Sheffield, November 7th 2017

My what a gloomy day I trained into. 🙁 Light rain once I was half way there on the train but luckily it had stopped for my walk from the station to the hotel and tho started again when I got a snack, was done by the time I was heading to the venue so…worked out in the end. 🙂

It’s truly a small world because funny thing…as I was heading to the track I needed for my train to Sheffield, I of course took the lift due to my big suitcase. There was another woman who was in it and held the door for me. When she got out, I noticed she had a cool bag with the Union Jack on it. Didn’t pay attention to where she was going but she ended up back in front of the lifts in Sheffield because her bag caught my eye so I recognized her. Well, when the doors closed, there was a massive picture of some dude, er, I can’t really remember what he was doing now but he was in some sort of work uniform and his face was RIGHT there! I mean RIGHT there on the door. I thought my goodness! 😮 I joked to the woman about it, she joked back saying yeah, good thing it was daylight vs. seeing him like that on the door at night, we laughed and then as we were getting off, she said “Is your name Lori?” 😮 I said yes and as it turns out, she’s friends with some friends of mine. We both had heard of each other thru them. She had been at the Nottingham show as I and we both were going to Sheffield. Small world really! 😀

Jenny and Tim had VIP tonight but we met for dinner prior to the show which was awesome as it was great to get to visit! Saw Andy and Chris (who I also haven’t seen for ages but only briefly as I didn’t see him in the venue, just in the bar before going to sit with Jenny and Tim) and it was a reminder of how much fun it is catching up with UK buddies. Really glad I was able to come over for these shows! 😀

We all went in to see the entire set of TMP and to my great pleasure, I was only 4 rows back (my lucky number) and I was again in the middle with a slight tinge of being more on Mr. H.s side so it was perfect as I’d been more Mr. C.s side up to this point. The venue was quite lovely and I loved the ceiling! 🙂 I chatted with the couple next to me and then a woman in front of them turned around to ask where in America I was from as her husband was from Denver. I accidentally assumed the guy sitting next to her was him but she said no, that was her twin brother. Turns out, she had seen OMD back in the 80s at this venue but her brother had not “which is strange because HE was more into them than I. I was more Depeche Mode so I don’t know where he was or why he hadn’t seen them.” Newbie! 😀 I love meeting OMD newbies! 😀 No one came and sat in the 2 seats in front of me either so I was able to get some video of TMP and have a very clear shot. 😀

Quick chat and a group photo with Jenny and Tim during intermission, then back to our seats. I noticed that Andy and now Irene too were almost directly in front of me but 2 rows ahead. STILL no one in the seats in front of me and I kept thinking “stay that way! Or at LEAST don’t come until AFTER Ghost Star!” because, as I had planned after not doing it at Nottingham, I recorded it. (and as it turned out, NO ONE came all night! 😮 The girl just off to my left moved over a bit and the girl to the right of empty seats did the same but the girl in front that moved was short so not in my way. PERFECT luck for me! Whoo hoo! 😀 )

Well, I had already decided that I wasn’t going to wait around tonight and just stand right away when Isotype started to take off. I saw Irene itching to get up so I jumped up and within second so did she. And it was quite quick and in big bunches this time that everyone came up which, tbh, surprised me as the crowd were a bit more reserved for TMP vs. the other few nights so I wondered if they would be like that for OMD too but…nope. (I guess they were saving their energy for the main attraction LOL 😉 ) When it was over, people really got moving and clapping for Messages. Mr. M. said at the end “this used to be a more reserved and civilized area….you’ve CHANGED.” to which the crowd cheered and he said “we LIKE the change.” There were 2 guys in my row to my right that had yelled “We Love Paul!” prior to the gig starting and then they yelled it again 3 times like a little chant. 😀

When Mr. M. put his bass down he announced “the bad bass playing is done but the bad news is, the shit dancing starts. And since my knee no longer hurts, tonight it’ll REALLY be shit dancing.” Aww… 😀 Quite a few bouncers from my view which was great to see!

So the “democracy” moment was exciting really as Mr. M. announced that it was the closest vote of the tour so far. The loser was only 10 votes away from the winner and the winner only won by ONE vote! 😮 “Maybe that’s because we put 3 singles as choices” he said laughing. We had to choose between IYL, Pandora’s Box or GE. Tim and Jenny voted GE (which of course would have been my choice) but by Irene’s reaction, I’m sure she voted for PB because she got so excited when it started. 😀 Mr. M. pointed to 2 girls in the front row and said “I KNOW you 2 voted for this. Your votes won the song….everyone hates you for it but… ” (said jokingly of course). I gotta say, I’m really enjoying this voting thing and I hope they do it for the American tour! It just gives us a little change up and a bit of excitement and it’s fun. 😀 And since they’d not done PB yet for the shows I saw, this was a treat. 🙂

It was NO surprise that there was the 3 run “We love Paul” shouted as Mr. H. came out to do FLaD. But some other people behind me yelled out his name too and some girl screamed like crazy. 🙂

I found myself watching the guy who was the newbie a lot and many a time, a song would start and he’d get the “OOOOO, OMG it’s *fill in the blank*” look. Sweet! 😀 The A&M trio elicited some huge smiles and excitement from him too. When the hum of JoA started, he got so excited and his sister must have not quite known because I heard him whisper “Joan of Arc” and did a little mimic of the start of the drum beat. 🙂 It all went over really well and after Mr. M. announced not to do it in front of your teenage kids, he said “oh wait, my son is in the audience tonight isn’t he? Well, hopefully he’s forgiven me by now…he’s older so…” Yes, I’m sure he has. 🙂 I was so busy recording OAtTWM and trying to not only get footage of all 4 of them in the line (JUST able to get them all in…well and a head as there was a tall guy next to Irene so he fit right in between Stuart and Mr. H. LOL) that I didn’t cry. 😀 But I honestly think I will have an issue for Mr. H.s What Have We Done for awhile so…I’m just gonna have to deal with that. 😥 . No sneaking up on Mr. M. this time, he was front and Mr. M. went right to the keyboards LOL. The thing I noticed again tonight that I noticed in Nottingham too is…it gets SO quite. I mean seriously, SILENT at that point. Then Mr. M. or Mr. H. says something but that’s a true sign of people paying attention when it’s quiet at a break point. 🙂 But then of course MORE Mr. H. chanting. Lots of love for Mr. H. tonight. 😀

Mr. M announced that they had played 12 times at this venue “and it may be a bit presumptuous but…I’m going to assume that some of you here have seen us before.” Cheers to which he said “so you would then know that this is the time that we have non stop, mindless dancing for the rest of the show.” During SiL, a woman got his attention and motioned to a shirt she had. He came over, she tossed it to him and he took it to wipe his face…a few times…then tossed it back to her at which point she kissed it. LOL, never dull at an OMD show! 😀 And I always love watching the fun hand shake (and some nights it’s more) between Mr. M. and Mr. H. in Locomotion. 🙂

Not a good view really of Mr. C. and his funky key playing for SotSS tonight sadly, but he’s just adorable to watch as he just bops back and forth on his chair, claps along when we’re supposed to be clapping and smiles…and smiles some more. 😀 TPoL got a strong response which was good since it’s new. I was even impressed with newbie as he too was singing along to a number of the new songs so his sister was right when she said he was really into OMD. 🙂 A final bouncing moment before the guys came out to say goodbye (oh, and they kept the EG dingling bit going after the guys left tonight too so I guess I just didn’t notice it right away. Lots to take in the first night or 2 LOL! 😉 )

When they came out again, someone shouted “Robot Man…Robot Man! Come on, DO it!” so Mr. M. chuckled and did the first 3 “Robot Man”s of the song and then said “that’s all you get.” hahahaha 😀 Someone then shouted “Secret!” and I said under my breath “they’ll do it” while Mr. M. said “just wait…we have another 2 hours so…” to which the crowd let out a loud cheer. The person didn’t have to wait long as Mr. H. introduced it by saying “someone shouted for this one. This is Secret.” Just love the bass playing on this so decided to grab the video. Promises to come back again and then it was the song “you KNOW we can’t leave without doing”. Some people in the front row really started jumping up and down and I heard newbie again mimic what the start drum bit would be as he got all excited again. Since it’s their fastest song, whoosh and it was done and they were leaving the stage. Another fun night and good show for them and us. 🙂

My highlight tonight…well, I think it was watching newbie (sorry, I should have gotten his name so I’m not calling him newbie but I didn’t 😳 ) When the show was done I asked him if he had enjoyed it and he was like “oh yeah!” with a big smile. I could tell! Every time I’d look over and see him with his big grin it just did my heart good. It made ME smile with him. 😀 I could tell he was finally getting to see songs he’d grown up with and I know how special that is! 😀 😀 He shook my hand and his sister laughed and said ‘bring them to Chicago’ so I said “they’re playing in March!” They and the couple next to me wished me safe travels and then it was a quick goodbye to Tim and Jenny before heading back to hotel. So…4 down, 4 to go. I’m in the half way point LOL. 🙂