Sydney-February 15th, 2025

WOW,  I still can’t believe I’m in Sydney Australia! A dream trip to come to Australia indeed! Always wanted to come just didn’t know how I felt about the cost and the 21 hours on a plane but OMD was the inspiration for me to make it happen and absolutely NOOOOO regrets!

Right, well I could go on and on about how amazing Sydney is and all the fun things I’ve done but I won’t bore you all. I’ll get to the gig. Many friends are also in Sydney but Pammy, Nicky and I were the ones keeping tabs and meeting up. With a train strike going on, Nicky and I decided to take an Uber out to the venue as we wanted to get there early for front row. I had heard it was crazy lines for Perth so we got to the venue 4 hours early! And as it turned out, it was a good thing we did as this group of 5 behind us just rushed ahead once in the venue and grabbed a bunch of the rail. Nicky and I ended up more to the side but ah well, still front row. 😀

The venue was AWESOME! Just gorgeous and the first venue I can remember ever being at that had carpeting on the floor. And with it’s name and emblem to make it even more fancy LOL. Lovely lights up above all over too, I really liked it, very classy!

So the opening band was totally new to me but I ended up liking them. Kind of a New Orderish sound at times…kind of LOL. Hard to explain but it was 5 middle aged men…2 keys, 1 bass, 1 guitar and 1 singer. They’re called Underground Lovers and they mentioned how excited they were to be opening for OMD as they were huge fans. 😀 I actually recorded one of their songs but didn’t know my camera was about to bust and the recording stopped just a minute or so short of the song ending so…. 🙁 But I’ll have a clip from the second night to pop on YT eventually. 🙂

When it was time for OMD, you could literally feel the excitement and anticipation of the crowd so that when the lights went down, BOOM, the crowd exploded! I knew it was going to be a special night and I wasn’t wrong! 😀 The graphics used in the UK last year were there and they started with Evolution of Species while the guys came out near the end. Huge cheers for them and then they rolled into Anthropocene and…OMG MARTIN WAS SINGING TOO!  😮  Not that I could hear him well but he was singing into a microphone. Nicky and I both were like HUH?!?! No offense to Mr. M. but I’d love to hear Mr. C. a bit more on that song as I’ve never heard him sing so…up the mic please. 😀 Anyways, the crowd was moving even to a new song during the “Greatest Hits Tour” LOL. 😀 But they really got moving and cheering for Messages and Andy egged everyone on to do the sing along to the melody part between verses so everyone just happily joined in. Sadly, Jennifer and Bert where a couple people away from me so tho I got her to agree to join me on the ‘yes, Yes, YES’ part of TG, it wasn’t as loud tho ironically Mr. H. still heard it…just on her rail spot and not mine so he was pointing and laughing at her. Ah well, it was still in honor of Mark back home so… 😀

FLAD was next and Mr. M. teased Mr. H. about whether or not he’d be able to get down front as it was a tiny space. Poor Mr. H. being so careful not to bump anything, they didn’t leave him any leeway but he made it and everyone cheered. He did his thing to the crowds delight and Mr. M. made a joke of him hitting his few special stand out notes on the keyboard lol. 😀 Once done and the guys had swapped places, Mr. M. heard the crowd and joked “I think they like you better than me. Is it my dancing that’s put you all off?” 😀

For anyone not knowing, Mr. M. had vocal cord surgery last October so when IYL came on, I got nervous. It’s an ouch moment for anyone really, that last part, but bless him, he hit it and hit it hard…to the crowds enormous delight! Lots of singing along, it was like I was back in the states with the crowd reaction. Didn’t realize it was OZ’s biggest hit too. The beloved A&M trio was next and OMG, the crowd after both JoA and MoO….just so wonderful! People in the balcony were standing, the floor was a rour…the guys were blown away with massive smiles on all 4 of their faces! ♥  Once they died down, Mr. M. joked “you waited 38 years to see that dancing again…bless you.”

A slow and soft moment for Veruschka and then a bouquet of flowers got tossed on stage for Mr. M. He picked them up, thanked the girl and then blew her a kiss plus gave her extra attention during TLaC. I’m sure it put her in heaven! Mr. M. didn’t even really need to tell people to sing for Don’t Go but he did anyways to get us even louder and it was great. Bopping around and happy smiles all over. Mr. M. joked that the rest of the songs were all going to be hits and the crowd loved that LOL. At this point I realized I hadn’t video taped anything so decided to just do the next song and got Secret, yay. 😀

Locomotion found the usual cute connections between Mr. M. and Mr. H., SotSS got Stuart a shout out for his drumming at the end and Mr. C.s “Mr. COOPer” shout out to his groovy keyboards solo and then it was EG. Came up fast and Mr. M. hoped we weren’t too tired to dance one final time…nope! 😀 When it was over and all the guys came to the front, they were just thrilled and Mr. H. said a huge thank you and “you were just amazing tonight, really you were.” I agree, one of the best crowds I’ve heard for awhile. But again, it’s been so long since OMD played, I can understand why everyone would be just SO pumped and excited. Heck, I’ve seen them so often and I STILL get pumped and excited so to have waited 38 years…

They eventually all left the stage after waves and Stuart gave a drumstick to someone. I heard a faint “OMD, OMD, OMD” chant going on in the back so Nicky and I joined in but it fizzled so…ah well. When they guys came back on, Mr. M. joked saying “sorry it’s taken us so long to get back here. We won’t make you wait another 38 years…we’ll be back here again tomorrow.” We all laughed and Mr. H. did the fake drum “da dump dush” motion you do with jokes like that. 😀 Another new song with Look at You Now but I love that song so it’s all good and then it was Pandora’s Box where people sang the “Long, Long way” part well, hands in the air. Just before Electricity, Mr. M. went to get a drumstick from Stuart, walked over towards me, mouthed “Lori…” and motioned to the stick then pointed to someone behind me. I had seen out of the corner of my eye all night that someone was holding up a CD in the air but hadn’t paid attention to who it was. When I took the drumstick and turned around, 3 different girls rushed at me reaching for it so I thought “oh crap, WHO did he want me to give it to?” so I turned back to him kind of with a face of that and pointing at all 3. He pointed again and I figured out it was a young teenager (the other 2 were adults so that helped narrow it down too since his point was still kind of at all 3 since they squashed in LOL). Gave it to her and she was thrilled, bless his heart. 😀 They took off for Electricity and I was bouncing when I saw the CD go flying onto the stage. My brain must have been a bit behind (maybe still on Chicago time LOL) because it wasn’t until then that I thought “oh, give this girl the front row”. Half the song was done by then but hey, better late than never. She bopped around tapping the drum stick in the air to the beat and I still had my hand on the rail between her and Nicky so I could bounce (cause you’ve GOTTA bounce to Electricity! 😉 ). When it was over, the crowd just really erupted and the guys took extra long to wave, blow kisses, bow with thanks etc. I mean what a night! 😀

Once done, the girl backed off and her dad and brother arrived so she started crying poor thing. Her dad was so sweet thanking me for giving her the front spot to which I apologized for not doing it the full song. THEN, Erin came and picked up the CD, told the girl he’d get it signed, left, came back to give to her and when she opened it, all 4 guys had signed. She literally went into hysterics sobbing. Sweet thing! Nicky and I asked if they were doing the next night, the dad said they didn’t know if any tickets were left but Nicky had checked prior to tonight’s show starting and there were so we both told him yes, yes, there are so…who knows. But she definitely had a night to remember, the guys are just AWESOME guys! 😀 ♥

Pammy found us too and we chatted a bit along with Jennifer but the guards were shooing everyone out so we left and Nicky and I headed to the trains (as apparently they were working that night. I guess the weekend is different, it’s the weekday workers who are striking so tho Nicky checked for an Uber, the price was much higher then so we were happy to get the train!)

So….highlight of the night. Well, it may sound generic but I am going to say just the whole thing! Being in Australia itself is a dream for me. Seeing OMD there is a dream too and then for it to be their first gig in Sydney after 38 years and the crowd…just WOW! I won’t forget it! 😀 And, as Mr. M. said…they’ll be back tomorrow and so will all of us regulars. 😀