Milwaukee-March 17th 2018

St. Pats Day! 😀 Tho, gotta say I was VERY happy Chicago was the night before as the last time I saw a show in the city on St. Pat’s day (ironically at the same venue OMD played) it was a NIGHTMARE! Drunks crossing the street right in front of my car, others almost running into me from behind. Milwaukee…not going to be an issue, especially since the venue was inside a casino and on the outskirts of the city. 😉

Nothing exciting to report pre-gig trip as I worked again LOL. But I made good timing getting up to the casino and quickly met up with Kim so we could queue in hopes of getting front. She was able to save me a spot so we ended up smack in the center. 😮 Fairly low stage and no barrier either! I think this would be a good time to explain the venue. Probably should have taken a picture of it but…here goes. So it’s a theatre inside a big casino and the “floor” was like a very tiny “pit” area. Doubt it was more than 12 feet in depth but it went all around the half circle stage which allowed for a lot of people to be “front row.” Then at the end of the floor was a low booth that also went in a half circle. After that, up a step or 2 and a layer of booths with tables. 3 levels of that I believe. And then the balcony which was all seated. The show was sold out but the floor itself wasn’t too packed so that was good for bouncing. 😀

GGOOLLDD is now located in Milwaukee so this was their “home town show”. I could tell by the response of many on the floor that they were very familiar with the band. Lots of clapping, some mouthing of words, bouncing! Margaret mentioned it was a bit strange to be in a venue that they’d not played before since she’d played at a lot but a good strange. 🙂

Once it was time for OMD to come on, the band got a good cheer for the start and end of GS. Mr. M. looked out and said “We’re BACK!” to more cheers. He then chuckled and said “We’ve played some surreal places here. INTERESTING…but surreal.” Isotype got people bopping around and with the stage being low and right up to us, many fans were right away wanting hand slaps or taking selfies/having friends take pictures of themselves with the band behind them. On particular girl had Mr. M. put his 2 fingers up behind her head for the pic LOL. When it was over Mr. M. looked at Mr. H. and said “it’s surreal but the natives are friendly”. Then to us “I hope you’re all wearing green and winning in the casino.” 😆 Well, Messages got people bopping around though I have to say there was a couple behind Kim and I who kept chatting. The guy seemed really into it as he was bopping all over the place but they kept talking too. Quite annoying! 😕 When it was over Mr. M. jokingly said “you HAVE been drinking.” 😀

As for wearing green…well someone in the crowd must have thought the band needed some green because while TG was going on, a green string of beads got tossed at Mr. M. He picked them up and walked over to put it around Mr. H.s neck. Both started laughing and I thought “awww”. 😀 But almost immediately after Mr. M. returned down to front, another string of beads came flying up so he picked them up, walked over to Mr. C. and put them on him as he laughed. I thought “dude, they’re just going to keep tossing them until YOU wear them” and sure enough, once HoM started a third strand got tossed up so Mr. M. put them on. 😀 It was mid song and mid bounce when I saw something come up out of the corner of my eye. The chatting guy behind me was holding up an album and sharpie. Um…OK… Mr. M. was middle by us so I guess the guy thought he could get him to sign it. Mr. M. kept going but later when the guy tried again, he grabbed the sharpie and album, signed it and handed everything back to the guy. Kim and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes as we both thought “not the time or place dude.” And sadly that also got him and his friend chatting all in excitement the rest of the song. Ugh! Once the song was over, Mr. M. took his green bead strand and hung it on his mic stand saying “I’m sorry but I had to take it off. It was hitting me in the face.” I thought “poor Stuart doesn’t have one” but just as I got thinking it, another strand came flying so Mr. M. picked it up and put it on Stuart before going to Mr. H.s keyboard. OK, complete set. 🙂

Well, as it turned out, the guy with the album didn’t stop with Mr. M. because when Mr. H. came front…you guessed it… the guy did the same to HIM. For Pete’s Sake. 😕 Though funny little tid bit. Mr. H. kept his mic in his one hand so just grabbed the sharpie in the other to sign. The guy figured it out that he would have to hold the album because Mr. H. didn’t have a free hand so did, Mr. H. signed and the guy pulled the album away and started doing his excited chatting with friend. Meanwhile Mr. H. still has the sharpie so he’s motioning for the guy to take it…um, take it please….you’re SHARPIE. The guy finally saw just when poor Mr. H. was wanting to walk to the other side of the stage for the chorus so reached out and grabbed it. Bless Mr. H.s heart! 😀

Once done, Mr. H. got a good cheer of appreciation and then Mr. M. came back down to start his introduction of IYL. Someone yelled out a song that, by Mr. M.s response must have been EG or Electricity because Mr. M. said “no that’s at the END of the show. We still have an hour to go. Unless that’s your way of saying you want us to go.” Some people chuckled and some yelled no. Mr. M. then said “I think SOME people are going to want to hear this next song” and off they went to IYL. Lots of singing along and more hand slapping. It was actually quite funny to watch the crowd as people kept sticking their hands up for slaps but then the next song, many would do it again. Mr. M. was just slap, slap more slap etc. 😀 And not just the front row but people from further back would come forward too. As mentioned in the Chicago blog, Mr. H. wasn’t feeling well but unlike Chicago where you really wouldn’t have known, tonight Kim and I saw him cough to the side just before starting Souvenir. Awww… 🙁 Kim leaned over to me and said “maybe I should throw a cough drop on stage. 😀 ” We both laughed but then I said “well you can give to him when he comes out front again in WHWD” and she nodded like “ooo yeah.” Vocally he still sounded good but visually he seemed to be struggling a bit. 🙁 When the dynamic duo songs were done, the crowd went crazy. I have to say, for a small venue (not sure the capacity but it was the smallest of the tour thus far) the sound of the crowd was still really good and strong! 😀

Well, the annoying 2 who had been chatting a lot had left a song or 2 after getting the autographs but leave it to us to get a NEW group of 3 people talking. Kim and I kept shooting them dirty looks along with the guy next to Kim and the guy next to me. All thru the musical intro and set up of OAtTWM they chatted and though I had thought they’d shut up when the song actually started, nope, they talked thru the first third or so. OMG! 😕 But I tried to focus on the guy next to Kim who was just TOTALLY soaking up the whole show. There were also 2 younger girls to my left but more towards the end of the stage curve who caught my eye as one had been so dreamy during IYL. Eyes closed, huge smile, swaying. I love watching others reactions. 🙂 When it was over, Kim handed me a cough drop and said “he’ll come to you before me so YOU give it to him.” I said “no he won’t” but she insisted so I tried to get his attention a couple times as they tore down the OAtTWD set up and the guys walked around to get back to their spaces. Came close a couple times but he just didn’t see it so I then leaned to Kim and said “he better see it soon because once the song starts, I’m going to be crying so YOU’LL have to do it.” She was like “no no, don’t cry!” But she pulled another out of her bag as a back up LOL. He announced the song and first verse I was swaying between trying to get his attention for the cough drop when he’d look our way and trying to not cry which settled into a quivering lower lip and watery eyes. As it turned out, it was near the end of the song when he looked at me at just the right time that I could have him see the cough drop. Well, I don’t think he knew what he was looking at to start but he saw I had SOMETHING for him so he came over to look and I leaned forward to give it to him. He took it and Kim leaned over too to give him the second one. He saw what they were and smiled a big smile and nodded a thank you to us. When the song was done, we heard him say SOMETHING to us but neither of us could figure out what it was other than we heard a “thank you for” in there somewhere LOL. Success! 😀 And as SiL began, Kim tapped me on the shoulder and said “he’s eating one!” Pointing to Mr. H. we saw his mouth moving like he was sucking on something so…yay, hopefully it helped 🙂

When SiL was done, Mr. M. jokingly said he was more impressed with the balcony than the people on the floor (pointing to the people BEHIND us “pit” people). “I saw someone dancing to the clock in Time Zones.” 😀 😀 He then pointed to a couple on the floor to my right “and this woman brought a man who is pretending to be asleep.” Lots of laughs from the crowd including the woman but I couldn’t quite see the guy as I think he was behind her and another tall guy was blocking my view. The wanting of hand claps just kept going and going which made me chuckle. 🙂 I’ve really grown to love TPoL live and saw some hands go up to “hey, hey, hey” Then, funny enough, during SotSS, Mr. M. pointed to the ‘sleeping guy’ during “The FBI won’t sleep tonight” bit. 😀 😀 😀 When they got ready to do Enola Gay, Mr. M. thanked us for being a great crowd (interesting crowd for sure but still a good, loud and supportive one) and then it was a good chance to bounce.

The OMD chant got going pretty quickly which was good to hear and when the band came back there were more thank yous. Not sure exactly what was going on as again, the tall guy on my right blocked quite a bit but during Dreaming, Mr. M. pointed to someone and said “get a room. Do you even KNOW that man?” as he laughed and walked away to the other side of the stage. 😮 Hmm…. 🙂 One more song for poor Mr. H. to sing (again, didn’t sound too bad) and then Mr. M. said “well, since someone is wearing a Joy Division shirt and this was OUR fist song on Factory Records, we’re going to end with Electricity.” A final bit of bouncing (quite a few going up and down really) and then it was over. Lots of cheers, more requests for hand slaps not just from Mr. M. but Mr. H. and Stuart even gave a few LOL, then they gave final goodbyes and waves and walked off. Interestingly surreal? 😆

So my highlight…I’m going to say watching and experiencing of the crowd. NOT the annoying chatting people! But it was just funny to see the constant array of hands wanting slap after slap after slap. Some funny dancing going on behind me and the joy of that guy next to Kim and the girl way to my left…add the good cheering and such, the beads being thrown etc. It was just a different night and crowd but in most ways a GOOD different. 🙂