Sound Edit Music Fest, Lodz Poland, October 23rd

So…first time in Poland and by the time I’d gotten to Lodz, where OMD were to play, I felt I’d gotten a feel of the country as I’d spent a few days in Warsaw and then Krakow prior. Being half Polish you’d think it’d be more familiar but though my dad offered to teach my sister and I the Polish language, we were young and passed up the opportunity since he didn’t push it. I regret that now. 🙁 But most people spoke at least broken English so it wasn’t too bad. However, Lodz wasn’t the big city of Warsaw or Krakow so I think had I spent time on the streets a bit more, I’d have had issues.

That being said, when I came off the train and was trying to figure out which way to my hotel (there were huge flights of stairs to go up to cross over one of the big streets and I thought “I’m not going up those until I KNOW that’s the main street I have to cross”) and thus was walking around, 2 older woman started speaking polish to me in attempts to help. I had learned a few key phrases before coming into the country…one being “do you speak English” which I said but they didn’t. However, they looked at the paper I had, saw the name of the hotel, and started telling me where to go. Of course it was in Polish so I had no idea what they were saying but they pointed me in the right direction and that’s all that mattered LOL. Bless their hearts. 🙂 (and the first cab driver I had for getting to the airport…don’t ask why he was the FIRST…didn’t speak it either but he was nice and ran back into the hotel to get someone to help so…nice people). 🙂

Well, the plan was to get in and just settle over the night, hang in the hotel for the morning and check out at 12:00 before heading over to the Double Tree Hilton which was actually where the venue was. All of the other gang were staying there though only some had already arrived (Debbie, Anji, Dariusz, and Neal… Paula, Dave and Dita were landing later in the afternoon) and I was meeting up so dumping my stuff off in Debbie and Anj’s room (had an early flight out to Leipzig for some Covenant gigs so didn’t have a room as was going to sleep in the airport). I was looking forward to seeing everyone and though the Barcelona gig had been a weird and sad one for me seeing Stuart in Mr. H.#2s chair, I was excited for this one! 😀

When I came down after dumping my stuff off, I found everyone around the door of the venue as the guys were in the midst of their soundcheck. HoM Part 1 was going and Debbie started bouncing a bit as I laughed and said “yup, we’ll be bouncing tonight for sure.” 😆 It was over quite quickly though and we all headed into the bar to visit and have some tea/coffee. That eventually turned into lunch LOL and it was nice to get a chance to visit as I’d not seen any of them since the DS gigs of last year. That’s the good thing about OMD gigs, they bring us all together to have fun! 🙂

The doors were at 7:00pm thus we basically had the full afternoon so once lunch was over, Debbie and I went off through a really pretty park to go get some food and coffee (I needed a chunck of cheese….inside joke, don’t ask LOL…and Debbie a large coffee) and while there, she tossed out peanuts to try and lure out the ADORABLE red squirrels. OMG, so cute! Though they were more elusive today so we only really had one come up a bit but hey, that was all I needed to get to see them…awwww! 🙂

When we got back, everyone else had just arrived so more hellos, settling in, and visiting. Dinner was ordered but the hotel restaurant was a bit slow so by the time we were done and ready to head over, it was 7pm. A bunch of people had gathered outside the venue door we had heard the sound check through earlier so we thought that was where we might go through but there was also talk that no, we’d have to go outside to que and go in a different entrance. That ended up being the case so in a way, it was good we came late as we didn’t have to stand outside and have all our coats to deal with LOL. 😉 When we arrived, we got checked and stamped, then lead into a room that initially we thought “this is it?” and Paula and I looked as I said “can we just go to the front?” but as we started to walk to what we thought was the front, she realized this wasn’t the venue but probably one of the rooms where the talks/workshops had been and it was through another door that we needed to enter the venue. Once in, I saw a bunch of people were at the stage already so Anji and I headed over and the guys followed. Once settled, it was me, Anji, Paula and Debbie up against the stage and Dita and the guys behind (Dita is lucky to be tall).

So 4 acts were slotted before OMD. Dariuzs had said one was a very famous composer and another was a band that had been big in the 80s. It was only a matter of minutes before the famous composer came on….Jozef Skrzek. He was interesting and basically melded all his music into one long piece but as Dave and I talked later, we figured if we had the CD going, that would have been multiple tracks…just with a smooth transition from one to another. Very minimal vocals and when he did speak, it wasn’t words, more moaning and oooing etc but though he was nothing I’d go out to find and/or listen to again, I didn’t mind him.

He was taking his bows and accepting the cheers as the next performer came on…Konrad Kucz. He too did the same thing in that he did one long piece but he never spoke or made sounds into a microphone. He also had a different feel to his music…a bit more trance like vs. the other guy sounded a little more, er, dated. Hard to explain but what was more impressive was when he was done and taking his bow, we could see his right hand was disfigured. We were all impressed he had made so much music without 2 fully functional hands, well done. 🙂

Well, the third act came on and we were all like “WT???”. 😯 I should mention there was a big screen behind the stage that would display the performers so that if you couldn’t see well (which was my case for acts 1 and 3 because a duo keyboard stand was in my way) you could see the performer and what he was doing. With all due respect, this guy was just weird! He had a jacket that had flashing things on it, patches, a big square cut out in the design of a rubix cube….he was just not at all something most of us liked. I thought of the muppet that had the long dreadlocks, plays in the band, and is always like “yeah maaaaaaaaan….” and Paula and Dave thought of Animal muppet LOL. 😆 And the worst thing was his song went on for quite awhile, then he stopped and people clapped so we THOUGHT he was done…nope, he turns and starts doing more stuff only it was mostly plunking. Gotta say, it was nice to see him leave for good a bit later.

This left the 80s act Kapitan Nemo. He KIND of looked like Gary Numan (at least to me that’s who he reminded me of) and tbh, I didn’t hear too much electronic, he was more rock (bass, guitar, drums and then some pre-recorded keys. He’d only play HIS keys occasionally) but we all liked him. It was fun to hear music sung in a foreign language (to us that is, Dariusz was singing along which made me smile and realize duh, of course he would…he’s Polish and we’re in Poland 😉 ). There were some girls in the front center who were really into him and cheering, asking for songs etc and he was enjoying the attention, but not in an arrogant way…it was cute. 🙂

When they were done, the other 3 performers came back on and next thing we knew, they started performing together. I had planned on waiting until they were done to do my usual toilet break between acts thing but Anji said it was getting quite crowded (she’d just come back from a smoke) and I should go now so off I went. When I got back, they were still going and at that point it seemed a bit of a jam session. The lead singer of Kapitan Nemo finally stopped and started to walk away, then came back but that seemed to be the sign to end, which they did shortly after. Again, not my cup of tea but I DID think it cool that they all came out together as this whole night was a celebration of the history of electronic music in Poland so what better than to have them collaborate together? 🙂

So crewman came out and started tearing down the others equipment and shortly after we saw Merv come out to help set up OMD’s stuff and check the microphones. They were slotted for 9:30-10:50 I believe as I remember thinking “wow, 1 hour 20 for just the two of them, that’s great!”. 😀 Things ran a bit late and they came out at 9:40 but just prior to that, some guy to our right shouted out OMD, OMD, OMD and the crowd took off. I had noticed a lot of clapping during Kapitan Nemo so figured we’d have plenty of that but for OMD, instead we got a lot of chanting…that’s good too! 😆

It was a nice welcome for the guys as they walked out and opened up with Enola Gay….let the bouncing begin LOL. 😉 Next was Messages and with the screen behind the guys, they were able to take advantage of the video films they use a lot in the UK/Europe…this one being of all the various letters sent to them through the years. Funny thing, Dave snapped a picture just randomly only to be told that Dariusz’s letter was behind Mr. H.! 😯 DANG! 😆

Afterwards though, Mr. M. announced that his bass wasn’t in tune. “Thanks to Luftthansa” apparently the thing got messed up a bit so he called for Merv and asked if they could change the set list just a bit. This meant early HoM bouncing but that was fine…spread the bouncing out LOL. Tons of hands came up and it was quickly a massive wave of hand slaps from Mr. M. to them and many in the center were bouncing too. Once over, Merv brought the bass back and Mr. M. said he’d try it again. I turned to Anji and said “should have brought Ol’ Faithful”. We were treated to Radio Waves and I couldn’t resist grabbing it on video. Then Mr. M. called Mr. H. out and said he was the star of the show. Mr. H. laughed and came out to do Forever Live and Die…and also got a wave of hands wanting slaps which he gave quite a lot out. 🙂 And in the middle horn section, he joked Martin was on the side, pointing over to the stage edge. 😆

The guys were having a blast, as were we of course, and the same guy on the left kept starting the OMD chant so big grins on both Mr. M.s and Mr. H.s faces. Yeah…Poland was loving OMD. (spoke with Dariusz afterwards to see how many times they’d been there and he said last year’s Night at the Proms was the first time since the 90s! 😯 Makes sense why the crowd was so excited to see them!) There were shout outs for songs (the guy behind us kept asking for If You Leave. I’ve gotta be honest, that surprised me. I didn’t think it was such a big hit else where from the USA but apparently I was wrong.) Someone called for a song and we heard Mr. M. say “we’re doing that…but later if that’s OK”. Instead Mr. M. said his bass still sounded wrong, asked Mr. H. if he was OK and when Mr. H. said yes, Mr. M. joked about “always work with a computer…especially if he’s called Paul.” Awww. 🙂 She’s Leaving was next and Paula and I looked at each other as Mr. M. did his heavy strumming at the end and mouthed “sounds fine” to each other.

The crowd recognized Souvenir quite quickly, as did they for the two Maid of Orleans songs and this was when I heard a lot of the clapping like had occured earlier with Kapitan Nemo. The images behind are always striking and then you add Mr. M.s windmilling to the mix and it’s a gripping song. Of course Mr. M. then announced he needed a break and came over to ask if he could sit on one of the speakers. He started the swaying/wave and then all of a sudden people started holding things up for him to sign. 😯 Um…OK..I guess it’s multi-task time as he was able to get quite a few done between singing the first part of the song. 😆

Apparently Metroland was the song someone asked for as Mr. M. said but then others started shouting out songs and he was like “no, someone wanted THIS one earlier”. I couldn’t help but think of back in Boston when I was with my friends Andrew, Mark and Laura and we had all our fun moves including the train and choo choo motions… 😆 I missed that. But in proud Mark fashion, I made sure the prayer stance was in place for SMS. 😉 Apparently Mr. M. messed up on the words but tbh, at this point a really annoying woman was having a go at trying to shove herself in front so Dave, a camera guy and another were all yelling at her, we were getting pushed around, I was glaring at her and when I looked up, Mr. M. was in front of us saying something about how he missed the words. Well, it went past us LOL.

Unfortunately, despite the guys valiant efforts, said annoying lady managed to shove herself forward, literally hanging over the girl next to me, shoving me aside and banging her elbow into my head repeatedly as she flailed around. I was trying to record SotSS with her just going crazy every time Mr. M. would come by and her husband/boyfriend wasn’t any better, pushing forward and flailing his arm over my head/in my face. URGH, I can’t stand people like that! 😡 As the guys were about to close with Electricity, Mr. M. joked that he wasn’t even going to try and check his bass “It’ll just go out 3 seconds later”. Needless to say, I didn’t feel bad when I was bonking into the lady as I bounced….you smash in, you’ll have to deal with my bouncing LOL! :tongue: However, being the crazy lady (or drunk we suspected) she was being, when Mr. M. came over to play his bass by us, she reached over and started grabbing his foot. I was like 😯 and then looked up at Mr. M. who was looking at me. I immediately made the motion of ‘no no, not me!’ and verbally said “It wasn’t me, I swear” but he was already looking away and heading over. Some people! 😕

Well, the OMD chant continued pretty much the full time the guys were gone so they came out and Mr. M. made a comment that they had had to cut a few songs due to the bass issue but that they’d do another one. It was just going to be one they’d not played for 3 months so…we were warned. Locomotion…and it went down fine. Final thank yous in both English and Polish and a promise they’d be back very soon and the guys left the stage for good. We all stepped away from the stage, wiping the usual sweat off and at one point a reporter (or maybe he was with a radio station, not sure as I don’t speak Polish) came up to Neal to ask him questions. Neal was like “Um…English” and the guy motioned never mind and turned to me and the rest as we all nodded no, we’re English too but then Dave was like “we have someone who’s polish here” and started looking around for Dariuzs. The reporter was just about to leave when we found him so…he got a quick bit of an interview LOL. 😀

We all went to the other room that Paula and I first thought was the main one and saw Kapitan Nemo signing things and getting pictures with fans. Lots of waters and drinks were bought but within about 20 minutes, the guards started coming around to say we had to go so we all managed to make our way out to the hotel (without having to go outside again which was good) and ended up back in the bar where we started it all. But not before we got a few full group photos with better lighting as others were a bit dark…not easy squeezing 8-9 of us in a picure LOL. 😉 Sadly, I couldn’t stay long as I wanted to get to the airport and grab a few hours of sleep before my early flight. Another night of bouncing was ahead and I needed SOME kind of energy from sleep LOL.

So, highlight of the night…this may sound strange and it’ll be hard to explain but…actually ENJOYING the show more like I normally would. As mentioned earlier, Barcelona wasn’t a good gig for me with it being my first after Mr. H.#2s heart attack in Toronto. Truth be told, I moved away from the front and everyone I was with and ended up crying most of the time. 😥 But tonight was more like an OMD gig should be for me…up front, with friends, bouncing away. So…that is what made the night for me. 🙂