Los Angeles-March 29th 2018

So gotta say, it’s nice to be in a warm state and not having to worry about snow storms LOL. I walked out of Mark’s house (he was kind enough to host me for both Wednesday and Thursday night) to find it quite warm…NO need for my jacket today! 🙂 First was a stop at Build a Bear before meeting up with Kim at our traditional breakfast place (for lunch) called The Griddle. YUM! Though traffic wasn’t the must fun but ah well. We had a nice visit while we munched, then she headed to the venue for sound check and I was off to a stop and then to hang in McDonalds to finish the last blog LOL before getting in line….that got long really quickly! 😮 I got in at 6 with easy 20 or so people in front of me and when I looked later around 6:30, it was down to almost the end of the block! But I then remembered how it was at The Music Box back in 2011 and thought “yeah, that’s about right for LA.”

Laura arrived minutes after me and it was great to have some time to catch up and chat as I’d not seen her for about 1.5 years! Mark was going to be with us as he traded his Pit ticket for a regular GA (with Maureen who was very happy about that and got front row center with Kim and Tara) so he could be with us bless his heart. 🙂 So he got in and grabbed a spot on the rail for us. The venue was really pretty! Laura said it was one of the old, traditional theatres and trust me, my pics aren’t doing it justice. The lay out was very similar to Chicago’s in that it had levels but a bit higher off the floor than Chicago which was nice. NO way anyone’s heads would be in the way LOL. 😀 Our spot on first level was a little bit further back than Chicago due to there being a ramp that went down to the pit (that later got filled as the guards didn’t keep that or the aisles coming down clear. I have to say I wasn’t surprised as the aisles in Chicago always end up filling up prior to the main band starting too.)

So I had told Laura and Mark that Margaret had told a funny joke the night before…and we got it again. 🙂 Her cape continues to get a lot of cheers and she had her shiny rainbowy coat on for the first part of the show again. Also cool (though no I’m not buying it. I’m good with the shoes thank you 😉 ) . I also noticed the bassist looked different. My first thought was “did he cut his hair a little?” but then realized no, he wasn’t wearing a hat. First time I think…so of course I had to take a picture LOL.

Once heading out for the in between band pit stop, I was able to see the other part of the theatre more and yeah, very pretty! Even downstairs where the toilets were was fancy with some extra green lighting, decorated decor etc. I would for sure enjoy going to this venue if I lived in LA. 🙂 When back, Mark checked to make sure Laura and I were ready for our “synchronized bouncing”. We were! 😀

Like Chicago, it was actually nice to be back a ways to catch the entire stage, all the guys in one view, the lighting etc. As soon as the lights came on, the crowd lit up too and GS went down well. When it was over, Mr. M. said “do you know how GOOD it feels to be back here?” Well THAT got everyone cheering! Isotype was the first bouncing song for us 3 and though we weren’t a TRUE bouncing SANDWICH due to being a bit squashed up to where Mark was behind us, we were all bouncing together as a unit still and gotta say, we did good. 😀 More cheers for Messages of course along with more cameras out LOL. When finished and Mr. M. did his “YES!” as he looked out at the cheering crowd, Mr. H. did his “NO” keyboard bit and laughed. Mr. M. laughed, looked at him and said “if you’re going to do that, then you better play the song.” So Mr. H. immediately looked at Stuart and they got the song going. Being back with Mark, I had someone who was doing the “No, no NO!” bit so the 3 of us yelled it back at Mr. H. We were actually on his side but I was sure we were too far for him to see us. Not sure if he could see us really or just HEARD us as Mark thought but while doing it at the end to him, he smiled, pointed our way and shouted back the No bit, we did the Yes back at him, he pointed and did the NO! bit again and of course, since the song ends on No, he won the match…this time. 😀 😉 😀 😀

There wasn’t much need for Mr. M. to request everyone to bounce to HoM because the crowd was moving pretty well already. 🙂 Mr. M. laughed after saying “awww, it does my dark heart good to see 2,500 people bouncing up and down to a song about the end of the universe.” 😀 It was then time to “unleash the Synth God” and down came Mr. H. for FLaD. LOTS of singing along to that. People love that song here! When it was over, Mr. H. had a fantastic crowd response! Mr. M. continued to point at him and then the crowd and Mr. H. gave a little laugh and thanked us a couple extra times as the cheers continued while he walked back to his keyboard. 🙂

I hadn’t really thought about the connection of IYL and LA when I decided to record it at this show but I was glad I picked tonight because Mr. M. said “when we arrived here yesturday, I realized it was just over 30 years that we got called by a man named JOHN…who asked us to come and meet his friend MOLLY…to write a song for him. So we flew over here, wrote the song, and it was used in a movie called Pretty in Pink.” Yup, that sounds about right LOL. 🙂 Like FLaD, there was a lot of singing along to that one plus the crowd loved when Mr. C. started playing his sax! 😀

So I can’t remember exactly how we got on the subject but we started talking about Souvenir and Mark said that he had done the sway that some were doing on the East Coast and Stuart did a little too. It sounded like what he and Mr. M. do together mid song. I said I was sad and missed not doing the head banging, especially since I told so many people about it and it was so fun and hilarious so I was planning on doing it in Ft. Lauderdale as kind of a UK send off to Stuart LOL. Well, once the song started, Laura started doing a mini head bang…bopping her head around so I quickly joined in and then Mark. All while we were also swaying back and forth LOL. Can’t say we don’t know how to multi task. 😉 Of course the dynamic duo songs went down really well. Funny, when Mr. M. gave away his “secret to that song”…I THINK I put this in another blog already…yes? To be safe…this is what he says for that song… “We are celebrating our 40th anniversary this year so I’ve been letting people in on a couple little secrets.” At this point Laura got all attentive and leaned in all “ooo, OK, what’s the secret?!?!” Mr. M. continued by saying “for THAT song…you just have to dance like no one is watching.” Apologies if I’m repeating myself but it was just cute and funny to see Laura’s reaction. 🙂 )

I have to say, I was quite impressed by the amount of cameras that went up for OAtTWM. 😮 It reminded me of Chicago and IYL. That’s something I get to see when further back a bit AND higher up…the crowd and their reactions. 🙂 And freedom to shed my tears again while actually WATCHING WHWD. Once that was finished, Mr. M. asked how many in the crowd had seen them before. I thought we’d get a massive cheer but it didn’t sound as loud as I thought (tho loud, just not massive so maybe that’s a good thing meaning they’re grabbing a bunch of new fans now). And good that he then informed us (for those who didn’t know…) that the cultural part of the show was done and now just mindless dancing. SiL had more bouncing and it was around this time that I saw security leading someone down the ramp that was in front of us and thru the crowd. Took me a minute to realize that it was a blind man but once I did, I immediately thought “OMG!” and turned to Mark yelling “That is probably the same blind guy that I blogged about on the first 2011 tour!” Basically, it was the first of the 2 LA shows and I was waiting for I think maybe Missy to come out of the toilet when I saw the blind man being led out by his friend. It was my highlight of that night because I was just so impressed and in awe. Never thought about it but once I saw him, I realized that yeah, there’s more than VISUAL enjoyment from a concert and he probably got a lot out of the show we seeing people missed. Made me smile to see him again. 🙂

I made it a point to watch Mr. H. again during Locomotion as I had told Mark and Laura how much fun I’d had in San Fran seeing him wave so much to the crowd. Well Mr. M. stayed with his back to us facing Mr. H. for a bit longer this time as they sang the second verse to each other LOL and when it came to the crowd section point outs, the first one didn’t see Mr. H. waving but the rest did, with the final one having him throw both arms up and waving all silly crazy like. Made me laugh again! 😀 I guess I’d been missing a cute part of that song up to now.

We all had the Hey Hey Hey part down pat and right on beat and I truly do love seeing that song live. I missed it as I was bowing down to him like we had done earlier in the tour but apparently Mr. C. stood to take a little bow after SotSS was finished and Mr. M. had pointed him out so the crowd could cheer more. Aww 😀 Before long it was time for Enola Gay and another bouncing bit. Mark had to hold onto us as he was a bit squashed behind us so we couldn’t all put our arms around each other and bounce but we were a condensed sandwich and it made me still crack up. 😀 😀 When it was over and the crowd started cheering loudly, they all came forward and did their goodbyes and waves before leaving. Mark and I tried to get the OMD chant going but it didn’t really take off so I stopped. He tried again when he thought he could get it going but still no success. Hey, worth a try. 😉 When the band returned to soak up the cheers again and more thank yous, everyone was all smiles. 🙂 Mr. M. laughed and said “I can even see you people in the balcony at the BACK” and when I looked up, I was happy to see most of the balcony was up standing. Secret really got a big cheer and I remembered how on the first tour of 2011, almost every show had the crowd asking for it…they still want it! 😀 As usual, we “ended at the beginning” with our final bounce session and then final waves and thank yous before it was all over. I’m glad Mark does his post picture because often I get wrapped up in taking pics for the blog that I forget to get pics of who I’m with. We had some people in the picture I had NO idea who they were but hey, whatever. The people I knew and cared about were in it so that’s all that matters. 😀 The ushers kept us moving out so we said our goodbyes right outside the venue doors. I was having to get up super early for my next flight so though I would have enjoyed hanging a bit to visit, I really couldn’t so said goodbye to everyone, some I’d see again, some not, and then Mark walked me to my car (not before a stop for fluids at McDonalds as I was uber thirsty!) and back we each went to his house.

So..highlight of the night…seeing the show with Mark and Laura. 🙂 Like with Andrew and NYC, it’d been WAY too long since the 3 of us had bounced together. I’d bounced with Mark of course and Laura and I were together for The Faint and Covenant since the last OMD tour but it’d been 4 years since the THREE of us had been together (and that was for Glasvegas. 5 years since OMD) so…yeah, it was great to have our little OMD bouncing team together again even if just for one night! 😀