Manchester-November 1st, 2019

So I ended up having the Megabus ride from HELL getting from Glasgow to Manchester! And the killer is, it only saved me 12GBP so maybe $16. But I booked it thinking “hey, $16 here, $16 there…it all adds up”.  Well, I can honestly say it was NOT worth the $16 saved with the crap I had! First off, I paid for a seat that I then found out “oh, it’s not assigned. There’s no number”. Um…OK then why did the seating chart pop up with prices and availability then? I managed to find a window seat on the bottom (original seat was window on top but none there and it was SUPER stuffy/hot up there anyways). Once sitting, I had not 1, not 2, but TEN obnoxiously loud and DRUNK (even drinking on the bus til part way thru one of the workers saw all the empty bear cans and told them it’s not allowed) all around me. 5 hours of them carrying on to where even with my music turned up a bit, I could often hear them. And final straw…NO WIFI! SUPPOSED to have it , I asked and got told “oh…huh…must not be working then as it should be on automatically”. GREAT! Oh yes, and it smelled and got worse near end as bathroom was apparently disgusting and started to smell out into the bus. Needless to say I was SOOOO ready to get off when we arrived (late) in Manchester!!! ☹

It was a bit extra of a walk from the bus station to my hotel but luckily it had stopped raining so eventually made it and found quite a nice hotel that I booked LOL. Got into my hotel and ready as quick as I could since I didn’t have much time due to lateness of the bus and then headed off. I had regular ticket and originally Marilyn did too but she managed to get a VIP last minute so a quick hello and then I ended up in the “plain ticket holders” line that was literally around the corner (nothing like making of feel like simple peasants LOL 😀 ) on my own but  had a nice chat with people around me. Once in, I found Wendy, Helen, Janine and Gina as this was the only gig we were all at. I saw Mali briefly but otherwise was behind Wendy, Helen and Janine…Gina next to me. Pat came up shortly later and joined us for the gig and saw John M. briefly too, tho he was standing a bit further back. It kind of felt like old times. 😊

I managed to get my fav MiG15 song recorded (Cowboys and Indians) and they went down well. I haven’t really given a true comparison or explanation of what they are like musically…but then again, I’ve uploaded vids so you all can decide  yourselves. Would be curious to see who you compare them to. I thought maybe Slow Readers Club…??

Well, I was second row, way to Mr. H.s side and when the lights came down, it was time. First gigs of the  tour for everyone by me except maybe Wendy, can’t remember if she caught an earlier one. Gotta say, I suspected the crowd to be a good one when, after the first few LINES of Stanlow, there was a big cheer. 😮 😀  Even a bigger cheer from everyone when it was over and where I thought I’d need to hold the railing to bounce, I found I could stay fairly good in my spot without it as Isotype played off well. 😊 When Mr. M. got his bass, he looked up at the balcony and said “Come on now upstairs, stand up. It’s allowed. It’s a Friday night in Manchester isn’t it?” And up came quite a few people. 😀

Before HoM started, Mr. M. jokingly said “you can all try Windmilling…but I don’t think there’s enough ambulances in Manchester so…just bounce!” and off a lot of us did including some of my gang. 😀 Once over, funny enough, Mr. M. started to introduce Mr. H. by saying “Ladies, brace yourselves. Don’t faint now but you’re about to get the sexiest keyboardist on this earth” Mr. H. laughed but then Mr. M. yelled “MARTIN!” and  pointed to him. Mr. C. was like “huh?” and then started laughing and Mr. H. said “ah you…” to Mr. M. and laughed too. 😀 As Mr. H. did his thing, I saw Helen take off her shaw like top. I THOUGHT it was because she was getting hot and I was ironically just putting my hair up for that reason. I tapped her on the shoulder and pointed to her and then my hair up as if to say “I’m hot TOO” but then before I knew it, she chucked the shaw at Mr. H. 😮 For anyone who has been to a gig where she is in the crowd, you may have seen bras and/or underwear chucked at him. It was her thing and usually many others joined in (I was always too shy, could never do it LOL!) so  we all laughed and I joked to Gina “well, Mr. H. is getting an upgrade to an actual piece of clothing vs. an accessory.”. It didn’t hit him but he saw it go by and chuckled, looked at it as he walked by, then mid verse said “No idea what that is”. 😀 😀 Ah…like old times LOL. Once over, Mr. H. looked all around as the crowd kept cheering and thanked us saying “amazing!”. He then headed towards his keyboard and Mr. M. picked up the shaw. They both looked at it and Mr. M. said “I think it might fit you”. Mr. H. jokingly held it up to himself saying “yeah, I think it might.” Mr. M. said “I won’t say  WHERE but…” Too funny! 😀

Well, I have to say, this crowd was big into singing along and it was amazingly loud to JoA and MoO! So cool! 😀 No chance to sit down during the 2 slow “weird” songs and after Statues, we were told “ a bit of history. That song was writing about the best singer to come out of Manchester. Mr. Ian Curtis”.  😊 Saw many singing along to Almost too and then  when it was done, Mr. M. joked that “that’s the only break you get” and Don’t Go began. More bopping around but when it was over, something seemed to stop working and I THOUGHT it was Mr. H.s keyboards but then it seemed maybe Mr. C. because Mr. M. looked at him and said “you didn’t know how strong you were eh? Sexy AND Strong”. 😀

SiL and Dreaming went down well and the crowd was really giving the band some love. 😀 One of the best sing alongs to SotSS to where, once over, Mr. M. just kind of stood there looking at the balcony and then started pumping his arms up all excited. Mr. H. reached over to get Helen’s shaw and chucked it at Mr. M. 😀  Before EG, Mr. M. thanked us for being such a great crowd, Mr. H. echoed by saying “it’s been great. We always love to play here” and then it was one of the final bouncing opportunities. When it was over and the guys came down, massive smiles on all of their faces! I honestly can’t say if this or Glasgow was better in cheers and such but I CAN say that I heard the START (but it didn’t fully take off sad to say) of the OMD, OMD, OMD chant here! 😮 😀

Once back out, Mr. M. was in his T-shirt as it was in fact darn hot in this place and funny enough, during Pandora’s  Box, he looked at Wendy, lifted up his left arm sleeve and pointed to his biceps as he sang the “undress you” bit as she laughed and just shook her head. 😊 Electricity had everyone in one final bounce/bop/dance bit and then it was the final goodbyes and waves from the guys with many thank yous. Mr. C. actually came over to our side to shake some hands too before they all finally left, big smiles on their faces. 😊

I wanted a post gig picture and asked John to take it for us, then the original plan was to go to a place called Fab Café to continue to visit. I was talking to Jennifer, hubby Bert, and Ed when Chris and Martin (who had found me after gig) said they were going and I was going to share the cab with them but was mid talk so didn’t want to rudely run and when I eventually left, I couldn’t find them so saw Marilyn, Mali, and Bea (plus another girl I later found out was named Shirley) so the plan was we all go. Found John outside so we all piled into a big Uber and headed off. But majority of us were starving and dying of thirst so when we got out in front of the café, we also saw there was a McDonalds at end of block. Plan was to go there FIRST, then head to café but once we visited and ate, we started getting tired so eventually said goodbye and Marilyn, Mali, Shirley and I got an Uber because their hotel and mine were at opposite ends of same block. Another fun night as always really. 😊

SO….highlight of the night. Well, I don’t know if I’ll be able to  explain this but with seeing the gig with Wendy, Janine and especially Pat, Helen, and Gina, I got a true sense of déjà vu and remembered back to the 2010 tour when I first met so many. The throwing of things at Mr. H. was in full swing back then (I was even given a pair of undies but ended up giving to Gina who tossed at Mr. M. next song as I couldn’t do it LOL), we had so many  great pre and post gig gatherings, it was the tour I  became friends with so many of the regulars…and then it continued into the 2013 tour where more goofy antics and  Paula, Steph and I traveled around the UK together. So I just had a sense of “old” at this gig. If that makes any sense. I love that I have made some new friends too in the past year as lots of fun with them too! 🙂 But something about this gang during the gig and Helen still chucking something at Mr. H. brought me back to the beginning and it was a sweet, nostalgic, make me smile kind of feeling so…there’s my  highlight. 😊