Chicago-March 16th 2018

Well, this was my “home town” concert. I live about 45 miles NW of the city but I always say Chicago is my home base as there’s very few venues out in the suburbs. 🙁 And since it was local, I worked a bit (gotta pay for travel ya know 😉 ) Got home, ready and off to pick up my friend Cate who’d never seen OMD before. I was excited for her! 😀 Once on the way down to the city, I asked her if she wanted to be up front or further back. I told her up front was usually more fun as you are RIGHT there and Mr. M. is really interactive with the crowd (well all the guys are fun but obviously with Mr. M. up way front, he gets the crowd going and interacts the most) but if she wanted to be further back, that was OK too. I figured I’ve seen them a gazillion times so I’d let HER choose. She said further back and secretly I was glad as I had 3 other friends coming and I knew it would be near impossible for Cate and I to save them spots if we were going to the front. This way, we would all be together. 😀

Despite leaving earlier than normal to allow for St. Pats traffic, it was a bit more backed up on the expressway than expected so once we got to the venue, I dropped Cate off to queue while I drove around to find parking. I am NOT good at parallel parking since the burbs don’t really require it so even with the rental car being smaller than my own car, I had to go back and forth and get out of the car about 4 times to make sure I was going in OK. I’m sure if anyone was watching, they were having a good laugh. 😳 But managed a great and FREE spot so…all good. 🙂

The line wasn’t nearly as long when I arrived as when the doors opened or when another friend Jim came (he said it went down the block and around corner! 😮 ) but they had really tight security. Wands AND a pat down. Sheesh, it wasn’t both even in DC! 😮 🙁 But meh, it is what it is. Lots of packagers got let in before us so by the time we were in, the rail of the first section off floor was pretty full. Cate and I could have gotten in I think but then no room to save for everyone else so the second level rail was wide open…that’s where we went. (I should mention the floor has 4 levels. Main floor is about maybe 15-20 feet deep, then you go up a step and there’s a rail with another section about 10ish feet, up another step and another level etc. The final one goes past sound booth and back to bar. There was also a balcony but I had only been up there once and didn’t like it as bad view and so far away so that was NOT an option!) We spread while I texted everyone else to see how long til they arrived and tell them where we were. Funny enough, as we were waiting, I saw a co-worker of mine come up with her husband. NO idea she was a fan and she said the same thing LOL. (many co-workers know but many do not). Also saw Monica as she and Janine came from KC.

It wasn’t long and Nicky and his wife Lindsey arrived. I’d not seen Lindsey for ages and Nicky since last October. And literally a couple minutes later my friend Jim arrived. Not seen him sicne last summer so…again, I was glad we were able to ALL be together. 🙂 The show was early this time..7:30 vs. 8 so by the time everyone came, the time seemed to fly and suddenly lights went out and GGOOLLDD came out. Gotta say, being further back allowed a different perspective as I could see the full stage, lights etc and I knew it would be even better once OMD came out as they had a better light show. 😉 The crowd was quite impressed with the light up cape, I have to say. 😀 Then, once done, a quick bathroom break between as I had 4 people who could spread for me LOL and then we were all ready for OMD. Cate and I had listened to both the Greatest Hits and the new album and I was actually surprised to find she knew more than IYL and SiL (she’s I think 3 or 4 years younger than me). She wanted to hear TG and EG and I smiled knowing she’d get both. 🙂

Being further back, like for a couple of the UK shows, I decided to take advantage and recorded Ghost Star so I could get the full entrance of the guys and the lighting. Funny enough, it took the crowd a little bit to start cheering when Mr. M. turned around and I had a quick little thought of “hmmm…hope the crowd isn’t a dud.” NO worry after that as that was NOT the case! 😉 When it was done, like in Detroit, Mr. M. apologized for it being 5 years for them to come back but by the cheer they got, I don’t think anyone was mad LOL. 😉 As Isotype started, I turned to Lindsey and said “OK, bouncing is already starting” to which she laughed and said “You had your protein bar so you’re ready! 🙂 ” (I had too LOL..low blood sugar so always gotta have something before them. 😉 ) When it was done and the crowd was cheering loudly, Mr. M. got ready with his bass and asked us if we had brought our dancing shoes. “It was on the ticket”. 😀 😀 HUGE cheer as Messages started and when it was over and everyone was cheering again, Mr. M. got a big smile on his face and said “ahhh…I have a good feeling about this. YES!” Mr. H. jokingly hit the keyboard for “NO!” of TG. Mr. M. smiled, looked in his direction and said “I said YES” and Mr. H. laughed and hit the “NO!” key again. Goofs. 😀 😀

I recorded the song so Cate would have it and then was putting the camera away to get ready for some serious bouncing when Mr. M. looked over to the balcony and said “OK, I just have to point something out.” He then looked at all of us and said “You all are dancing just fine but I have to point to the person in the balcony who is clapping with their feet.” We all looked and there were 2 legs sticking out thru the balcony rails. When Mr. M. said that, the person started tapping their feet together again as everyone laughed. (since we were technically 3rd level, we were almost but not quite under the balcony so I couldn’t tell you what the person looked like or how exactly they were sitting LOL). Mr. H. laughed too and pointed as Mr. M. said “Not sure what you’ll do for this next song because you need to bounce.” 😀 Being further back I could see the crowd better as half the floor was in front of me and happy to say I wasn’t the only bouncer. 😀

Well, Nicky had done sound check and informed me before the show that Mr. H. had “man flu” and hadn’t sung at all. I wondered how he would be when he came out for FLaD but he sounded fine and OMG the crowd went mental! I thought Detroit was the best post song cheer….nope, now Chicago was. He was beaming and Mr. M. started bowing to him and pointing to him like “look at HIM” as the crowd just kept going and Mr. H. took a little bow and thanked us again. And that crowd energy just kept going for IYL. OMG…the CAMERAS that went up! 😮 Nicky and I both grabbed ours just to take pics of everyone else’s LOL. Again, something I’d not see if in the front row as I don’t look back too many times (though I DO occasionally). Lots of singing and fingers going up for the once and twice touching then another massive cheer when done. Mr. M. stood there looking up at us and thanking us as did the other guys. Gotta say, as biased as this may sound, I was thinking Chicago was right up there with Detroit and Boston. 🙂 Mr. M. waited for us to quiet down and then said “Don’t tire yourselves too much, we have another 5 hours to play.” Oh don’t worry, we’d be ready for it if you did LOL! 😀 😉

Back to Mr. H. for Souvenir which got people cheering yet again and then the dynamic duo of JoA/MoO was awesome! Really neat to see it from far and there were a lot of hands up not just for the clapping parts but also just in general to the beat. REALLY good response from the crowd and Mr. H. bowed first to Stuart, then to Mr. M. while Mr. M. kept laughing, thanking us, looking up at the balcony, back down to us etc. Chicago was showing some love for sure! 🙂 OAtTWM is such a special treat to see and I saw Nicky recording and Jim was thrilled for it too. When it came time for WHWD, for the first time since my first UK show last November I could actually WATCH because tho I was crying, I was so far back that A)no one really around me noticed since I kept my head up and B)No one on stage could see me so I could just cry looking straight and actually see what happens in that song vs. looking at the ground, the stage floor or Mark’s back. Even with the new songs, I saw many people singing along. The couple in front of me on the level down and another girl by them were singing along and bopping and a guy in the front area was throwing his fist up to the “done…done…DONE” bit so it was nice to see. 🙂 Mr. C. was “sax God” for SiL but I didn’t bow to him this time since being far away and I had forgotten to tell everyone anyways LOL. Funny enough, I had no idea what to consider myself/ourselves for Locomotion. We were middle floor so did we cheer when Mr. M. pointed to the back? Or was that balcony as they go further? But do I cheer for the floor as that is usually the front. So…I just clapped to both LOL. 😉

By this time I was thinking that Chicago was for SURE as good as Detroit and Boston but I kept watching for the guys reaction because the difference also was my position and I wondered if being further back gave me a more, er, surround sound experience LOL. But from the looks on the guys faces, I think we were for sure living up to being on the top. Stuart pulled out his camera quite early to take pics of us and all 4 guys kept looking out at us and then up at the balcony with disbelieving smiles. Mr. M. laughed and said “guess we shouldn’t let it go 5 years again huh?” To which the crowd cheered loudly. TPoL had a good amount of “hey hey hey”ers and when it was done, Mr. M. asked us if we were tired yet. NO! SotSS saw him go over and give his now customery hand shake to Mr. C. once he’s done with his great solo (tried to get a picture but just not at the right angle) and then it was Enola Gay. People were bopping around and cheering and it just kept going when the guys were done and came forward. So much so that I had a hard time hearing Mr. M. introduce Stuart. And I could barely hear Mr. H. introduce Mr. M. (though it may have been his voice too but…the crowd was indeed cheering super loud and super long). The guys kept waving and thanking us and then they left.

The couple and one of the other girls who had been bopping around started the OMD chant and clap so I joined in and just when they stopped because it didn’t seem to be taking off, I kept going and just as I was going to stop too, it took off. Nice and strong…like in Detroit, it was all you could hear. The guys came out all big smiles and waves again and Mr. M. put his hand on his heart and thanked us for making this “such a wonderful night. Bloody amazing!” Dreaming had a huge sing along, I think even bigger than Secret tho both went down really well! 🙂 When it was time for Electricity, Mr. M. and Mr. H. gave one more round of thank yous and then Mr. M. jokingly looked up at the balcony and said “last chance to get up and dance”. I saw many bouncing again but part way thru, Mr. M. laughed and said “Don’t slow down!” Oh don’t worry, no one was! And we all had the energy to whoop it up at the end too. When everyone came back down to give bows, claps and thanks to us, Mr. M. and Mr. H. both promised LOUDLY they would be back and also to get home safe (said extra loud due to the crowd being so loud). Again, at the risk of sounding biased (but I promise I’m not as I am happy no matter WHERE the band gets such an amazing reaction), I think Chicago wins out for best crowd thus far. 😀

So…highlight of the night. Well, I think I’ll say just having the different perspective from watching further away. I love being up front and will try for that the next couple shows but it’s also nice to be further back sometimes as there are things that just get missed when up front. I will be further away again in LA and that’s just fine with me. 😀