starting to crowd in around the middle section. I saw a teeny tiny bit of rail at the veeeery end Mr. C. side and snagged it while Mark went to the middle to see if anything opened up. Ideally, the center is better because where I was standing, it was SO far to the side, I couldn’t even see Mr. C. due to amps, venue speakers etc in the way. 🙁 But I also know from experience that many a time people come and shove in last minute and my second row becomes 3rd with a super tall dude in front of me and I did NOT want that to happen! Mark was cool with being on the side so came over (and as we bounced later, we were both happy to have the rail to hold onto LOL 😉 ) and Maureen and Elizabeth were next to me only slightly better viewed. While waiting, we instructed them in the 2 main moves of the night…one for Metroland, the other for SMS…we knew they were doing Metroland as they did it in sound check. Wasn’t sure about SMS but figured get them prepared LOL. 😉

No opening band which was strange but Mr. M. had said since this wasn’t a TOUR, they didn’t bring/have one themselves and the venue didn’t offer them one so…he said they’d be on at 9pm. We later wondered as the ticket said 8:30 and in trying to figure out when to make a final bathroom run, I asked the guard near us and he said 8:30 too. Ah well…it ended up being 9 but that just gave us an early preview of what kind of crowd it was going to be because every time the venue music would stop, everyone would think the show was about to start and a good strong cheer would go off. I had turned to Mark and said “it sounds like it’s going to be a great crowd tonight” and it was!

So during sound check, it had been decided that they were going to change the running set of songs and open with DS, but then, instead of going into Messages, they’d go into Isotype. Mr. H. had said he’d have to rearrange some things but that was the plan when we left. Lights went off, cheers broke out, DS played as the guys came out one by one…and then Messages. Mark and I were both all 😮 but…OK, go with it LOL. 😀 Once the song was done, another massive cheer erupted and the guys got the lovely surprised smiles on their faces. Mr. M. yelled out HELLO! and thanked everyone while Mr. H. said “it’s going to be a fun one tonight!” We saw the guys do Tesla Girls and Radio Waves which, funny enough, got a slightly delayed reaction. I don’t think people expected it to be played so it took about 20 seconds for the crowd to catch on but then a big cheer which was nice. THERE were the “die hard fans” that Mr. M. said the song was for LOL. 😀

Before long, it was time for their first new song to be played. Mr. M. informed us it was their first time playing it live “and you’re the lucky lot we get to play it to”. We’ll take it! 😀 Followed by “be kind!” and Mr. H. was all “fingers crossed!!!”. Gotta say, it went well. There’s a lot of musical spots where Mr. M. doesn’t sing but the stage was very big so he had plenty of space to do his dancing back and forth and only stop long enough to point out “Iiiiiisooooootyyyyyyyyyyyyyyype” to cheers from the crowd. It went down well and when it was over, Mr. H. did a “phew” forehead wipe, Mr. C. and Stuart had big smiles on their faces like “OK, ONE down…” and Mr. M. said “well, that wasn’t TOO bad..” NOPE, it was awesome! 😀

Well, as I had mentioned before, Mark and I bounce together…normally A LOT! 😀 So when HoM started, it was a great relief as we were ready and waiting! Mr. M. prompted others to bounce too and I looked around to see many particularly scattered around the middle section obliging. It felt good. 😀 Then Mr. M. announced “so we’ve got a bit of a traffic jam now” and I thought “huh?” but he then proceeded to explain about Isotype and it’s placement.and that was when we found out why it wasn’t done ealier like they had originally planned. He said they were going to do it after DS until Mr. H. tried moving things around and they realized the key just clashed too much. Mr. M. said “it sounded HORRIBLE together” and Mr. H. was like “it did…really it did.” Aww… 🙁 “So…another new song in here again” Ah…OK, traffic jam LOL, got it. 😉 Mr. M. also let out that he had his little cheat sheet with lyrics “just in case…” as he put it back in his pocket. After the first verse/chorus, he turned and slyly looked at it quickly before turning back around to us with a devilish smile. And as he sang the rest of the song, he crumpled it up and tossed it to someone in the crowd. Guess he won’t need it for the other shows then. 😀

Happy with the crowds constant excitement, Mr. M. told us “We were asked to do an 80s festival like show in La La Land so we asked if we could do a REAL show too HERE” Even bigger cheers to that one! We of course had the pleasure of Mr. H. coming down front to sing FLaD, much again to the crowds wild cheers. Always good to see and then…because they’re in America, we got IYL. Mr. M. didn’t even know how to introduce it this time so just said to do it LOL. I struggled to see Mr. C. a lot but when he stood up to play the sax, I had a fairly clear view which was nice! 😀 (and somehow, we ended up with a gap behind myself and Maureen so I took advantage of it during vids and some pics to try grabbing him more LOL 😉 ) And the crowd was thrilled as I don’t know if they tought it would be LIVE saxophone! Next…the A&M run to which Mr. M. stated he didn’t know how many people remembered 1981 but here were 4 songs from that exact year. I love seeing She’s Leaving! It’s just such a lovely bit! 😀 Of course Souvenir had Mr. M. stepping back onto the drum platform to give Mr. H. the vocal lead again. And then of course the wham bam combo of Joan of Arc and Maid of Orleans. Still amazing every time I see it and the crowd ate it up! Mr. M. said “Looks like we were right in coming to play here!” YUP! 😀

TLaC is a rest up song for Mr. M. who sat down on the end of the stage and wiped sweat off his face. “This is the first show all year where it’s actually HOT!” (and funny enough, San Fran was quite cold and windy outside but it was hot inside! 🙂 ). We then got asked to pretend we were at an outside festival and, if we didn’t think it was too much a cliche, sway our arms back and forth. Most of us didn’t think it was too cliche. 😉 When we heard the start of Metroland, I turned to Maureen to remind her to be ready LOL. Elizabeth was recording as I told Mark but he was like “It’s OK, we’ll do it!”. Well, Mr. M. was having SO muchfun with the strong energy going on from the crowd that he got going on his dancing and forgot to get back to the mic in time to start the next verse. No worries though as Mr. H. still sang, but after a couple partial lines, we heard “I fucked up the words…in MEtrolaaaaannd”. hahaha, gotta love it! 😀 And…cho cho train went down mid song even if it was just 3 of us so it was all good. 😀 😀 But then Mr. M. looked down at his set list and said “right…so nothing else past 1991 now” so Mark said “that means they’re not doing SMS”. Awww 🙁 (we had tried to guess what songs would get dropped for the 2 new ones and I thought maybe Dresden which did. Mark wondered about SMS though we both had hoped not but… 🙁 )

Since Mark and I were in a bit of bouncing withdrawl due to no SMS, we joined Mr. M. to bounce for part of SiL LOL. Stuart was the center of Mr. M.s attention at one point during Dreaming as he teasingly sang to him and when it was done, he asked “you doing OK Stuart?” to which Stuart smiled and nodded. So then Mr. M. asked “are you ready to play another 2 hours?” and when Stuart did a little shrug and smile like “yeah…OK sure”, Mr. M. said “well you know you’ll be on your own don’t you?” and they all laughed. 😀 Everyone was having a fantastic time and the crowd reaction was fueling it. Enola Gay wrapped things up (and had Mark and I bouncing again. Gotta say, it was quite strange to have such a long gap between major bouncing songs. Though in THIS case at least, since I’d hurt my knees the day before, it was probably a good thing…but something I’ll have to get used to LOL) before they all waved goodbye and walked off stage.

Lights went down but the crowd didn’t stop and Mark started the OMD, OMD, OMD chant with many around us joining in and before long it was going strong. 🙂 When the guys came back out, I could see each and every ONE of their joyful, smiling faces. Always does my heart good! 😀 It was also obvious that the guys were hot because Mr. M. came out in just his black T-shirt. He said he had no other words to say but THANK YOU! He then said that the last time they played San Fran, they hadn’t done this song but they should have…and Secret was given out. The crowd went mental! I gotta say, it never ceases to amaze me how that song gets as big, if not BIGGER reaction than IYL but I’m glad because I love it! 😀 And of course, “we never do a show without playing this one…” (though I turned to Mark and said “unless it’s SXSW and the jerky venue turns the power off on you! 🙁 ) Electricity! One final bouncing round for us and then it was done with all 4 guys coming out to give kisses, thank yous, and claps back to the crowd. Mr. H. announced they’d be back for a full tour in March and would see them again, then it was done for good.

We had to get Marks traditional group photo (and he found a guy who suprisingly got everyone in as we had acquired 2 more just before doors had opened…Kristen and her friend…so that made 10 of us! 😮 But the guy managed to get it LOL). A bit of visiting and Mark bought a T-shirt before the guards ushered us out. We figured we’d wait around for the band a bit to say hello so Mark lent me his coat again (thank goodness as it was COLD! What the heck? It’s summer in CA! 😮 ) and we ended up down the side street by the back stage door we had used earlier for sound check. Found a bunch of other fans waiting with various things to get signed but with the show starting 30 minutes later than thought, I had to get going fairly soon. I had a rental car to return and was then sleeping at the airport for a 7am flight home. By 11;45, I said my goodbyes and Mark offered to walk me to the car. As it turned out, we had to go back on the main road and pass the venue to get to where I was parked and I saw Mr. H. signing things! 😮 So Mark ran back quickly to get the others and I waited to get a turn to give a quick hug before leaving. YAY, hugs to 2 of them at least. 😀 Hugs and goodbyes to Mark once at my car and then it was off to the airport and eventually home for me.

So…highlight of the night. Hmmm….I think it’s a few things really. Sound check was cool of course. But being up front and bouncing with Mark was great fun too so…I’ll say both of those. Still seems a bit surreal really. But really glad I went! Roll on November UK! 😀