Cambridge, November 3rd, 2017

So my UK OMD tour adventure is starting in Cambridge..well, gig wise. I first had a little time in London as my flight was quite the early one. Not used to leaving Chicago at 6:05pm. Normally I head out around 8:45-10pm so…this early flight made it feel like I was taking a late afternoon nap and then getting up to party all night LOL. But aside from 2 vents starting to drip water, one dripping on me, near the end of the flight (yes I know that’s not a good thing but the attendant was pretty carefree about it all so…) the flight was uneventful and coming in so early allowed me to have a lovely meal and chat with a close friend of many a years.

Jumped on a train to Cambridge and though I’d seen the name “Corn Exchange”, I had never seen a show there. Wasn’t certain if the “19:30” time listed on my ticket was doors or start time so once in the hotel, I FB messaged the venue and found out…doors. Great, plenty of time! 😀 Well, I am a collector of Build a Bears so once settled and cleaned up for the show, I had to stop at the Cambridge branch, especially since it was literally like 3 minutes from the venue LOL. 😉 Funny enough, I was getting my picture taken in front of it when I saw a woman come up to me. Initially I thought it was someone offering to take the picture for me since I was having to do it a few times to get the logo and myself in but then I realized no, it was Sally! And then I saw Steve and Dave. YAY! 😀 Greets all around and a little chat (Steve got a better pic of me and the store LOL) and then the plan to meet up later at the gig. I did my thing in the store (no purchases sadly as they didn’t have what I was looking for but still good to visit as many stores as I can as there’s a “Pawsport” to get stamped. Yes I know…you can laugh at me, it’s OK 😉 ) and then it was a search for something quick to eat before getting in the que. Sainsbury’s…I love the UK and all your Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsbury’s!!! 😀

Only 2 men in line and a third that came just before I walked up. I’d heard of this venue before…The Corn Exchange…but never seen a show so when talking to everyone in the que, I found out it had good sound and fit about 1,800. Nice size and always good to hear the accoustics are good! Turned out too that doors were actually 19:00! 😮 But that’s better as less time to wait outside since it was starting to get a bit nippy LOL.

The gang (which grew by one as I finally officially met Neil Taylor) saved me a spot in the front which was great and I was curious about the opening band. I’d purposely made it a point to not ask anyone nor look to see anything written about the shows because I wanted it to be TOTALLY fresh to me! But when outside, there was a running times paper so I saw opener was Tiny Magnetic Pets. Hmmm….Well as it turned out, it was a trio. 2 men, one on electronic drums and one on keyboards, and a female singer. I didn’t record anything and took minimal pictures as you can never get your “first” back so I wanted to just kind of soak it in but I enjoyed them. Won’t mind seeing them a bunch more times thank goodness LOL. They’re all electronic though not all ‘dance’ electro…I guess I’d say ‘pop’ though not even always that. Hard to explain but the singer (was told her name is Paula) has a really nice voice.

I made my usual pit stop between bands and barely made it back as it was getting quite crowded. Good sign for the guys! 😀 Once back and looking at the stage, I realized Stuart was up really high so asked Dave why. He didn’t know but as it turned out, it lent for some interesting shots of the guys in Stuarts reflective drum LOL. 🙂 Steve asked me if I’d been to the RAH show and I said no so he said I’d be seeing a song I’d never seen before as HE had never seen it til that show. I of course didn’t want to know LOL. When the lights went down, the crowd let out a large cheer and then the start of Art Meets Art came on. i was all excited thinking “ooo, are they going to do that one?” 😮 😀 But then it went into La Mitrailleuse at which point I thought “OMG NO!” because honestly, that song is SO disturbing to me it creeps me out and makes me really uncomfortable! I leaned over to Dave all “PLEASE tell me they aren’t doing the machine gun part!” but he said no and then it moved on again. Steve was like “can you guess yet?” but I couldn’t…until I heard birds. Ahhhh, OK yes the “nature song” as I jokingly call it. Ghost Star. Gotta say, I like it on the album but it was even better live. Though the birds kind of over powered Mr. M. at times which was actually quite funny to me. I couldn’t help but think “can someone tell the birds to keep it down a bit?” and pictured a training shooshing them as they twirped around in their cages. 😀 😀

It was then off to another new, but faster song..Isotype. That song is ALMOST a bouncing song…it FEELS like a bouncing song but once I started bouncing…eh…it’s just a TAD bit too slow so mid stream I turned to a big sideways bop instead. 😀 Steve was recording but I wanted to just enjoy all the new stuff for their first time and record later. Though Isotype and TPoL I’d seen in San Fran. That being said, they’re still so new that I just sat back and enjoyed. After that, Mr. M. announced to not get too worried, they’d be doing some old stuff too and then they launched into Messages. The crowd was quite enthusiastic which was really good to see! Tesla Girls had a lot of singing and when it was time for Mr. M. to put his bass down and get us all bouncing to HoM, there were a lot of bouncers besides the gang I was in. 😀

So a new thing this tour is a ‘vote’. Prior to the gig, there is a choice of songs and you can text your vote. Tonight…If You Leave, New Stone Age and She’s Leaving. I was immediately hoping for NSA as I’ve never seen them do that live before! Of course IYL was an immediate no thanks as it’s so over played in the states but then I had to remind myself…oh yeah, I’m in the UK so it’s probably a big deal for people HERE to hear it. Well, Mr. M. announced it was that time for “democracy” but then looked down at his set list and said “but there’s no name so no one must have voted for it.” He then laughed, pointed to his sheet and said “look it says song vote and there’s F*ck already”. 😀 We all cracked up and then he said ‘should we just skip it?” I yelled NO and Mr. H. piped in that he knew the winner so he mouthed it to Mr. M. Earlier Ed had said it was a close call so I was SOOOO hoping NSA and someone even shouted it out so i get even MORE excited. But then Mr. M. said “somewhere tonight there’s probably some American collage students saying they were conceived to this song.” It took me a second and then I realized…ugh, IYL. 🙁 I was like “nope, wasn’t ME who voted for it!” and the gang started laughing all “yeah you did, it was YOU!” When Mr. M. came around, they all started pointing at me and Steve was all “it was LORI!” I gave Mr. M. the “no! Cut!” hand and head shake and he laughed. No offense to IYL…it’s just such a typical song for USA but ah well. Fair is fair. 🙂

It was Mr. H.s turn to come out to the front to do his thing with Forever Live and Die and shortly after, we also got him singing Souvenir but tonight, that song was quite a difference experience for me. So apparently the night before, per the gang, there was a guy in the front who was head banging a lot and SO much so that they all thought he was going to hit his head on the stage. I’ve never seen anyone head bang and when I think of OMD I don’t think of head banging but hey, OK, enjoy them how you like. 🙂 Well, just before Souvenir started, Steve said to Dave “OK, ready to head bang?” and I was like ‘wait, we’re actually going to head bang to Souvenir?” 😮 They both grinned and then started so..of course I had to join in. I had my hair down and it’s gotten longer so…perfect head banging accessory. 😀 The only thing was, I couldn’t really enjoy the actual performance because my head was down most of the time. I did look up a few times, once to see Stuart cracking up. Sally also had the hair flailing thing going on which just made me laugh even more. (and after the show, it was decided it was to become a tradition when we’re together so… 😉 )

Good thing we had JoA and MoA after to let us settle our heads LOL. Amazing crowd reaction to BOTH! Lots of clapping and loud singing! Earlier, Steve, Sally and I had talked about the last time we saw OMD play Milwaukee and how it wasn’t too crowded so we had space to windmill. When it came to the main windmilling part, I couldn’t help myself and up went my hand with the others joining in. Ya just can’t stand still for that song right? 😉 Many people in the balcony stood up once it was all over to show their appreciation. Again, a really nice thing to see the crowd eating it all up! 😀

It wasn’t too much later when Steve leaned over and said “you should be getting your camera out now” so I asked if this was going to be the song I had not heard before. He said yes and I had seen Merve bring a single drum over shortly prior which got my curiosity peaked. Steve was asking me if I could guess and I thought something off DS but not what we got…Of All the Things We’ve Made. OOMMGGGG!!! 😮 😮 WOW! What a treat! 😀 Though as soon as they started I knew I was in trouble because the song itself is melancholic and getting to see it live would have made me tear up a bit anyways but due to a recent personal loss, I ended up bawling…right in front of Mr. H. and Stuart. :'( Mr. H. I’m sure has seen me cry at some point but I’m new to Stuart (he’s new to me..however you want to look at it) so it was a bit embarrassing but…couldn’t help it. 😥 😳 Ah well, still wonderful to see it!!!

When it was done and everyone was heading back to their spots, Mr. M. started looking for Mr. H. to introduce the next song, not realizing that he was coming up from behind. “You snuck up on me!” Well, as it turned out, it was another Mr. H. lead singing song so Mr. M. went back to do the keys but apparently either he hit the wrong button or something wasn’t set right as it started something else. I didn’t hear all he said but there was joking between him and Mr. H. (who had walked back to set things up) and apparently Mr. M. found the right key that even had Mr. H.s name labeled on it…and something about 1979 too LOL. Always such great commoraderie with the band! 😀 I love What Have We Done so was really happy to see it!

I hadn’t recorded anything yet as every time I’d try, it would be a new song (oh yes, forgot to mention they did One More Time too which I love) so I pulled my camera up one more time thinking “OK, THIS is it. I’ll record the next song” but then Mr. M. said “this is the part where it’s non-stop mindless dancing” and I thought “oh crud, can’t record now”. Was stopping when he looked back at Stuart and said “some technical difficulties”. Stuart had a blister and was putting a bandaid on it. 🙁 Mr. M. jokingly said “let me introduce you to Stuart Delicate Fingers Kershaw”. Aww… But it wasn’t long and off they went into SIL. THEN I was like “that’s it!” and just decided to record whatever was next…Locomotion. 🙂

Sadly, when they started playing TPoL, Steve started recording again but then the guard came over and told him to stop. 🙁 We were all surprised as many in the front row had been recording all night but…nope, he made him stop so I was really glad I managed to grab my one song before we got busted! (and Steve has a few more gigs to get that song…the last of the new ones he needed) All the new songs really fit in well, gotta say. 🙂

Of course the last song prior to walking off stayed the same..Enola Gay and it was bouncing time again. When it was over, the crowd really let out and the guys came out for bows quite happily. When they returned and the crowd erupted again, Mr. M. said “the audience makes the gig. We just supply the setlist so thank you very much.” Thank YOU very much. 😀 We got WotMW and also Secret (which I’m sure many were happy to hear as that too, like IYL, I don’t think got played much in the UK/Europe in the beginning of OMD’s return) and then, again, the usual ending of “the oldest and fastest song” that is Electricity. One final chance for the crowd to dance and sing along before it was all over.

More waves and thank yous from the guys and then…off they went and the lights came on full. I decided to pull a Mark and get a post picture (tee hee). Steve was like “oh sure, when we’re all hot and sweaty” but I laughed and said “but that’s what he always does. It shows how we enjoyed the gig”. AND, one thing about the setlist not having as many bouncing songs…we aren’t quite as much a hot sweaty mess. 😀 The guards were nicely asking us to leave so we stopped to get free waters at the bar that the bartender was kindly giving out, then said our goodbyes and Steve and Sally kindly walked me to my hotel. What a fun night and a great start to my part round of gigs! 😀

So…highlight of the night. Well, NORMALLY it would be getting to see OAtTWM live. But, since it also made me so sad too, AND, I’ll get to see it again at the next show vs. this other thing will be limited, I’m going to say head butting to Souvenir. I just won’t get the images of everyone, especially Sally with her hair going all over like mine, out of my head. TOO FUNNY! 😀