Chicago-June 28th 2025

My kind of town..Chicago is.😂😉 It was an uneventful drive back from MN with Laura (we stopped at Culver’s for lunch so she could visit a ‘midwest’ food chain and try ‘Wisconsin Cheese Curds’ and their ‘famous butter burger’.😀) She stayed at my place this time and I was quite proud of my cats and their reactions to her.❤️🐾  I had to work the next day tho…ugh LOL. So she headed to the city on the train and I assumed she’d be up front with others and myself and 3 local friends ( was supposed to have been 5 but 2 had to pull out last minute) would be first level off the floor against the rail. BUT, nope, front row thanks in part to my friend Cathy getting in line 2 hours early. I was actually surprised how much less of a line there was this time vs in 2022 despite it being a sold out show. I thought we’d need 2 hours to get the first rail but I arrived at 5:40 (doors at 6) and was only just around the corner from the door (so maybe 35ish people ahead of me😯.) My friend Saundra was in line with Cathy so she and I were front row along with Laura, the KC girls, Wendy, who had come from the UK, and Kim. Cathy along with Nicky who came later (also had to work) were behind me. (I felt bad and offered Cathy the rail multiple times as did Saundra but she insisted we stay where we were as she was taller.🤗🤗)

Right…so it being my home town, I was REALLY hoping we’d show the guys great love since there had been great crowds and a few AMAZING crowds. As it turned out, this was another one of those AMAZING crowds (I know I probably sound biased but I was truly trying to listen with fair ears and we were just really loud😀😀👍) Walt Disco stated it first by saying we were their favorite of the tour (OK, I’d heard them say that 2 other times from the 12 previous gigs but at the very least we can say we’re ONE of their favorites LOL) and they said something I’d never heard them say yet which was “and this venue and the crew…best in the country! Really, they’ve all been so amazing, you should be proud of your city.” Well thank you very much!🤗

OMD’s turn and massive cheers when they hit the stage. Good clapping too and when Anthropocene finished, oh my,  great cheers! Mr. H. looked out and said “wow, you’re a noisy lot” and Mr. M. laughed and said “you’re a bunch of loud fuckers.” 😂  It continued for Messages and then TG had a bunch of us doing the “yes, Yes, YES” as I had reminded Saundra and Cathy about it and they were game to join Laura and I. Being louder and in front of Mr. H. meant we got his cute echo and finger pointing reaction tonight, whoop whoop. Saundra and Cathy cracked up.😂

I wasn’t expecting any sweet mention tonight since I got it the night before but prior to HoM, Mr. M. stood right in front of me and proceeded to tell everyone that the bouncing originated from me, I had done their full tour in 2011 and that it’s my home town so everyone HAS to bounce.😯😊🤗 Bless him.🤗 Lots of bouncing as I looked around to see and, like in LA when it was the bouncing sandwich of Laura and Mark, having my local friends around me to enjoy it all and join in just made me smile SO big and my heart so happy!😀😀🤗❤️ When it was done, Mr. M. looked up at the balcony and said “you’re the bounciest balcony so far.” YAY!😀👍

Once over, Mr. M. pointed to Mr. H. and said “and now…the STAR of the show is going to come down and perform for you.” Mr. H. laughed and came front and center to do FLaD and the crowd loved it! When he was done, there  was so much cheering that Mr. M. motioned for him to stay down there a bit longer and soak it in, to which Mr. H. smiled and gave the heart hand motion to us before turning and going back to his keyboard. IYL found a guy in the front row a few people to my right getting a hand slap and huge cheers afterwards too. Then it was the A&M trio and all 3 went down so well! The balcony was just up and going crazy at the end of MoO and all 4 guys were looking up and around with such big smiles, thank yous and heart hands.

Slow down time for Veruschka but it still got good cheers. Then it was the mandatory sing along to DG…and the icky smell of marijuana, YUCK!😠😝 I hate when it happens and Mr. M. noticed too as he joked before SiL by saying “Paul, there’s a lot of weed on your side, have you been smoking?” to which Mr. H. laughed and said “I don’t have the time.” 😂🤪  More hand slapping/grabbing during Dreaming as the KC girls put their hands up so Mr. M. reached out to them, then Laura and he then was in front of me looking at me so tho I wasn’t going to (I’ve always been shy that way. Seriously, took me until 2/3 thru the SECOND 2011 NA tour and much coaxing from friends before I put my hand up. I usually duck under everyone else who would reach out LOL🙄😊) I figured “well I don’t want to be RUDE so…😂” and put my hand out and he grabbed it like the others.😊. Then during Locomotion, as part of the Mr. M. and Mr. H. goofing around Mr. M. made a motion of Mr. H. smoking weed and Mr. H. laughed and shook his head.😂

It was a great sing along for SotSS (I have to say, not only were we super loud in cheers but we were really loud in singing along with the big hit songs too.😀👍) and then it was time for EG. Man it goes quick!☹️ A lot of bouncing around again with friends and strangers before it was time for the guys to come front and center. Mr. H. looked out and said “it’s been a long tour and we’ve had some great cities but you’ve made tonight special. Thank you!”. The other guys were all waving, smiling, mouthing thank you and then LOL when Mr. M. started introducing everyone he called Mr. H. “stoned Humphreys” to which Mr. H. laughed, shook his head and said “and out of his mind McCluskey” and they both laughed with Mr. M. nodding and mouthing “I probably am”.😂😂

When they left, I’m forgetting now if there was an OMD chant or not…gonna say not but the cheers were loud and even louder when they returned to the stage. Wendy got Mr. M.s towel and then he looked out at the cheering crowd and said “I think we’ll have to come back and do 2 nights next time. Or just do another night here MONDAY”. (Monday is a free day after the Sunday Detroit show…OK I could do that LOL😂😉) Arms swaying all over for LaYN and then during Secret, Mr. M. saw there were steps on Mr. H.s side at the front to get down to the ground level with the fans so he headed down there. I lost sight of him for a tiny bit but then saw he was in the space between the stage and the rail to my right. The fans loved it and he didn’t stay too long but that was a first (at least from the 13 shows I’d done thus far). 😯😀👍 When it was time for Electricity…ironicially Stuart lost power. Mr. M. laughed and said “he lost electricity ON Electricity…how ironic”. But then bam, back on and the song started much to Mr. M.s surprise as he laughed, got going on his bass and said “you could have given me notice” still laughing and starting to bop around.😂 I wanted Cathy to have the ability to bounce around and was still feeling guilty that she was behind me when she got there way earlier than me so I gave her the rail for the encore and during Electricity we were bouncing around together…and then it was done. Final goodbyes and the lights were up and show over.

Of course we had to get the post gig picture and also Nicky, Laura and I firmed up our plans for the next morning (picking Nicky up at a CTA/bus station off the expressway and then driving to Detroit together) and then it was a walk to the car with Laura, Cathy and Saundra before Saundra got to her car first and Cathy caught a bus that literally came a few minutes after we got to the bus stop. What a night!!!😀😀

So…highlight of the night is kind of a combination really…I would just say the whole night because I LOVED being at a familiar venue…with local friends (NO offense to my far away OMD friends of course, I love them too but it’s just special to be around homies if that makes sense)…getting my very sweet and lovely shout out…hearing that the crowd truly lived up to all the others did me proud (I would say it was as good as Seattle #2 which to me was the best thus far of the tour)…just everything was amazing, awesome, SO fun and special!😊😀👍❤️🤗