Minneapolis-March 18th 2018

#4 and final show of my second OMD tour leg for me. This time I had my friend Cate coming up with me though she wasn’t going to see the show since she just saw the Chicago one on Friday. We were staying an extra day to hit Mall of America as Cate had never been and booked right by the mall for easy convenience. We made really good time due to just making one short stop for gas and quick bite and while I got ready, Cate went to do some “power shopping” LOL. 🙂

I’ve been to First Avenue before as not only did OMD play at the venue back in fall of 2011 but I saw The Faint there in 2016. I remembered having to do an outside paying lot for my car that time but was hoping to find free street parking this time. Nope, mostly meters with 4 hour limits but did find a nice cheapo lot a few blocks away for $5 so no biggie. Got to the club to find no one in line yet. 😮 I knew the show was still happening though because GGOOLLDD was warming up. 😉 Shortly after tho, Kim arrived but was a bit worried as her ticket was will call and the window didn’t open until time of doors (HATE when venues do that! 🙁 ) Had a pleasant surprise of a forum member PizzaEric remembering me LOL and shortly after that Monica arrived too. Crazy thing tho…so about 6:45 I decide to get my ticket and ID ready only to find that my ticket wasn’t in my purse! 😮 I knew I had folded it and put it in my purse so panicked! Ended up running most of the 4 blocks back to my car to get it…but it wasn’t there! UGH! 🙁 So ran part way back, then got into my email as I KNEW I kept the confirmation and Kim had said they could reprint it like she had in Milwaukee. Luckily the email had a link to the ticket with bar code so had them scan that but sheesh! And as it also turned out, Kim got allowed to will call when the packagers were allowed in (she was Gold but was told to stand in our line vs. packagers line) so it went quickly for her and she was able to get in and to stage quickly to save Monica and I spots. 😀

There was a DJ before the show and I quickly remembered how the venue has a big video screen so they show videos with the music. The DJ had good taste! Some newer sounding songs but also some good classic 80s. 🙂 Tall stage too and a barrier. Kim said some guard had told Eric that Mr. M. was going to come down to the middle but the stage had to have been close to 5 feet high so I said “What?!?! How is he going to get down and no way can he get back up!” 😮 She was like “I don’t know. I just know he said the guard told him that’s what he’s going to do.” Well in fall of 2011, Mr. M. often came down into that barrier area but they used one of their equipment cases as a ‘step’. That wasn’t set up tonight so…I had high doubts.

Well I kind of wondered if the fact the crowd started singing an echo to a part of one of GGOOLLDDs songs was an indication of them going to be great for OMD because I’d never heard that before! 😮 But it was fun for sure. 🙂 And when OMD came out, sure enough the crowd went crazy. 🙂 A girl a few people to my left kept yelling “Andy…ANDY!” and at one point “I love you Andy.” 😀 😀 😀 When GS was done and Mr. M. told everyone “there will be new songs…for SURE there will be old songs…and there WILL be dancing” everyone cheered again and some girls behind me screamed. Monica and I were ready for the bouncing as were many others actually. 🙂 When the song ended and everyone kept cheering, Mr. M. joked and said “Don’t over do it. We’re here for 8 hours.” Ooo, not 5 this time but 8?!?! 😉

The crowd continued to be really loud and supportive for Messages and TGs and then when HoM began and Mr. M. told everyone it was compulsory to bounce and follow him, a lot of us did! So much so that at the end he said “you guys win for best bouncing crowd of the tour thus far.” Yay! 😀 he then said “And you’re bouncing to a song about the end of the universe. You dark f*ckers. I mean I know it’s been a long winter but…” 😆 It was now time for Mr. H. to come down and poor guy was still sick so Mr. M. looked at him and said “Paul, are you going to be able to crock the song?” Mr. H. laughed and said something I didn’t quite catch but from the jist it was him agreeing his voice was going. 🙁 Mr. M. then laughed as he headed to the keyboards and said “well your singing will still be better than my keyboard playing.” No one seemed to care that Mr. H. was struggling a bit because everyone screamed and sang along and when it was done, he got a great cheering session so..all was good. 🙂

I decided to try out my new phone for it’s video and audio ability (not bad but some focus issues I’m not happy about. however it’s a cheaper phone than many so…) so when IYL started, I got recording. In the back of my head I could tell the crowd was loving it. Of course…it’s America LOL. 😉 And when it was done the crowd really cheered! (I think I even recorded that LOL). I thought “hmmm..this crowd is almost as good as Chicago!” 😀 Souvenir found Mr. M. giving Stuart a little shoulder massage mid way LOL and when the dynamic duo songs were over, the whole band just sat and soaked up the crowd who was letting it all out with cheers. For sure a great one tonight! 😀 NO annoying chatting during OAtTWM tonight which was great and when Mr. H. was coming forward to do WHWD, Kim looked at me “don’t cry”. Well, I tried but didn’t succeed. 🙁 Ah well…had one night reprieve so…

Mr. M. told everyone that this was the part of just the mindless dancing and hits and no one seemed to care. In fact everyone loved it as SiL got a lot of screams. Fun little hand shaking moment with Mr. M. and Mr. H. and some singing together for Locomotion (aka the goof off song which it was on the other tours 😉 ) and when Mr. M. split the crowd into the 4 segments, ALL of them had great cheers! TPoL went down with a lot of hey hey heys which wasn’t a surprise LOL. Then Mr. M. said something about the cancellation of 2013. I didn’t quite hear what he said about Mr. H.#2 but it was about his heart attack. I thought “aww….Mr. H.#2.” 🙁 😥 🙁 He then turned toward Stuart and said “but we have Stuart now. Are you feeling OK Stuart?” Stuart smiled and shrugged like “yup, OK here” so Mr. M. said “good” and they launched into SotSS. Once done and getting ready to do Enola Gay, Mr. M. thanked us for being so wonderful and said it was the last song. Lots of “awwwwwsssss” and when it was done and the guys were coming down for their waves, intros and thank yous, the crowd was again going crazy. I am sure I heard an attempt of OMD, OMD, OMD chant BEFORE EG was done! It was being done to the fast beat of EG! 😮 😀 But once EG stopped, the normal OMD chant started. I thought “yeah, this crowd is probably as good as Chicago!” When the band came out, they all stopped to smile at us and soak it in and Mr. M. said “thank you so much! This is a perfect WOW.” He had also taken his shirt off and when he rolled his T-shirt sleeves up, some of the crowd cheered LOL. Mr. H. got lots of screams for Secret and then, as we all know, it was time for the “oldest and fastest song”. We all managed for sure! 😀 The guys took a bit to get off the stage as they stood and listened to the cheering and waved/clapped back to us. But eventually they walked off and…it was done.

So…highlight of the show for me. Well, I had to think about this one as nothing major stood out to me. That sounds bad, sorry, I don’t mean the show wasn’t fun as they always are! 😀 Most nights there’s something I just KNOW is my highlight. Occasionally though I have a night that I have to think about it LOL. So I have now come to the conclusion that I think having a bouncing buddy in Monica was the highlight as the past few nights I was on my own. That’s OK too as I still bounce LOL. 😉 And I love being with friends no matter if they bounce or not! But it’s fun when I have a friend bouncing along with me too so…there ya go. 🙂

After a great day with Cate at the mall, we headed home and now I’m back in my own bed for a week. Next up…San Fran but that’ll be in a bit. 🙂