Brooklyn NY-April 30th 2022
NYC Round 2 as I’m calling it LOL. Woke up early with nervous energy so decided to just get up and going. Was starting work on my blog when my friend Christine messaged me to see if I wanted to meet for breakfast. I had already eaten my stuff plus don’t feel comfortable eating indoors yet so instead we met in a park to visit. It was very pretty with the trees blooming and lots of dogs as there was a dog park connected to it. 😃 I had planned on going into Manhatten to visit 2 Build a Bear stores for NYC exclusives and Christine wanted to go in for a museum so it was a quick Lyft share in and then we parted ways. OMG, the stores were quite busy ESPECIALLY the newer one in FAO Schwarz! Tiny BaB in a huge toy store with a lane of people going by…a bit crazy, hot and hectic but I got all my goodies (struggling to stick everything in my suitcase as I had found some other things unexpectedly at a store I stopped in coming INTO NYC so… LOL)
Back to hotel to attempt my first NYC blog (that didn’t go so well but moving on LOL) and then it was time to get ready and go meet everyone at the gig. Unlike Friday coming in, I had time to get to venue a bit earlier today since I was already settled and the worry was that there’d be more people in line early since it was a Saturday (no work for most). I found that I was next in line with the gang (minus Christine as she was up a bit further) so it was great to chat with everyone. AND…we all got to snuggle and get kissed by sweet Maggie too! 😃
Funny enough, I ended up pretty much right at the same spot as last night. I originally thought I beat Kim, Jennifer and Bert in as the security line moved quickly for me but nope, they were there waiting for me…it was déjà vu in the best sense of the phrase. 😃 I tried to pay attention to ItVB more tonight too which, funny enough, I heard them do a song that I thought “hmmm…I don’t remember that one but I only saw them once so..” and then when it was over, Jennifer mentioned she didn’t know that one and Kim mentioned they didn’t do the “chain shaking song” as we can describe it (girl shakes a thick chain that MUST have a mic attached to it as it’s loud) so…I guess I WAS paying attention then LOL. I still don’t really know how to describe them. Most of their songs are slower tempo but not ballads…just nothing to actually DANCE to tho they do have 1 or 2 that are a bit more peppy. More like you’d just kind of move back and forth to. But there’s synths in there even when the girl isn’t playing them. She’s often playing bass actually and her husband plays electric guitar. They have a cool looking mic stand that comes up and into a round center that’s kind of gothic design, then a mic out of opposite ends of that center so they can sing at the same time and be close (see above picture).
Anyhoo, when it was time for OMD, excitement brewed and as the guys came out, the crowd let it rip. The graphics for Stanlow are actually quite lovely and sharp looking tho not sure my pics show that. Isotype got people moving more but it was Messages that really got everyone going and lots of cheers. The band was starting to see that this crowd was going to be louder than last. When they were about to start Tesla Girls, Mr. M. looked over at Mr. H. and said “What’s your ex-wife’s favorite word?” and Mr. H. replied by hitting the “no” key on his keyboard and said “she used to say that all the time”. 😀 I got to have my fun little “Yes, Yes!” ending back and forth with him again too, bless his heart. 😃 ❤ And, like last night, HoM was so fun to bounce around to and let loose. Tho…I have to say, for all the increase in cheers tonight’s crowd gave (not that last night’s was bad as I thought it was really good too), there was less bouncing around. I noticed it especially for HoM where the night before a ton of people ALL around me bounced…tonight was mostly my friends and a few random others. Ah well…they’re loss LOL. 😉
When it was over and time for Mr. H. to come out, Mr. M. welcomed him down and so did the crowd. Continued cheers when it was over and as Mr. M. was pointing and giving him the shout out, the crowd just kept going and going. Mr. H. kept smiling and thanked them, then Mr. M. laughed and said ‘well, we know who the popular one is. Bring me my bass so I can sulk.” 😃 This lead to the “3 songs from Architecture and Morality” segment and I decided to record the dynamic duo part of it. 😃 It’s hard to stand still and not clap or move but I just really wanted it on film since it’d been 2.5 years since my last recording. When MoO was done especially, the crowd just really soaked it up and gave the guys a lot of love. Mr. M. had a massive smile and kept pointing back at the crowd while looking at Paul like “hear that?! 😃 “ Stuart was smiling wide too and Mr. H. kept going back and forth from clapping and point to Mr. M. to pointing and clapping at Stuart. 🙂
One thing I noticed was that this crowd seemed to know more of the, er, less popular (mainstream) songs because they didn’t start cheering quite as soon in Stanlow as most crowds do and same with Statues…it was nearly done and much quieter song wise before the crowd started to cheer. A small subtle thing but to me it showed there were a lot of MAJOR fans there! 😃 I hadn’t heard either but as the instruments were being put back, Mr. M. laughed and said “Karma is on tonight because I saw you laugh when I played a wrong note and then you went on to play an even worse note.” Mr. H. laughed and said “I just wanted everyone to know we’re playing live.” Then Mr. M. jumped into asking for us to sing along again with Don’t go and the crowd joined in. That’s a really fun song and it took me awhile to figure out why I was focused on the “Uh HUH” part and tapping Jennifer to make a funny face while doing one. I have suddenly, as I’m typing this, remembered….back in the UK with my friend Maria as she had mentioned it kind of reminded her of Elvis so we used to do a funny face and deepened voice “Uh HUH”. 😃
Mr. M. joked about his hair saying “I was going to get my hair cut because I know how some people are, ya know,…but I’ve been having trouble with my throat so I figured it was better to take care of THAT so I can sing but…I just wanted to put out that disclaimer” Awww…. ☹ ❤ Then it was on to more urges to move and bounce for SiL and Locomotion. One sweet thing that happened was after SotSS when Mr. C. got his cheers and many of us were bowing down to him, he smiled and took it in for just a second before then pointing to each of the guys as if to say “thank you but they’re great too”. It was adorable! 😃 ❤ When it was time for Enola Gay to start, Mr. M. thanked everyone for coming out to the show and then said “we’ll see you again in another 40 years for our 80th Anniversary tour” to which we all cheered and Mr. H. laughed and said “yeah yeah…no we’ll be back before then.” One final bounce before it was over. The people behind me started a “hey…hey…hey” to the beat of the drumkit of EG as the band came forward so myself and the gang joined in but sadly, it didn’t fully take off. But hey, good effort. 😉 The guys all came down to say thank yous and comment on how “fantastic” the crowd was and then they walked off.
THIS night, the “OMD..OMD..OMD” chant started and kept going nice and strong for awhile until the guys came back. Mr. M. said how great we were again, then was like “let’s see…what do we have left? We did the airplane song with Enola Gay. We did the John Hughes song with Tesla Girls because that was in Weird Science…I don’t think we’re missing anything”. He looked at Paul who laughed and said “no, no I don’t think so”. Then Mr. M. said “oh wait…there is that ONE other song..” Mr. H. laughed and said “oh yeah, THAT one”. Mr. M. was like “but they’re too COOL for that one” LOL and then IYL started. Nope, we weren’t too cool for it 😃
Funny and sweet thing happened when Mr. M. messed up the lyrics near the end of Secret. First he was like “Sorry Paul”. ❤ But then when it was over and they were laughing about it, he said “he wrote the song and lyrics are too complicated for me”. LOL! 😃 We got to have our final “3 minutes and 42 seconds “ of bouncing and then, as always, it was a final round of thank yous, band member introductions and then another round of thanks and how fantastic we were again. The crowd really did cheer a lot and “make some noise”. 😃 No balloons tonight to try and get (tho they STILL had confetti falling down through out the night which was hilarious. Whoever played prior must have REALLY had a lot! 😃 ) It was a goodbye to Marilyn who isn’t doing any other shows I’ll be at, a ‘see ya in chicago’ to Mali, missed seeing Christine, hello to some NYC friends I met way back in 2011, then a ‘see ya tomorrow’ to Jennifer and Bert before heading back to the hotel.
OK, so highlight of the night…sorry, I’m going to be vague again and say all of it. I had less anxiety during the show and I know things went better because at times my CHEEKS HURT from smiling so much. So…yeah, cheek pain…that’s the highlight as it shows I loved it so much. 😃 Now it’s onto Boston with a surprise car partner in Kim as she originally was going to be staying in NYC to visti with a friend but that fell thru so she bought Jennifer and Berts spare ticket and will be riding into the city with me. 😃