Leicester, November 5th 2017

Man, I’m telling ya, Leicester was an interesting day/night in many a way LOL. 🙂 So after Cambridge, the band had a night off but I popped on over to Nottingham to see the final Blancmange show on his tour. Great fun! 🙂 Then it was off to Leicester via National Express. Gotta say, was quite happy to see they had free wifi AND a power outlet as my little netbook that I brought with me this time is not keeping it’s charge very well. 🙁 (and now just got big red X saying battery replacement needed so…not sure if I’ll be blogging my entire trip or not now. 😮 🙁 🙁 ) Got in pretty early..too early to check in so decided to go to yet another Build a Bear to kill time. ALMOST bought something…but in the end left empty handed. But then the first interesting bit happened. So I grab a Meal Deal from Tesco’s, go sit on a little metal bench/chair thing and start eating. An older gentleman who I’m guessing was easily mid/late 60s if not a bit older, comes along and kind of gestures to the other seat by me (it was groups of 2 seats) so I am all “yes of course you can sit there” and gesture back. He sits down and then takes a look at me. Mind you, I am wearing leggings that are a bit, er, busy…lots of things on them. The main thing seen was a cat so he says “quite colorful there. You like cats?” So I laugh and say “yes” and then proceed to point out some other things on my leggings “and donuts, and cookies, and cupcakes” (I said they were busy LOL 😉 ) Well then he says ‘do you drink?” In the back of my head I thought “that’s strange. Why would he ask me THAT?” but then I thought “well those were all food items, maybe he’s wondering if I also drink” (yes I can be a bit naive 😳 ) I say no, he asks again kind of surprised so I laugh and say ‘no, I’d rather keep my carbs to sweets. 😀 ” So he THEN says “are you Polish?” 😮 Now…at Cambridge, I had a guy think my accent was Irish and I thought that quite funny. But at Blancmange, the couple next to me I was chatting with asked if I was Scottish! I laughed and told them how I got thought to be Irish the night before. So when this dude asked me if I was Polish I was a bit flabbergasted. Did my voice change since my last trip over? 😀 So I told him no, but my grandparents were. Right…so I start eating my sandwich again, a big wind comes up so he says “brrr, its’ too cold to sit here”I agree and he then says “so you don’t want to go and have a drink with me?” 😮 😮 😮 BLING, light bulb just popped on in my head. OOMMGGGG!! I nearly fell off my bench! Are you KIDDING me? The guy is without a doubt old enough to be my father, EW! 🙁 Well, of course I don’t show any of that and actually very politely say “oh, no thank you.” and smile. He starts to get up and says “I’m a proper Scottish man, I’d have treated you.” So I continue to politely decline and say “have a nice day” so he leaves and I’m sitting there thinking “ya know, I SUPPOSE I could try to feel flattered but…EW! Does he think I look THAT old? Or did he think I was some desparate single woman? Or…” and no matter how I tried, I couldn’t see a positive in it. I finally just chuckled thinking “well, my leggings DID have a lot of sweets on them. Maybe he thought I wanted a ‘sugar daddy’. 😀 Leicester….

So interesting #1…#2 was with Wendy as we met up (no surprise this will be) at a place called Heavenly Desserts prior to getting in the que (tee hee 😉 ) . OMG the MENU! 😮 Though, tbh, I ordered the Banofee, something rarely seen in America, that’s a UK/European flavor I’ve found, and it was quite disappointing as they barely put any of the caramel sauce on it. 🙁 But Wendy’s was quite nice looking…plenty of chocolate so we had a nice chat and munch. 🙂

Once to the venue, there was quite a line and it was only a little after 18:00. That should have been a clue to how the night was going to be but we didn’t know yet. Got let inside the building early (and a guard came by the line saying “if anyone wants to get in sooner, come around to the other side door so off Wendy and I went as front row was our goal LOL). More waiting by doors but at least it was inside and warm and when we finally got let in, there was a tiny space on Mr. C.s side in the front. Wendy had me get in and she got semi next to me as I stood sideways hoping that things would shift and we could get her in full way but then the people next to me moved so Wendy saw and motioned for me to quickly grab their spot (didn’t see myself as they were to my back since I was standing sideways to make more room). SO, both of us got in front, yay! 😀

Tiny Magnetic Pets came on slightly early and strangely, seemed to have played one less song…or I just counted wrong in Cambridge. But they went over really well with the crowd so that should have been another clue to what the gig was going to be. Well, tbh, it DID cross my mind that their reaction to the opener was promising to what it would be like for OMD. 🙂 The last song has Paula doing a little shoulder shrug dance move thingy so I nudged Wendy and said “come on…” and we started doing it. I joked “who says OMD is the only one who gets dance moves?” (because there’s not as many now due to set list changes but for the last tour, there were a number of songs that had ‘dance moves’ to them. 😀 😉 )

When the lights went down and Art Meets Art started, the crowd let out a massive cheer. And even more so when each band member came out( though funny enough, it seemed Mr. C. took longer to get out because I was thinking where is he? He had to go all the way around and come in from back LOL). Ghost Star, despite being a slower song, is a grabber and the crowd really enjoyed it. But then when Isotype started, there was no need to invite reactions, the crowd immediately started clapping to the beat. 🙂 And kept clapping thru a good portion of it. When it was over, Mr. M. said “oh…it’s going to be a good one tonight!” 🙂

Once the bass came out and they launched into Messages, there was not only more clapping but singing. I could have SWORN I heard the “der da der da der da deeeeer” that often happens in the German gigs during the musical part of Messages which was good as I was doing it. But then the rest of the song I didn’t really hear it. Ah well, can’t have it all LOL 😉 After Tesla Girls, Mr. M. turned to Mr. H. and said “sorry for the bass screw ups” to which Mr. H. laughed and said “that’s OK, I messed up on Messages so…” and Mr. M. said “was I even in key?” and they both laughed. He then said “well, the good news is, the bad bass playing is over for a bit. The BAD news is, it’s time for bad dancing.” That always equals HoM which equals bouncing! 😀 I didn’t see as many heads going up and down from my view but lots of hands in the air.

Many around us seemed really excited and happy to see Mr. H. come out and sing FLaD and I heard a lot of singing along. Then…interesting thing #3…and I don’t think I even want to say interesting as much as AWESOME. Guess what won the vote… 😀 😀 😀 Mr. M. looked down on his set list and said how they were doing a vote every night and “Leicester…not only were you the show who had the most so far, BUT, you are the first to choose this song. Of course, because we haven’t rehearsed it for over a week.” I nearly fell over! (and apologies if you can hear my surprise and excitement in my video. 😳 ). Wendy had thought Radio Waves when she saw Mr. M.s guitar, I was hoping for NSA (she voted for that on her phone. I sadly can’t vote as it’s internet and my phone doesn’t work over here) so when Mr. M. said first time winning…OMG! He then joked and said if they screw up, don’t blame them and if they do it right, well that means they’re wonderful. I’ll just tell you now…they were wonderful! 😀 It was a hard decision…record or just enjoy. In the end, I recorded but kept my camera down low and didn’t really zoom or anything but once so I could still WATCH it too. WOW! 😀 Leicester you all are AWESOME, well done! 😀

The A&M trio is always a treat and the crowd TOTALLY ate it up. OMG, so much clapping and singing for JoA/MoO! And when it was all done, not only was there a cheer but everyone in the balcony were on their feet. And then, stomping…louder and louder on the ground to the point I jokingly yelled to Wendy “stampede, STAMPEDE!”. It was really great and the smiles on all 4 of the guys faces were priceless!

The performance of OAtTWM is so great to see, not just because the song is beautiful, but the way the guys line up and do their specific parts and such…hard to explain but maybe it’s because it’s so different from the rest of the show..it stands out. Sadly, I still bawled and then, because I’d not watched the DVD that came with the new CD yet (my bad. 😳 but life too crazy lately), I didn’t know what the subject matter was for Mr. H.s WHWD song…until Wendy mentioned it because she thought I knew. So…yet another song to cry on. 😳 😥 Gotta say, I’m kind of glad I’m further back the next couple shows because then I can cry in private LOL. I should be better composed by the time I’m up front again…I can hope. 🙁

No time to stay down and sad though because we were called to dance and bounce again once that was all over. I’m so glad they have kept SiL on the setlist because it’s so much fun seeing Mr. C. play the saxophone! 😀 When SotSS started and the clapping and singing started also, Mr. M. asked everyone to be “louder!” and we all obliged. There was a young girl next to me who had come along with her mom and she was singing to quite a few herself. Always fun to see 2 generations together at the gigs. 🙂 And I THINK it was during this time (because I personally didn’t see it come flying) that Wendy pointed to the ground and there, low and behold, was a black bra! 😮 Oh my goodness…. 😀

Before they went into their final song pre-encore, Mr. M. announced that the last time they played in this hall was 31 years ago. He then said ‘and as we would have said then, this is your final chance to dance so…” and we all did! When it was over, the crowd just went crazy. SO happy to see them all getting the love and credit they deserve! 😀 They left for their short bit and the clapping got faster and faster and then more stomping on the ground before the guys came back again. Mr. M. thanked everyone and said that we had helped carry them all thru but especially him as he had been told he had “septic tonsillitis”. 😮 🙁 I had noticed they were bringing tea out to him so I wondered because he doesn’t have that every night but thought maybe it was just a cold. Nope. 🙁 Mr. H. jokingly said “I’m staying far away from him” and Mr. M. laughed and then gave a thank you to the band for helping too but then again said it’s the crowd that makes the show “and don’t let any band tell you otherwise.” Aww… 🙂

WotMW, Secret (which I always love hearing the bass on as it’s a good one 🙂 ) and Electricity all went by so fast. When it was done, everyone was on their feet again including the balcony. I thought Cambridge had a really great reaction but I would say Leicester was even better. 😀

So highlight of the night. Hmm…well, I think I’m going to have to say seeing NSA live because it was for the first time EVER! 😀 Like OAtTWM, I never thought I’d get to see it so…whoo hoo!! 😀 😀 Next up…Nottingham from like 15 rows back LOL. But that’s OK…so long as I don’t have some 6 foot guy in front of me, I’ll enjoy seeing things from a different perspective. I’ve been close a lot, back some and even balcony. When further way, you get a better feel of the lighting and such so all is good. 🙂