Leeds-May 9th

It was a very short ride (35 minutes) to Leeds from Sheffield and before I knew it, we were checked into our hotel and heading out to grab some lunch.  The nice warm and sunny weather had vanished the day prior to rain and wind…and that’s what today was also…bummer 🙁  I’ve never been to Leeds but it wasn’t nice enough to wander after lunch and I had the blog to finish so the girls took naps, I typed, then we got ready and cabbed it to the gig.

Tonight was another standing venue, but unlike London, there was no one in VIP to go in and hold a spot but we got up close on Mr. C.s side.  We all put our bags down too in front of Steph so that gave a little bit more room.  Steph and I had fun dancing to JF….much to Paula’s embarrassment. Steph and  I have some of JF’s ‘moves’ down so we were doing them and at one point, I grabbed Paula’s hand to have her join us in the “I..I….I…” Running Man part.  We all laughed and I teased her by saying “if ya can’t beat us…join us.” 😆 😉  It was all great fun!

Well, Leeds wasn’t sold out and it’s also a small venue but as it turned out, sales numbers are only, well, numbers because this ended up being the best crowd yet.  As soon as Metroland started, the clapping was really strong and the cheering afterwards made Mr. M. say “Well, we made it back to Leeds.  Sorry it’s taken us 27 years to get back. But I think it’s going to be a great night”  More cheers and Messages found everyone dancing and singing along. Same for Tesla Girls and even Dresden, though a new song for many I’m sure, went down really well.  When it was done and the cheering started,  I saw a massive smile on Mr. C.s face like “wow…ok then, this IS going to be good.”

HoM not only had us girls bouncing but a lot of people in the middle too and I looked up at the balcony to see a number of people up on their feet.  Mr. M. told the crowd that he learned all his dance moves from Mr. H. and Mr. H. laughingly said “don’t believe him!” and then came down for FLaD, again, to a lot of cheers. This was just a crowd that was loving every minute of it.  After came IYL and Mr. M. stated that one one point, it seemed they were considered a cool electronic band…cheers from the crowd…then he mentioned selling out to Hollywood…a mix of cheers, laughs and boos (in jest of course) and he finished by saying they made this song which made them loads of money “and we don’t care”. Well, no one else seemed to care either because it was enjoyed by everyone around me so…

When it was done, Mr. M. said “two things happened in 1978. I got accepted into the art program in Leeds…and this man over here (points to Mr. H.) and I started a band called Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Guess which one won out.” 😆  He then tied it into the art of Edward Hopper…another good lead in for that song LOL.  When the A&M trio came…and went, there was just a massive surge of applause and the guys all stood there thrilled. Mr. M. did the “look at THAT” motion to Mr. H. and he shook his head and gave a look like “yeah…I know right?!” and I kept looking around (there were a lot of lights on us too at this point) to see everyone just amazed. One fan actually yelled “we’re not worthy!” 😆

Since the weather was still cold and rainy (what was I saying just a few days ago about how lovely it was LOL?), Mr. M. said something about how summer was gone but they’d do this song in honor of it and sat on his speaker as always but then once up and doing KtM, he directed part of the chorus to a couple who were standing in front of me. LOL, he looked at the husband, then motioned to the wife during the “she steals your soul” and then kind of shrugged and made a “that’s what happens right?” motion to the husband during “Kissing the Machine”. 😆

Once the “beautiful dancing” started again, I saw a lot of motion around me and even more for SMS…along with hands high up in the air clapping (the girls and I were the congregation tonight LOL). AND…special guest Jesus tonight…Mr. H.#2. 😯 Mr. M. made him Jesus, Mr. H.#2 did a mini stand and bow like motion as he kept drumming and Mr. M. said “nah…don’t let him in.” Too funny! 😆  Good sing-a-long for SotSS (had heard someone shout for it, along with Dollar Girl…well, they got one of their favs) and when it came time for Enola Gay, a girl behind me let out an enormous scream and when I turned around, I saw her just going dizzy happy, face all covered like “OMG, OMG, OMG”, it was precious.  AND, for the first time in ages, I heard people do the “der der der da der” to it too! Mark and I do it as he’s really good and loud but a group of fans behind me got it going tonight and it was great to hear! 😀   When it was over and the guys started to say goodbye, the crowd was on fire and all 4 guys just had the wow smiles on their faces.

No surprise that the fans that got the der der der of EG going started shouting out “more…more…more” but it didn’t stay the whole time. The huge amount of cheers and clapping did though. It was quite powerful at times really and the guys came back out thanking us many times. Mr. M. said we were a brilliant crowd and then asked for his usual audience participation…and I heard a lot of “hey hey”s coming so he got it.  Electricity wrapped up the set and when it was totally over, all the guys stood for just an extra moment to soak it up before finally waving and saying goodbye.  What a night! Just goes to show, it’s not how many fans you have at a gig but what KIND of fans you have. 😉