Boston-May 1st 2022

Night 3 is Boston and I had an unexpected car partner in Kim who ended up having a last minute change in her plans so ended up coming to Boston for the show. She met me at my AirBnB, we packed up my rental car and then off we went. Stops at 3 Conneticutt BaB stores where I wasn’t the ONLY one buying something LOL. Kim needed a Mothers Day gift, her mom is a huge Boston Celtics fan and also loves frogs and flamingos. Our second store stop had frogs and the Celtics outfit so she made one along with outfit, basketball wristie and even made a Birth Certificate for it 😀

We were supposed to have arrived around 3:30-3:45 but there was an accident on the expressway that put us arriving at 4:20 and then a few blocks walk with suitcases etc as my hotel didn’t have it’s OWN parkng garage but just had people pay for reserved spots nearby. Luckily both of us are quick in getting ready and had done a lot prior to leaving so shortly after, we were jumping in an uber and heading to the venue. I had forgot that Christine was going to be there but I knew Jennifer and Bert were and I was excited to see my friend Laura as the last time we hung out was OMD Boston 2018! :O

Early entry got us front row again only this time I went on the other side of Christine and saved a spot for Laura (made sure Jennifer and Bert weren’t offended since they had been kind to save me spots the last 2 nights. I just wanted a bit different view this gig. 😉 ) The bad thing about House of Blues is that they open their doors 1.5 hours early vs just 1. I’d MUCH rather be waiting outside in fresh air and even sitting on the ground but…such is HoB so…

ItVB are starting to grow on me a bit LOL. There’s 2 songs I like enough to record now and THOUGHT I was getting one this night but as it turned out, nope. I recorded what I THOUGHT was going to be their last song but as it got going I thought “Um….I don’t think this is the one I wanted” and then after it was over, THEN they did the one I wanted LOL. Ah well…

Excitement for OMD to start and when they did, OMG the BASS! It had been too much for ItVB but now…seriously it was making my feet feel like they were getting a massage it was rattling so much! 🙁 Guess HoB doesn’t have the best sound system. We saw the cool graphics again and then the beautiful Stanlow. It’s quite the atmospheric song. 😀 When it was over and the crowd cheered, Mr. M. joked about how it’s not usual to start a show about an oil refinery but now they were going to pick it up a little and Isotype came on. Mr. M. got the crowd clapping and once done, he joked and said “you win tonight…784 tickets and 40% no show but hey, we have your money so…” I laughed, turned to Laura and said “well, I was a no show for FL plus DC and Philly but yeah, they got my money. 😀 “

Messages got more cheers as more people recognized that song. When it was over, Mr. M. liked what he heard and threw his fist in the air shouting “YES!” Prior to starting Tesla Girls, he grabbed his thermos and Mr. H. joked saying “is that vodka?” Mr. M. laughed, said no and (sorry, I forget what drink he jokingly said it was) then said “It’s medicinal” and rolled his eyes laughing. I turned to Laura and said “are we going to do the “yes yes yes” for Mark? She laughed and when it was time, YUP, we both did it. At the end, where the past 2 nights I had been able to have fun with Mr. H. and the final yes/nos he started looking around and finally saw Laura and I for the final yes/no pointing etc. LOL 😀

HoM found quite a few people bouncing again tonight as I looked around me. Christine and I had joked earlier as she said she needed me to do the “Uh Huh” part of Don’t Go and also the hand movements to Locomotion “stop and make small talk”. I happily obliged but told her she’d have to bounce with Laura and I. Well, her arms bounced but I teased her no, that doesn’t really count as your feet have to leave the ground LOL. 😉 When it was time for Mr. M. and Mr. H. to swap spots, Mr. M. asked if the keyboards were on and Mr. H. said yes, most keys won’t work tho but the ones HE needed will and Mr. M. laughed saying “ok GOOD”. And as usual, lots of cheers and screams when Mr. H. was done with FLaD. 😀

Mr. M. joked “who here is old enough to remember 1981?” Some people cheered and Mr. H. jokingly said “I don’t”. Mr. M. laughed and said “well but you’ve got Alzheimers so…” He then said “3 songs from Archetecture and Morality” and off they went. Everyone obliged to all the clapping of JoA/MoO and it’s still fun to see the windmilling. That will never get old! 😀 When it was over, all the band had huge smiles on their faces and Mr. M. blew out kisses and thanked everyone.

Once the equipment was out for the oldies but goodies time, Mr. M. thanked us all for coming to their “2 year delayed by Covid 40th Anniversary tour” and said they’re just going to play whatever they want including “deep cuts”. Sure, we’ll take it! 😀

Don’t Go was fun to sing along to and the crowd got going well too. During Locomotion, in addition to Mr. M. and Mr. H.s usual joking around, Mr. M. threw Mr. H. a kiss. :O It was so cute! <3 😀 We got asked if we were too tired to hear more “hits” to which the crowd made it clear the answer was NO! SiL kept everyone moving and then Mr. M. came over to the right side of the crowd (well to MY right that is LOL) and said “is this the Manchester side of the crowd? I’m seeing a Smiths t-shirt, 2 James shirts and Echo & the Bunnymen.” He then pointed to Mr. H. and said “he’s a Manchester fan” and he and Mr. H. went on to razz each other a bit about their teams. Laura laughed and said “and the rivalry lives on”. 😀 Mr. M. was like “all good bands tho”.

We got to see Mr. C. do his thing on SotSS and when his part was over, Mr. M. came over and blew him a kiss too. 😀 And like the night before, when Mr. C. got his cheers and our bowing down bit, he again pointed to each of the other band members. Enola Gay found Laura bring back the “da da da da da da da daaaa da da da da da da..” singing bit to the musical part that I’d forgotten about. They do it often in the UK and our friend Mark usually got us going in the states. I’m sure the band didn’t hear it but to my ears, we were pretty loud for just 2 people and it was fun to do it! 😀 Once over, the guys came forward and lots of thank yous. Mr. H. said “you’ve been absolutely wonderful to play for” and Mr. M. said “thank you for making tonight so wonderful”. Stuart was laughing a lot and waving to many and Mr. H. then started walking over (as he’s always on the far stage left) and patted and/or hugged everyone before they all did their final waves to the crowd and walked off.

An OMD chant started near us so Laura and I joined it but it didn’t really take off. Ah well, worth trying. 😀 When everyone came back on stage, Mr. M. said “so we were having a debate back stage on whether or not you’d want to hear another BIG hit or if you’re too cool.” Cheers and he continued “really, you want to hear the HIT?” more cheers so he looked back at Stuart and Mr. H. laughing saying “OK, I guess that settles that” and off they went with IYL. Then, before doing Secret, Mr. M. said “so this next song Paul wrote…and he’s SO mad because it came out and then had to be taken OFF the air because IYL came out and was a hit”. Mr. H. laughed and said “yeah, that’s not good.” Mr. M. then said “so it was PAUL who didn’t want to play IYL because he’s so mad it bumped out Secret”. Mr. H. laughed, waved his hand towards Mr. M. and said “no, I’m not mad, don’t listen to him.” Lots of laughs between the 2 of them as they performed it tho. 😀

To finish the show, we had a bit of a strange vear of conversation before Electricity…along with a LOSS of electricity. I’ll explain…so Mr. M. said they were about to do their first single and it was written in 1976. “Paul was just in diapers back then.” Mr. H. then joked and said “I’m back in them now” and when Mr. M. looked back at him amusingly shocked and the crowd cheered and laughed, he said “no no, I’m NOT, I was just JOKING!” Mr. M. then said “oh…so THAT’s the smell we’ve had on the bus then?” And Mr. H. laughed and said “yeah, sorry”. Mr. M. then laughed and said “your VIP experience…we’ll pay you $300 to change Paul’s diapers.” Mr. H. laughed and shook his head saying “OMG!” and Mr. M. said “how’d the conversation take a turn to diapers?” Mr. H. laughed and said “I don’t know but…” and Mr. M. said “right, moving on. ANYWAYS, time to let loose. You ready?” Everyone cheered and they got going but mid way I saw a crewman run over to Stuart and do someting to something LOL. Mr. M. joked mid song saying “you lost Electricity Stuart?” I thought huh? cause the drums themselves were still working but as it turned out, the “bessh beesh” bit that he does to make an, er, electical sound wasn’t working initially. Tho they DID get it fixed for the last part LOL. When it was all over, the crowded was giving the band good lovin’ and the band was really happy to take it. They all waved, blew kisses and thanked us again before leaving and…that was that.

I grabbed a couple post gig pics with first my immediate rail buddies and then a full group photo with all 6 of us. Funny enough, a woman who was behind us said “you guys were so fun to watch. All your little hand movement and dancing. It was hilarious!” We laughed and told her yeah, we have some specifics for many of the songs LOL. She laughed and said “I loved it…very entertaining”. Thank you! 😀 Kim and I had a 35 minute walk back to my hotel and I had to be up at 5am to get ready and head to my flight home so not a lot of dilly dalllying and then we said our goodbyes to everyone. I was going to see Jennifer and Bert in 3 days for Detroit but Kim not for 3 weeks, Christine 6 days, and Laura not at all. 🙁 Sad when the goodbyes come. 🙁

OK so I thought of my highlight before the show fully ended…it was the kisses blown by Mr. M. to Mr. H. and Mr. C. along with Mr. H. going over and patting and/or hugging everyone. He’d not done that the 2 nights in NYC and I’d not seen Mr. M. blow any of the guys kisses either. So sweet and lovely! 😀 Now it’s time to go home (on the plane right now typing this tho good LORD…so many people sneezing, coughing, blowing noses etc and no masks. I feel like I’m in the middle of a massive germ pool! I’m masked of course but SO can’t wait to get off this plane, home, and a long shower!!!!! 🙁 ) If all goes well, I’ll be hitting the road again to Detroit on Wednesday.