Newcastle/Gateshead-October 30th, 2019

Today was going to be my first of 2 with my friend Maria.  We had such a fun time back in August/September that she was kind enough to change her hotel room to 2 twins so we could share again. 😊 A bit of an interesting train ride tho as I had to transfer but then that train terminated early, after being about 20 minutes delayed even coming in. No explanation WHY it was being terminated but they informed us that the next train to Newcastle was in about 16 minutes. I looked at the departures board once off, saw Platform D but a train had JUST pulled into that platform. I know sometimes they sit for a bit so I wondered if it was that one. Some other girl asked one of the workers but she then told me he just looked at her and walked away. I thought “that’s not very nice! ☹ “ So I kept walking on down until I reached another worker and he was lovely all “yeah yeah, Newcastle. Go on then” and grabbed my big suitcase, swinging it onto the train. YAY! 😀   No seats really as it was hard to find place for my luggage and was told Newcastle was the next stop so I just stood in the doorway area for 15ish minutes but all good…UNTIL I got off the train. Darn Google maps gave me the “work out and burn 500 calories” route by not only having me go down 50-60 steps (which OK, going down is better but still hard when you have a big ass suitcase that is about 35-40 pounds and a duffle bag of 18ish pounds to lug down) and THEN, up a MASSIVE hill to get to the hotel. I was able to kind of laugh off the steps but nearly had a heart attack when I saw the hill I had to go up. Good lord! 😮  Surprising I had energy to bounce at the gig LOL. But hey ho, I made it alive and happy to see Maria. 😊

Tonight was my other and final VIP of the tour and Maria had it too so we visited briefly, then got ready and headed to the venue. Funny enough, we went on a different street as the hotel guy told us to go down the hill and around corner so we did…but it entailed us being down too low and yet MORE stairs (about 30) to get to entrance. I swear, Newcastlians (is that a word) must be fit for sure! 😀 But I was of myself so no luggage…piece of cake really. 😉  We went up to box office asking where to go for VIP and strangely, the woman said we had to collect our tickets from her. 😮 Strange as up to now, we got our tickets from Ed but OK. Found Ed after and…um, we got ANOTHER ticket LOL.  I saw Sue and hubby too and tonight was their last gig and special experience with Mr. H. so exiting! 😀

Aside from getting MoO instrutmental recorded, I was determined to not do anything in Soundcheck and just enjoy it. It was a bit strange to be coming into a seated venue for it LOL but ah well. Maria and I decided to go back just a bit to get more of the full stage experience and let others get the front rows.  Always fun and there was some discussion about the lighting as I guess it was set up a bit higher due to where the PA was, then it was done and off we went for our free time before the show.

Since having an assigned seat, it meant we had time to get a PROPER meal….OR, we could go get a little bite at a cat café! 😀 I really wanted that and Maria is a cat lover too so she humored me and off we went to a place Canadian friend Jennifer had told me about (and who pointed out where it was from the venue windows before we headed off).  OMG, SO cute! There were 8 cats and all roaming freely tho half of them were sleeping LOL. 5GBP to come and socialize for an hour but their food was fairly priced too so you didn’t mind paying. Plus who doesn’t want to pet a super soft cat? There was Hugo the “exotic shorthaired” cat that tbh, looked like a Persian with his smashed face. But he was awake, sitting on the appointment book mind you. Each table spot had some kitty treats and he, along with Alfi, the Ragdoll cat, were happy to eat them up LOL!  2 Scottish Folds, a tabby, a Berman etc etc. They are all owned by the café owner but live in the café with the exception of one who was from a local shelter the café works with to try and find homes for cats. This guy was the youngest at only 2 years and the most playful. At one point, I took my VIP badge and he liked it so much, he grabbed it and pulled it away until after a few attempts, I just let go and he walked right off with it LOL. Since I’m away from my 2 fur babies for 11 days, it was nice to get a bit of cat time in, even if it wasn’t with MY cats. 😀

After our hour, we went back to hotel as Maria is seeing OMD so many times, she wanted to go to hotel to change shoes and just show up a bit later. Gotta say, we had lovely views looking not only across the river but then from the bridge to cross back to our hotel. I decided to go with and after a bit of hanging out in the room, funny enough, she used her phone to find a BETTER, higher ground route to the venue. I swear this town is confusing LOL. 😀 I managed to catch the final 2 songs of MiG15 and noticed the lead singer had changed his outfit, plus, like in Hull, took his sunglasses off near the end so we could see his face. Accoustics good too which is always a plus for a venue! My seat was smack in the middle, row C (last of the guaranteed good seats as I’m further for Glasgow and Sheffield and not sure where I’ll end up in Manchester tho hoping to be front) and funny enough, with the first 2 shows having SUCH a big gap between barrier and stage, it truly felt the same distance in 3^rd row here as it did front row others LOL.

Only a 20 minute space between bands this time so maybe a curfew was in order so the time went quick! Lots of cheers as we heard the sweet intro and then more when the band came out and did Stanlow. I wasn’t surprised that the crowd stayed seated….it’s a slow song and I plan on taking advantage of that tonight in Glasgow and recording it so I can get the full effect of the lighting effects as I’m further back. But when it was over and Mr. M. told us about having old/new/weird and dancing, plus Isotype started, I stood up as I thought others would too. No one did initially, Maria (who was 1 row and 4 seats over to my right) looked at me so I motioned to stand and next thing ya know, she started to get up as did the girls next to me and then WHOOSH, everyone was standing. There ya go then. 😀 I had already warned the guy behind me that I bounce a lot and he had laughed saying “well it‘s compulsory isn’t it?” 😀 so I didn’t worry when Isotype got to the bouncing bit.

We got asked if we were “Ready? I mean are you REALLY ready?” and as if that wasn’t enough, tonight we got asked a THIRD time “REALLY READY?????” as everyone kept cheering. Messages got some people in the front row bouncing a bit and because there was no barrier, Mr. M. was nice and close so lots of people getting good pics. When it was over, he said “It’s great playing for Tyneside”. Mr. H. agreed saying “yeah, I LOVE playing here!” I decided to just do the yes, Yes, YES  bit to myself for TG as I knew I was flying solo tonight but I still had to mouth it LOL. And when HoM came on, lots of bouncing! There was a girl in front and 1 seat over from me who was kind of my bouncing buddy which was nice but in general there was a lot of people bouncing around which was great. LOTS of smiles from the guys and Mr. M. said “people ask ‘why are you playing in Tyneside?’ THIS is why” as people applauded.

So Mr. H. got introduced by Mr. M. as what SOUNDED like “the Anime 1979 Crumpet of the year”. (please correct me if I am wrong 😊 ) then he came down to do FLaD, much to the excitement of a lot of people who swayed and sang along. When done, the applause was great and Mr. M. clapped also for him saying “Paul, you’ve still got it.” Mr. H. laughed saying “I don’t know what IT is but thanks”. 😀 When Souvenir started, a guy near me let out a massive cheer and everyone had their arms up for the clapping part. They did the same for beginning of JoA and when MoO started, even before any singing, the crowd let out a massive cheer as they knew what was coming. I made it a point to get Stuart at the end tho as his drumming is hard too and he tends to be in a “phew, DONE!” position when it’s over LOL. People in the balcony where up and cheering too as Mr. M. laughed and Mr. H. clapped him on. Mr. C. was beaming too! Once the crowd died down, Mr. M. laughed and said “This is what it’s like to be 60.” LOTS of cheers and he continued saying “All you have to do is dance like nobody’s watching.”

I must say, I am not having much luck getting Statues recorded because as crew got the front of the stage ready, some dude a couple seats to my left started talking a lot and he was quite loud so even when it was starting, he was still going so I figured meh, I’ll get it another night. I have 3 more shows so…. But having the set up as it was, the stage wasn’t very high and the floor had a slight incline so tonight I could see Mr. C. and Mr. H. playing really well. I literally watched them for majority of the 2 songs but ESPECIALLY Almost as I love getting to see who plays what! 😀 Funny enough, before Almost, Mr. M. warned us they were about to “do something weird. Not PAUL weird…” to which Mr. H. turned and looked at him laughing and he said “oh, did I say that out loud? I was thinking it” and Mr. H. laughed and said “yeah yeah but that’s OK”. 😀

Many had sat down for the 2 slower songs so once done, Mr. M. looked at us who were still standing and said “well done those of you who stayed standing for all that! You’ll have your reward” and Don’t Go took off. I truly love that song live now, tho it can be quite the ear worm! (if that’s not a term used over in UK, it’s basically when a song gets stuck in your head. A couple of my co-workers have used that term and I think it’s appropriate LOL).  Mr. M. then laughed and said “uh oh….it’s all dancing from here on out. Ready?” But of course we all were! This was a good crowd! Not sure if it was due to the lay out in that many are above me and back or what but it sounded like a louder, better cheering crowd than the previous 2 shows and those were good too so you can imagine how well this show was going. 😊

SiL got a lot of cheers when Mr. C. pulled out his saxophone and lots of cheers after which prompted Mr. M. to introduce him as the “sax God”. Dreaming and TPoL went down well too tho not as many people fist throwing to the hey, Hey, HEY bit around me but ah well.  During Locomotion, I chuckled as I turned to look at Mr. H. while Mr. M. was pointing out the crowd sections. He missed waving to the first one, but managed to wave to the next 2, albeit looking like he had to quickly squeeze it in between heavy concentrating of keyboard playing and when it came time for the “and everyone DOWN Heeeeeerrrre” bit, he leaned back and quickly waved with both hands before intently going BACK to his heavily concentrating playing. I think that’s what makes it so funny and sweet to watch…his facial expressions. Hard to explain, must watch it yourself I think. 😀

Got the cute hand shake between Mr. M. and Mr. C. after his awesome big in SotSS tonight. 🙂 Then before EG, Mr. M. thanked everyone for “coming to our 40^th Birthday party….here’s a big piece of cake for you.” 😀 Tons of cheers and bouncing around and I DID watch Mr. C. to see if we would get some bouncing out of him as the guys came down to wave and thank us during introductions…nope. It was Mr. M. that was bouncing with his bass to the EG beat before they all walked off. Massive cheers and some people chanting “we want more, we want more…” and of course we GOT more. I’m not exactly sure what happened with Mr. M. and a woman Maria said was near her who hadn’t moved much but seemed to be maybe in back pain but Mr. M. and her had some kind of thing back and forth, Mr. M. laughed, and then got a bit thrown off in words so laughed and said “ah, just play something” as it went into the “looong, long way” bit. 😀 When it was time to finish, we were reminded that “it wouldn’t be an OMD show if we didn’t play Electricity.” I have to admit, when he says that, I always think about the horrible SXSW show at the rooftop place (Maggie Mays I think it was called) where OMD was being told to cut their set short or they’d turn the power off. Mr. M. cut one song but then they didn’t want to cut Electricity so started it and the venue cut the power! 😮 NO ONE was happy, fans and band members alike! ☹ And mind you, ALL the bands were running late because the venue set it up with ridiculous timing that wasn’t sensible taking into account stage swapping, they just decided to wait until it was OMD’s turn to finally have bands cut sets short. But ANYHOO, we got to see the song tonight and it was one final bouncing session for a LOT of us! 😀  TONS of cheers, lots of thank yous, praise for us “being SO wonderful to play to” and promises from both Mr. M. and Mr. H. they’d be back and soon. Okey dokey. 😀 

Maria and I hooked back up just outside the venue in the waiting area and saw Jennifer and hubby for a quick chat. I had told her about how we managed to get into the cat café and she laughed at how she had wanted to smuggle Hugo into her purse to take home. 😀 Saw Duncan briefly too and Ed, then off we went back to our hotel. But not before seeing a bunch of elephants. There had been one in our hotel lobby, 4 more in the venue, and then I saw a couple this morning. I’m assuming it means something, will have to google it or if anyone reading this knows, please comment.  They’re quite cute! 😀 

So…highlight of the night. Well, I think I’ll say watching Mr. C. and Mr. H. during the 2 “weird” songs as I can’t always see them well but tonight I was up enough but still close enough to see things. 😊 Half down, half to go now. It’s going fast! ☹