Boston-March 9th 2018

Wow, what a night Boston was! But more of than a minute. Compared to the last 2 days, getting to Boston was a breeze! 2 short delays on the train but otherwise, whoo hoo, uneventful! Sun actually came out briefly the next morning for my walk around. I’d been to Boston before so had done all the really touristy things. This time I chose to stay close to the hotel and found a really cool attraction called the Mapparium. It’s 100+ stained glass pieces put together to make a globe that is a huge dome and you walk thru it on a plank bridge. WAY COOL! 😀 No pics allowed but here’s one from the internet LOL. Visited Copley Square and went into a couple churches too before heading back to hotel.

My friends Mark (different one from Phily show. This one coming from CA) and Laura were going to be there along with some other friends from UK…Anji and Debbie Bull and Neal (with friend I’ve already forgotten name of). Neal and Co. plus myself didn’t have packages but people are being allowed to pay cash at the door for one if spots still available so I had decided to just go for it and get Gold as I figured sound check with everyone would be great fun. 🙂 Steve, Sally and Maria were there too as was Kim so trying to get a group photo at the end was a bit hard since my camera was blurrying but…we managed. 😉

You never know what you will get with Sound check. When we were let in, the band came out a few minutes later minus Mr. M. They started with MoO and then when Mr. M. arrived, they did I believe Messages first, then Tesla Girls. We got to see OAtTWM too which was cool. A lot of the songs they went right thru to the end…that doesn’t often happen as many times they need to stop and adjust something or have requests so these were sounding fairly similar to the show. A good thing I would imagine LOL. Quite relieved Mr. H. did FLaD as his tester song! Then it was over and us blue wrist banders were asked to leave.

Mark, Laura and I went out for a bite as it was too early and cold to stand outside the entire time. However, around 6:30 we got to the venue and found our “packages” area. Mark was kind enough to buy us cookies from Fenway Market so tho it was quite cold and actually snowing, we munched and I bopped around to music piped to us from the inside so kept fairly warm (though was really happy once they opened the doors! 😉 ) This time we held spots for S&S and Maria and we all ended up front row on Mr. H.s side for something different. 🙂

Laura had checked out GGOOLLDD a little with song snippets but not much and Mark was clueless as he wanted to be. When they came out, the singer (I should get her name for next blog LOL) had a different cape (Phily she had no cape to wear but the lit up one was draped on the mic stand. Still draped for Boston but a new, different cape was on her). Glittery and it seemed like it had subtle rows of rainbow colors. As promised, managed a couple pictures. And as it turned out, they only did a 30 minute set so I guess that is what will be the norm. I have to say, there are a couple songs that are starting to grow on me a bit but still not a huge fan and Mark and Laura weren’t really either. Funny thing…so the singer gave us a couple more jokes (so far out of 3 nights, all 6 are new ones but I wonder if I will start to hear the same ones over once further into the tour.) About a minute or so after she gave the punch line to one of them, a guy behind us was like “Ooooo, SHIH TZU! GOT IT!” The band and all of us around just cracked up! Hey…better late than never. 😉

Not sure if the show sold out but it didn’t matter because as soon as OMD came out, the crowd went crazy! Once Ghost Star was done and Mr. M. announced “there will be NEW songs…there will be OLD songs (more cheers) and there will be dancing!” I saw quite a few heads bopping up and down to Isotype! 🙂 And when Messages started, the crowd went crazy again! The guys were really pleased! All 4 of them had massive smiles on their faces. Mr. M. didn’t have to urge us much to bounce for HoM…there were a lot of heads up and down and when it was done, Mr. M. joked and said “that was a lot of dancing to a song about the end of the universe. You’re a bunch of dark f*ckers….I LIKE that.” 😀 😀 There were a couple girls bopping around and tipping their heads back and forth on the side of the stage so they were the ones who got Mr. M.s hand for OMT…to which they then got all giddy and jumped up and down together after. 😀

Before Mr. H. came out to do FLaD, Mr. M. said “So I have been introducing Paul as the keyboard God. But there is also a keyboard and SAXOPHONE God!” and he pointed to Mr. C. Everyone cheered and Mr. M. said “Paul can’t play the saxophone” and Mr. H. laughed and said “yeah, you don’t want to hear me play the sax!” Mr. M. then said “but you can come down and sing right?” and Mr. H. said “yes, I can do that”. So they swapped places and OMG the crowd loved Mr. H.! Lots of cheers and singing along. He seemed so happy being out there and going back and forth from one end of the stage to the other. It was a good sized stage! When it was done, the crowd cheered loudly and Mr. H. took a little bow, waved to everyone and thanked them. But it just kept getting better and better because as soon as IYL started, a roar erupted and when it was done, the crowd cheered so much you would think the band had just finished JOA/MOO. Everyone was grinning from ear to ear and Mr. M. threw his hands out to us like “wow!” and then turned to Mr. H. while pointing to us like “listen to THAT!” Mr. H. shook his head like “yeah…I KNOW! 😮 ” Boston was shaping up to be the best show so far and that says a lot as the other 2 shows were really good! 😀

Well, during soundcheck, I had told Mark that Steve, Sally and Maria weren’t doing the headbanging anymore and I was bummed. I told him how Stuart even did it a bit the first night so Mark was like “well, that doesn’t mean WE still can’t do it” so I agreed and he, Laura and I decided heck with it, we’re headbangin! 😀 I mentioned it to I think Sally but then later once we were in the venue and I went to tell Steve, he was like “yeah, Stuart REQUESTED it so we’re doing it tonight. ” About time! 😛 So…off we went, the 6 of us in the front. Not sure what exactly happened as my hair is long and it flails in my face for this but I occasionally was looking over at everyone else and at one point I saw Steve pointing to Stuart and laughing so I’m sure he was happy. Think Mark and I may just keep it going in NYC! 😉 Needless to say, JoA/MOO went down with a huge bang and again, the crowd kept cheering to where all 4 guys just stood/sat there a minute to soak it up. SO happy to see this as it’s always wonderful when the guys have a great night! 🙂

The crowd continued to be strong for OAtTWM because as soon as the guys started to get set up, people were cheering. Then when the lights came on enough to see them all in a row, more cheers and when Mr. M. started his guitar strumming…MORE cheers. 🙂 When it was over and the crowd quieted down, Mr. M. said “we decided to go old school 83 striped down.” Nice! 🙂 I was happy to have Mark to hide behind for WHWD and, like in Phily, Steve had handed me a tissue in preparation so…it went as well as could be expected. After that, Mr. M. asked how many of us had seen them back at the Paradise Club. A lot of us cheered so he then said “well, those shows were very good too but…we were ready for a change. However, those of you will then know that this is the time where we get to the non-stop dancing songs” Big cheers and SiL took off. I had informed Mark and Laura that our new ‘thing’ was to bow to Mr. C. when it was done and because the crowd was so good, Mr. M. kept trying to get us to bounce so we bounced up and down to that one too a bit LOL. 😉

Locomotion started off a bit different because the drums didn’t come in right away. Personally I thought it was really cool to hear the first bit by itself but Mr. M. got a confused look on his face and then turned to say “Can you, you and Me (pointing to Stuart and Mr. H.) all get on the same page please?” (not angry, funny). They then started to chat a little and I heard Mr. M. say “4…4 comes after 3” to Stuart and they all laughed, counted and off Locomotion went. Things like that, to me, make the show special as it makes the guys human LOL.

TPoL continues to get a really good response and Mr. M. and Co. continue to notice. But before long, it was time for Enola Gay. Mr. M. thanked us for being such a great crowd and informed everyone it was the last song so up and down a lot of us went. When it was over and the guys came forward, the crowd just roared again. Many waves and thank yous, their usual introductions and then they left. Mark, Laura and I tried to get the OMD chant going but it kind of fell short. HOWEVER, once the band came back, THEN it started. They all stood there listening to it happily and proudly. It’s gotta be a big rush for them! 🙂 Mr. M. said “well, 2 things…one, we will be back… (more cheers) and 2…we better play some more music” I heard quite a bit of singing to Dreaming and a LOT of cheers when Secret started. I’m glad we get to see that one in particular as it’s fun live! 🙂 When it was time for Electricity and Mr. M. had given one final thank you to us, he then asked us if we were ready for the fastest and oldest song. We cheered and he asked again “READY?” and everyone went wild. Boston, you did yourselves proud! 🙂 When the guys came down for final waves and such, Mr. H. and Mr. M. both told everyone to get home safe, they’d see us again and goodnight. The crowd cheered the whole time the guys walked off. What a show! 😀

Mark asked someone to take his post gig picture. Of course the first of the tour and I was the sweatiest as it was hotter in there due to being a big venue and crowded but it’s tradition so….ah well LOL. We all chatted with Ed for a bit and then the venue employees kept ushering us out so we went outside to say goodbye and head to hotels. Mine was so close that I had put Mark and Laura’s package stuff in there so we went back to grab it, then parted ways. Mark I’ll see in NYC but sadly Boston was the only one Laura was doing. But hey…next time because they said they’d be back and we’ve had 4 tours from them now so… 🙂

And…highlight of the night…well, hmmm…..I loved having so many friends around! Sound check was fun too so…I’ll say both of those were the highlights. 🙂 NYC has a lot to live up to! And usually it’s not one of the strongest crowds but…who knows, they may surprise us. 🙂