New York City-March 10th, 2018

Gig #4 and the last in my “Leg #1” trip. Arrival into NYC wasn’t too bad except for a delay in traffic. Normally I wouldn’t have cared as I had plenty of time to get in, to hotel, to the NYC BaB store and back to hotel to get ready for the concert. However, my friend Andrew was coming and he had bought VIP for himself and his son Jeremy. Turns out poor J wasn’t feeling well so he wasn’t going to make it and Andrew was giving me the pass. 😮 Whoo hoo! 😀 But once I saw we were going to be quite late (about an hour), I was in a bit of a rush. However, I am a really fast walker so I booked it straight to my hotel with the intent of getting ready in lightning speed time LOL. 😉 When I arrived however, I was told that check in was at 3pm. 😮 Seeing as how I needed to be at the venue by PREFERRABLY 3:30 but could be as late as 3:55…and it was a good half hour to get there via metro and walk, that wasn’t going to work! 🙁 I told the man at the counter my situation and said I didn’t care what room I got, if I could just get a room now. Bless his heart he was able to get one so up I went, whoosh, and back down in 25 minutes. 😀

Gotta say, the NYC BaB was quite cute but I didn’t have a lot of time to soak it up. Lots of things based on the Empire State Building though and some cool exclusives. 🙂 Got what I needed for myself and another collector in France and then out I went to catch the metro and get to the venue. I chuckled to myself thinking about how I was going to be coming into sound check with a big BaB bag but…ah well! 😀 😀 😉 I made good timing and got there at 3:45 to find a lot of others there. Andrew was waiting for me and it was SO good to see him! 😀 The last time we had bounced to OMD together was at this exact venue back in July 2013 so…long overdue! Found Mark in the line too and funny enough, didn’t realize I had gotten in front of Alan who had come from Scotland. It wasn’t until they said we had to go in pairs and we were trying to figure out where to stand that I saw him behind me. I knew he was coming and was worried he’d have issues due to all the snow but it turned out he got in without events. Phew! 🙂 Steve, Sally and Maria arrived shortly after as did Anji and Debbie and yet another Mark and another Steve LOL. Big crowd! 😀

For anyone who hasn’t been to Terminal 5…it’s pretty big but an absolute square. The balcony goes along both sides and in the back and there’s 3 levels. Since we had the special wrist bands, many of us decided to wander a bit to get a different perspective. First it was side first balcony to watch for a bit. They did Souvenir and from the balcony, we could see who was playing what in regards to Mr. C. and Mr. H. which was great fun to watch! Then Mark snuck out and went to middle upper balcony. Looked interesting so I followed shortly after and I’ve gotta say, it’s high. 😮 I’m not afraid of heights by any means but I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so high in a smaller venue LOL. Again, a cool perspective! Similar songs done as the night before but funny enough, after they got done doing OAtTWM, Mr. M. said that Mr. C. and Stuart are “hardcore”. Apparently they have to take their, er, was it ear monitors off? I’m forgetting now but they have something else they use when they come down to the front. However, apparently in Boston, Mr. C. forgot his so he came down and had to do it on his own…had nothing to hear in his ear. You wouldn’t have known as it seemed to have gone smoothly to me. 🙂

Since Andrew, Steve, Sally and I were VIP, we got to wait around inside for pictures but since there were also a lot of packagers tonight, we decided we would all queue right away so Maria and Mark went out and got in line right away. The rest of us ended up near the end of the M&G line but eventually got up there. It was really nice to be able to say hello and give everyone hugs. I’d never met Stuart before so was a bit uncomfortable and uncertain how to approach him as I didn’t want to come across forward or do anything inappropriate. He doesn’t know ME either so I decided to just say hello, nice to meet him and stuck my hand out (this was after giving Mr. C. and Mr. H. big hugs). He shook it but seemed a bit surprised I was so formal so then I thought “meh…just relax and give him a quick hello hug. What’s the worst that can happen if you make it quick?” so I did and also thanked him for my drumstick from Phily and I think he was OK with it all. Big hug to Mr. M., quick chat and photo, then off Andrew and I went to get in line as we were the last of our group. Many others had the same idea but it was a friendly crowd and we all held each others spots while we made coffee and/or bathroom runs since we had just over 1.5 hours to wait. When the doors were about to be open, we all knew where we were heading and Maria, Andrew and Steve got in the fastest and spread. I was next, Sally close behind and we held another spot to make sure Mark got in. It was pure teamwork! 🙂 But you need that when doing GA gigs, you really do! 😉

Right…so for anyone who wants a pair of the shoes from GGOOLLDD…I went and asked the singer (guess I should have asked her name too. 😳 ) while waiting for the M&G because they came into the venue. Amazon! 😀 They are “LED shoes” and run on a charge. “If you charge them with your phone charger for about an hour, they last about 3 hours.” Though she also said they aren’t real comfortable but…hey, can’t have everything. I seriously need to go look them up! 😀 And here’s a picture of her cape (though, despite my friend saying I should get both, I didn’t ask about that one. Cape isn’t needed. Shoes are a bit more of a practical purchase at least. 😀 😉 ). And I’m happy to say there are 2 songs now that I kind of like so…growing a bit on me. 🙂

After Boston, I wasn’t expecting NYC to be as good a crowd as often NYC is a tough one to crack. But from our vantage point, tho not as good as Boston, it was a good NYC crowd. Ghost Star found people really happy once Mr. M. turned around and also when it was over. Some clapping for Isotype too and lots of heads bopping around me. This was the first time Andrew was seeing them with the new album so we had to give him a tap for when to bounce but then he took off and actually kept bouncing past what Mark and I did. 😀 I was in the middle so it was a good feeling to have the ol “bouncing sandwich” together again! 😀 Once Merve brought out the bass, Mr. M. said “a little hint for the rest of the show. When you see the bass come out, it means an OLD song.” Lots of cheers and Mark had informed the girl behind us about how we do the “da da da deeer da da daaaaa” and I think the guy next to her joined in so together with Andrew and Mark who are nice and loud, it seemed strong tonight. 🙂 Not quite sure but by this point, there were a couple yellow balloons floating around with smily faces on them. Of course I was happy as I love smilies. But occasionally they would float to the front and once one of them bonked off my head (to which Andrew wacked it back to the crowd).

In Phily, we had also had a strong “Yes, Yes, Yes” to Tesla Girl’s “No, No, NO” and had been in front of Mr. H. He had heard us near the end and laughed, then started singing the “No” bit back to us and we yelled Yes back to him. Of course the song ends with a final NO! and I laughed and had turned to Mark and Laura saying “always gotta have the last word him…” 😀 So since we were standing on the other side of the stage tonight, Mark suggested to all 6 of us that we yell it and throw our arms up all in Mr. H.s direction. We did and I didn’t think he’d see or hear but near the end he did…only this time he joined us by mouthing Yes! 😮 😀 As Mark said afterwards “I think he’s warming up to the Yes’s” 😀 😀 😀

HoM was next and Mr. M. told us it was now time for us to “dance around to a song about the end of the universe. Come on, you can do it.” Everyone cheered but then he said “it’s coming sooner than you think.” I quickly thought “ok, that’s a downer. I’m not going to think that!” and then he followed it up by “I don’t know who voted for him but…” OK I’m going to focus on the bouncing and not a possible war thank you very much. 😀 It took me awhile to realize why it seemed I was bouncing extra high…a bit of spring in the barrier part tonight (though made it hard to get steady pictures and film as I was always moving…even when I WASN’T moving). It was the first song where we had a true bouncing sandwich and we had pretty good time…only got off where we weren’t all bouncing in sync once so… 😀 The girl next to Mark got her Mr. M. moment during OMT and she was beaming! It actually made her cry a little bit and I thought “well, seems I won’t be the only one shedding some tears tonight.” But it was sweet too because it seemed tears of joy.

When it was time to bring Mr. H. down, Mr. M. jokingly said “I’ve been contradicting myself on the tour because I’m an athiest. But I’ve been calling Paul a God.” Mr. H. laughed and said “I’m not a God. If I was, I’d be immortal.” 😀 Tons of cheers and singing along for FLaD. It’s so nice to see the guys switch spots for a bit and the fans I think really enjoy seeing Mr. H. come front and center for that song. 🙂 Once done, it was of course IYL and of course the crowd sang along heavily to that song. There were cheers when Mr. C. started his saxophone bit too. 🙂

When Mr. H. announced they were going to do a few songs from Architecture and Morality and they headed into Souviner, I looked to see if anyone was going to head bang. Nope but I told Mark “well, I’M going to” so bless his heart, he joined me. 🙂 Andrew started cracking up but for the most part was doing a side to side bop like Steve, Sally and Maria (though at one point Sally threw her head down and thrashed her hair around. 🙂 ) As crazy as it sounds, it doesn’t feel right to not do it anymore LOL. Dynamic Duo songs went down well and the crowd seemed to really enjoy it. The guys seemed really pleased with the reaction from everyone there. 🙂

I think it was Steve who got Stuart’s drumstick tossed to him tonight at the end of OAtTWM. 🙂 Then, during my crying song to which I hid behind Mark, I kept hearing a lot of talking and such behind me. The people all around me prior to the gig and every time I would glance over were really into it so I didn’t understand why everyone was talking now so looked back a few times. It LOOKED like someone was trying to push their way forward. Oh for pete’s sake! 😕 But just as I was started to cry, I heard some woman with a thick accent saying she wanted to get thru, please let her thru just for a minute and she pushed her way up to me. She was saying she wanted to throw something up on stage and then she would leave. Initially I ignored her but she kept up and since I wasn’t needing to be up front at that moment (Mark had spread a bit tho so my spot wouldn’t be taken), I moved more directly behind him to let her in. She then couldn’t quite get to the rail and asked Mark to move a bit. She again promised she would leave afterwards and I thought “OK, you BETTER or we’ll end up making you move back” but once Mark shifted a bit too, she tossed the bag up, screamed “I love you!” a few times with some other things and then, as promised, she left. OK, that wasn’t too bad and honestly, a good distraction as then I didn’t cry much until AFTER she was gone so first half of song was well over! Mr. H. went to get the bag when it was done and said “We got presents. I don’t know what it is but we got gifts.” and kind of motioned to Mr. M. as he was coming back down tho he ended up bringing the bag up with him and placing it near his keyboard stand. Wonder what it ended up being LOL. 🙂

Mr M. came back center and said “In this city, this is the part I get a bit nervous about because you’re all so intellectual. And this is when we stop singing about history and the end of the world and we just have mindless pop and dancing. I hope you can do that.” Everyone cheered and SiL began to which we told Andrew about joining us in bowing for Mr. C. when it was over. Andrew laughed, pointing at how Mr. C. was all smiles after. When Locomotion was done, Mr. M. joked “hmm…OK you’re not all so smart after all.” 😀 Well, and since the balloons were still floating around, I would say this crowd knew how to lighten up and have fun. As we all wondered, the balloon ended up by Mr. M. once and he kicked it back into the crowd. (at one point near the end, 2 of the balloons landed right by him. It was quite funny really 😉 ) Before we knew it, it was Enola Gay time and another bouncing sandwich to start but then Andrew put his arm around Sally who put her arm around Maria who put her arm around Steve and we had a 6 person bouncing line. AND…some guy behing Mark put his hand on Mark’s shoulder. I was like “huh?” to Mark and he just shrugged and laughed so I started cracking up and motioned to Andrew. Andrew was like “who is THAT?” I said “I don’t know” to which Andrew cracked up and just made ME crack up more too. It was hilarious! 😀 😀 😀 When they were done, all the guys came down with huge smiles and their faces to thank us. Lots of cheers and I was happy it was an energetic crowd. 🙂

When they came back on, Mr. M. said “well, you have made this night a wonderful night for us. Thank you! I guess we should do some more music.” Lots of cheers in agreement and then Dreaming took off which also had a lot of singing. Secret found Mr. M.s bass kicking out “I lost it part way into the song.” I turned to Mark and said “well, if he still had Ol’ FAITHFUL, that’d not have happened.” 😉 I miss that ol’ bass! 🙁 Before Electricity, Mr. M. thanked us again as did Mr. H. and promised they’d be back soon, then it was one final long bouncing LINE moment before it was over. Ed came by once done and we all said how it had been such a great week. Always sad to see it end! 🙁 At least this leg and this bunch of friends…not the tour of course as the band is just getting started. Because of so many goodbyes, it took us awhile of getting final group pics and then being ushered more and more towards the door but finally Steve, Sally, Maria, Andrew, Mark and I all ended up outside together though 3 of us veared one way and the other 3 the other way LOL. I had my BaB bag in Andrew’s car so we went there first before final goodbyes, then Mark walked me to my metro stop. What a week! 😀

So…highlight of the night. Well, I’m going to say having Andrew with us. Like I said, it’d been 5 years since our last bounce session so it felt good to be back and like old times. Hoping we can do it again at some point on this tour though not sure. But for NYC, it was great! 😀

Now I’m heading home (typing this on the plane LOL). Darn time change of “spring forward” and super early flight has me quite tired with only 3.5 hours of sleep and lots to do when I get home but it will be good to sleep in my own bed. If this was the END of the tour, I’d be more sad (though I am sad to see many of my friends go. 🙁 ) but since I’ve got 3 more legs…I’m happy to go home for a few days. 🙂