Ft. Lauderdale, April 14th 2018

Well…final show of the tour! Bitter sweet for sure! I woke up realizing it was going to be over soon and admittedly got a little sad. But…been in this spot before as I know many have so…I knew the day and night was going to be special no matter what! 😀 I hit a donut shop called Donut Freak and gotta say, they were the strangest looking donuts as they didn’t have holes. Bismarks to me really but they were tasty (didn’t eat all 4…one I didn’t care for and the other 3 lasted me the entire day LOL). A couple stops along the way until I got to my hotel. I was staying north of Ft. Lauderdale in a town called Pampano Beach and my hotel was right on the water. Very pretty view!

Well, since it was the final gig of the show, I had decided to upgrade to VIP so got to the venue early. Big gang of us tonight… Mark, Kim, Pammy, Elizabeth, Monica, Diane and her friend Madison. But then 2 more came in as a surprise..Anji and Debbie were over from the UK for their brothet’s surprise 70th birthday (tho it’s safe now to say this as nothing coule be posted about them being here til Monday LOL). YAY! Quite a few people in the sound check and as it turned out, like in NYC, we could wander so I saw Mark way up on top balcony. I went up too and he was on one side while I was on the other. We could get RIGHT up to the stage…as in standing above where Merve would be. WAY cool view! 😀 I stayed up there for a bit, then back down, onto the sides, back to floor etc. The stage was really high…I’m guessing 5.5-6 feet so we all debated if we wanted to even be front row as some of us shorter people would have difficulty seeing where the first level was much more in line with the stage (in the end, front row votes won out so…) When it seemed like they were done, Mr. M. said they had to do something first and next thing ya know, they were calling Kim up to thank her and give her a signed poster from the sold out show at LA’s Wiltern Theatre. She had done every show and they wanted to show their appreciation. It was really sweet! 😀 ♥ I started recording and then when they said to have someone get her camera and take a piC, there was a hesitation so I figured “I’m close to the stage, I’ll just go up and take one on my camera for her” so I called out that I got it and someone, I think Mr. M. said OK. I got on stage just as I saw Jeff get a camera and get in pose but I figured I was already up there so I’d just snap one too. Was then turning and leaving when Mr. M. said for me to not go, I was one too or someting like that. I laughed and said I was just up there to get a pic of Kim but then he ended up saying to stay and turned to the crowd to call all those who had traveled and done a bunch of gigs. I heard him say Mark, the KC Girls, and not sure who else but I thought OMG! Awww! ♥ So I went back on and got by Stuart and gave him a hug. Mark, Monica, Diane, Pammy, Elizabeth and I can’t remember who else, there were a few others, came up and we got a group photo by Jeff. SO SWEET! 😀 ♥ Lots of hugs and thank yous from the band AND us to each other, then we got off and Mr. M. said goodbye to everyone as sound check was over. Jeff got everyone to line up and it was VIP time. One more chance to give hugs and say goodbye, then it was back out to the sweltering heat to wait in line (thank goodness the line was in the shade!).

Well, as stated, the majority vote was the floor but sadly, some woman got in the middle of our group and then her 2 friends joined her so we all ended up getting split in 2. Mark tried to ask if she’d switch with a couple of us so we could all be together but she insisted she wanted her exact spot (which would have been fine except her 2 friends weren’t VIP so…) so…2 groups of us it was then. 🙁 GGOOLLDD sounded so good to my ears at this point and it was fun to soak up the final moments. I even started bouncing to one of the songs as Margaret jumped so I just followed (as did Mark) 🙂 Kim got a shout out from Margaret too 😀 And after their final song, Mr. M. and Mr. H. came onto the stage to hug and shake hands with everyone. Mr. M. introduced them once more and said they did an amazing job and Mr. H. agreed, telling everyone to support them. Aww… 🙂 ♥

Tonight won’t have too many pictures because, like the final shows of the other tours, I like to just really be in the moment and not get too much. No video (just sound check) and I planned on only taking pics for one song. However, since the stage was SO high and there were monitors for the guys, I couldn’t see Mr. C. very well. If I really leaned over but…so had to get one of him playing saxophone as he was out a bit LOL. Ghost Star was special and when it was over and the crowd cheered loudly, Mr. M. said “ahh…well it’s our last night on this tour. And we’re ready to party! School’s out after this!” We’re ready too! 😀 Isotype had us bouncing around and when it was done, Mr. M. looked at the crowd and said “you all look good but you look a little scared. Don’t worry, you’ll be great! And we’ll be wonderful.” Well, maybe it was the new songs that ‘scared’ a few fans because after Messages Mr. M. said “now you’re looking better.” Mark had informed a bunch of people near us about how we yell yes, yes, YES to Mr. H. so when Tesla Girls got going, we had a good little chant LOL. Not sure how many of us he could SEE since we were so far down from stage level/view but at the last bit, he pointed to us and mouthed yes yes yes for our 2 rounds before then yelling NO! Gotta love it! 😀

The crowd sounded really good! I’m sure they were good in general but it seems when you have a venue that has sides that go all around, it just gives a good stereo surround sound LOL. you can really feel and hear the love. 🙂 HoM came with “we’re going to test out your ability to party now. This is a song about the end of the universe.” Yeah, we all wanted to party because everyone really enjoyed it and it was a good bouncing moment. I have to say, holding onto Mark allows me to bounce HIGHER LOL. 😀 Once the crowd quieted down a bit, Mr. M. said “OK…if there are gentleman here with their ladies, get a hold of them. We are about to unleash the synth God. And he seems to have that effect with woman.” Mr. H. laughed and said “na na, that was 30 years ago.” Well, everyone still loves him now because not only did everyone really get into FLaD, but when it was over, he got a massive round of cheers. He had a massive grin on his face, then, as he turned and started to walk back towards his keyboards, Mr. M. headed towards stage front and wiped Mr. H.s face off with his towel. 😀

A TON of singing along and cheering for IYL…of course LOL. Then it was Souvenir. I had told Mark back in LA that I thought we should head bang for the final show to kind of send Stuart off with a little piece of UK so that’s exactly what we did! I had put my hair up as it was SO hot but took it down for the full headbanging experience LOL. We had no idea if he saw us since, again, we were so far down, but it was great fun no matter. 😀 Dynamic duo songs went down wonderfully and I just had to stand there and again, try to soak it all in. It never gets old! The crowd loved it and the whole band just stood there for a couple minutes also soaking it in. Mr. M. joked and said “I suddenly know what OMD stands for…Old Man Dancing.” 😀 😀 Then, pointing to the rest of the guys “or Other Men Don’t.” Mr. H. laughed and said “hey, we’re working back here.” Too funny. 😀

I didn’t see who got Stuart’s drumstick but it was on Kim’s side. I debated about either switching spots with the girl on my right for WHWD so she could be more center for the brief time (she was recording a lot but had a monitor in front of her so couldn’t see fully), getting behind Mark, or just staying put. I ended up staying put, thinking I’d be OK since it was the last show and I was trying to soak up the moment. Wrong…but too late to switch with Mark so I just looked down a lot. Once over, Mr. M. told us it was now time for bouncing again and up we went. During Locomotion, you could really see the crowd on each side and how crowded it was and a lot of fists in the air for TPoL’s hey hey HEY! 🙂 At the start of SotSS, Mr. M. jokingly threw his towel at Stuart LOL and when the song was over, Stuart threw it back out to the crowd (landed right in front of Mark and DIane and Diane got it later as Mark was sweet enough to lean WAY over the barrier to pick it up). Mr. M. laughed, got his bass, and then turned to Stuart saying “If I don’t throw any more towels at you…would you bring us home with this one?” Stuart smiled and nodded and off we went to Enola Gay.

Once done, the guys came front and center and again, stood for a minute to embrace the cheers. Mark had been yelling Hey, Hey, to the beat of EG so the rest of us joined in and shortly after, it took off. 🙂 When introductions were finished and the band had walked off, it wasn’t long before someone started the OMD chant too. Yup…really happy and strong crowd! When the guys came back out waving to everyone, Mr. M. said “thank you so much for making this a wonderful NOW moment for us! And for giving us an amazing ending to the tour.” He then asked if we were tired and of course we all let him know NO! Dreaming went by fast and when it was done, before Secret could start, the crowd started the OMD chant again. Mr. M. smiled and pointed to the crowd while looking at the rest of the band as if to say “well would you listen to THAT?!?!” Mr. H. shook his head smiling and Stuart took some video. I could see Mr. C. too and he was also smiles and during Secret, Mr. M. kept looking over to Mr. H. who would put his tongue out on his left side and make a face like “phew, we’re making it.” 🙂 When it was time for Electricity, Mr. M. said “See, I told you you’d be wonderful!” then told us it was their oldest and fastest song and asked if we were ready. Yes, yes,YES! Off they went…and so did we. Mark had so much energy, he was wanting to bounce to the entire song (same with Enola Gay) so I had to tell him I was sticking to our normal bouncing spots LOL. It was so hot, I was tired (5 weeks of back and forth with many a very late night must have finally started catching up to me) and I wanted to have all my energy for the MAIN bouncing bits LOL. Well, just after it started, I saw GGOOLLDD standing on the side of the stage watching and dancing around. When the song was almost over, they all came on stage dancing around LOL. And when it was over and Mr. M. pointed to them and shouted “GGOOLLDD!” they waved and then started walking off stage before Margaret ran back on to give Mr. M. a big hug. Again, very sweet! 😀 ♥ Once all that was done, like every night, they all came forward to say one final round of thank yous and goodbyes. AND, like in St. Petersburg, Mr. C. came over to shake/slap hands so though I RARELY put my hand up for any of the guys, I had to do it for him as that doesn’t happen often! 😀

Got a few different group pics as we were missing Anji and Debbie initially, then I suggested we try to get a group picture with Margaret. Lots of fans wanting their pics with her and chatting so by the time we got up, the guards really wanted us to leave but they allowed us a few seconds. My camera ended up in the hands of some drunk dude who wasn’t really pushing the button and holding down half way so we didn’t know if it would come out. Monica and I asked for one more but instead, he handed my camera to some other guy and got IN the picture. Um…OK, whatever LOL. We then got ushered towards the door to go outside OR to go into the bar that was attached via the bathroom area (strange but true LOL) as they were having an 80s night. Some of the gang stayed and danced, some went by the bus, I went back and forth as I truly didn’t need to see the guys again since I felt I had 2 nice thank you and goodbyes but I was too tired to dance LOL. In the end, we got a bit of both and then final goodbyes to each other. What an amazing way to end the tour! 😀

So…highlight of the night is an obvious one…Kim’s thank you, our group thank you, the VIP where I got to give more hugs and goodbyes and after the show seeing Margaret and some of the OMD guys and crew. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to finish! 😀