Orlando-May 28th 2025

So I left DC to go visit my sister for 5 days (in Nashville) and then hopped a plane to Orlando…to find SUPER HOT weather! I mean dang!😯 I knew FL would be hot but…yuck! I love visiting Orlando tho because there’s a special Build a Bear store that is Dinosaur themed (hence Build a Dino LOL) and they had a couple exclusives so I of course hit that store first on my my way to the hotel. Got cleaned up and then headed to the venue as Christine had texted there was a line already early on. When I got there I found a lot of free parking (YAY! 😀 ) along with Kim, Bert and Jennifer, Bill (who I’d not seen for a few years so great to catch up a little) and a friend of Kims along with Christine. We were all melting in the heat for hours prior to the doors opening but luckily the venue was next to a strip mall that had a Sprouts health food grocery store so we would take turns holding spots and going over there for water and food (thank you Bill for buying my water and yogurt 🤗 )

GA floor meant we were all front row for the show which was awesome! 😀 It also felt good to be in the air conditioning tho it quickly filled up inside and the venue started to get a bit warm. WD did their thing and joked about how they loved Orlando because they got a pool vs. DC and Philly. When they were done and OMD’s stage was being set up, we saw the staff and Merve come out and set up fans on each side of the stage. I won’t lie, this made me really nervous as it reminded me of the horrible heat and resulted heart attack that Mr. H.#2 had suffered in Toronto years back. To say I was a bit worried and feeling uneasy is an understatement! 😟😟

The guys came out to a thunderous cheer and once the first 2 songs were done and the bass was out for Mr. M., he said “it’s going to be a hot and fun one tonight”. He was right on both ends LOL. 😀  There were a number of us in the front row lined up and I had told everyone we should try for the “yes, Yes, YES” bit but I’m not sure if it was just Christine and I or everyone but we got Mr. H.s attention and his funny finger pointing “No” response, whoo hoo! 😊  Despite the heat, many people joined in on the bouncing of HoM which was great. 😀

When it was Mr. H.’s turn to come down for FLaD,  Mr. M. told us “you can take a break now, Paul’s going to come down and sing. Unless you can bust some moves” and Mr. H. laughed saying “I don’t bust moves”. Well, he didn’t have to LOL because I heard a number of people yell out “Paul!” or “we love you Paul” which got Mr. H. grinning. 😀 ❤️ . Once over, Mr. M. jokingly said “even my Uber driver knew this next song and he’s from ALASKA”. Mr. H. laughed and said “the movie must have been big there too.” Well, after IYL, the crowd was just nutso! So many cheers, everyone so happy to hear that song. The guys were loving it. They were all dripping from the heat tho and Stuart at one point had rolled his towel up and put it up to his forehead much like the old 80s work out headbands LOL. But those towels definitely got their use from all the guys at this show!🥵

The trio from A&M went down wonderfully and by now my thoughts and fear of the heat on the guys had disappeared…helped by the venue putting the air on more as we would get the off and on cool fan like blow on us. Being more in front of Mr. H. this time, I studied and watched HIS keyboard playing on Veruschka which was fun.

When everything was put away, Mr. M. mentioned “we actually played this song 3 years ago before it ended up on Bauhaus Staircase” to which Mr. H. agreed. And the crowd sang “Don’t Go”  really well.  When Pandora’s box started, I heard someone behind me yell “YES!” and a loud cheer so obviously they were hoping to hear that song tonight and happy to get their wish. 😀

Merve came running out for something with Stuart and Mr. H. hesitated so Mr. M. turned around and said “Stuart are you faking an illness so you can take a break?” He then turned to us and said “we do this for a living and we’re fucked. And not in a GOOD way”.  But he was fine, technical glitch solved, and waved the guys on to start and more “mindless dancing” ensued. A lot of singing along to SotSS which prompted Mr. M. to joke afterwards while looking at us and Stuart “either a lot of people here bought the Sugar Tax album or there’s some Brits at this show”. I nudged the woman next to me as she and her husband had been in line behind me and they were from England LOL. 😀

Enola Gay went fast and when the guys came down to the front, the crowd was just really cheering! Once they left the stage, a nice strong, loud “OMD, OMD” chant got going and continued until the guys came out again. Huge smiles all around and Mr. M. said “a crowd makes a gig and YOU have really made  this gig, thank you!” Look at You Now was fun but then….brace yourselves everyone because something special happened….Mr. H. messed up the lyrics on Secret! :O So what happened is Mr. M. joked and said “Paul’s going to sing this next one. It’s a courtesy song because I’m accidentally wearing his shirt tonight”. Mr. H. laughed and said “yeah they got mixed up”. Mr. M. said “it fits a bit snug” and Mr. H. said it looked something but I didn’t catch what he said. But whatever it was, Mr. M. laughed and said “should you be saying that?” laughed and then “Just sing the song” and they both laughed…but then Mr. H. started singing the wrong verse, realized, stopped, said something about he’s off, Mr. M.  burst out laughing and I heard some people (myself included) singing the words for him. He knew he was stumped and then Mr. M. said “do you know where you are now?” right when it was getting to the “SHOUT” part so Mr. H. laughed and said “yeah” and joined in and the rest of the song went fine. But it was such an unusual thing to have happen, it was actually exciting for a lack of better word. When the song was over Mr. M. joked and said “if you got that on video, that’s YouTube GOLD because Paul NEVER forgets his lyrics.” Mr. H. laughed and said “my brain stopped” and Mr. M. said “you’re getting old” and they both laughed. It was truly great fun! 😀 ❤️

Electricity went off without a hitch, just a lot of bouncing LOL and then the guys came down for one more wave, thank yous and goodbyes. Mr. H. said “you really were amazing, thank you SO much” and lots of cheers back from the crowd. Once they were gone, it was a big, (sweaty) post gig picture with everyone before I left and headed to the hotel.

So…highlight of the night. Well, as crazy as this may sound, it’s Mr. H.s Secret goof. As already mentioned, it was just so funny and special to see.  Handled with humor and grace and makes everyone even more down to earth and human plus it truly WAS a rare event so I was glad I got to see it. 😀 🤗