Melbourne-February 20, 2025

So new city, same band and friends LOL. But what an ordeal getting to the venue (for me at least, Pammy had no issues coming from the hotel LOL). As some of you know, I collect Build a Bears and love to get city/country exclusives so I had gone out to one of the Melbourne stores when we arrived. There was an exclusive that came out last year that hit only coastal states in America that I had hoped to get but Sydney store hadn’t carried them. Well, I THOUGHT Melbourne did, bought one for myself and a friend, then on the train back to the hotel I realized no, it was one from 2 years ago that I managed to get in California while on the American OMD tour so since the Melbourne gigs were seated, I figured I’d have time to run them back to the store before going to the show. Would have been fine but nope…was waiting for the bus to St. Kilby when it showed up and slowed down but when a few of us waiting walked towards it, the bus driver waved us over to the other side of the street as he did a circle to the other side. One of the guys was like “it must be a drop off on one side and pick up on the other.” OK, that sounded possible. We got on, I pulled up the bus on my phone and watched as the stops went by until mine arrived. I hit the button to get off but saw a different name on the bus stop sign so I asked and the bus driver gave me a look like I was an idiot, shook his head and pointing ahead said “does that LOOK like the Esplanade?” As it turns out, he waved us over….and were riding in the opposite direction! Then totally copped an attitude because um, gee I don’t know dude, I don’t live here so I don’t know what the Esplanade looks like. 😠  NOT happy and even more stressed because the tickets for Pammy and I were on MY phone so she had to wait for me. What should have been a 7:35 arrival turned out to be a ridiculously long bus ride and an 8:41 arrival. Plus me coming in with a Build a Bear bag with 2 bunnies. Thank GOODNESS it was a seated show so tho I had wanted to record the second song of Underground Lovers, at least we didn’t miss OMD but sheesh! 🙄

Pammy and I were 10 rows back in the center section right by the aisle and it was really quite cool to be back a bit and see all the graphics and such. As soon as the lights went down, the crowd cheered and as soon as the guys started to come out on stage, a good portion of us stood up and by the time Mr. M. was singing, almost the whole floor was standing. Once done, Mr. M. thanked everyone for coming and apologized for the last show being all the way back in December 1986. Messages got everyone dancing around, as did TG. Being so far back I didn’t bother with the ‘yes, Yes, YES’ bit but had fun watching everyone dancing. The couple in front of me gave each other hugs they were SO happy to be there hearing the songs, a girl in front of them was ‘dancing like no one’s watching’ LOL and the front row was all over the place too. 😀

A bit of a technical hiccup before HoM. Mr. H. ran off the stage for a minute to Mr. M.s surprise LOL. “That’s technology for ya” and as Mr. H. came back on stage Mr. M. said “is everything OK now Paul? Keyboards…I told you we should have gone to guitars.” Everyone laughed and Mr. H. said “yeah, you did say we should go to guitars”. But whatever it was, HoM was none the less for it and people started bouncing and bopping along. It was now Mr .H.s turn to come front and the couple behind me went to sit down but as soon as he introduced FLaD, the woman got up saying “I love this song, can’t sit down”. Good for you girl! 😀  When the guys swapped places again, Mr. M. said “oh Paul, you missed this” and tossed a black bra at him. Mr. H. laughed as he caught it and said “I didn’t see that. Well black on black, I can see how it’d be missed” as he jokingly held it up to himself. Mr. M. laughed and said “he keeps them too. I don’t know what he does with them but…” LOL. IYL got an enormous roar after Mr. M. belted out the ending, to the point where I thought “this crowd sounds about as good as that first Sydney show, yay! 😀

When Mr. H. announced “we put an album out called Architecture and Morality…we’re going to play a few songs off that now”, the crowd cheered and because we were center tonight, I could see better when Mr. M. was playing and swaying back and forth not only with Stuart but he came and stood to sway by Mr. C. too, very cute. ❤️  Another hiccup with the start of JoA as the drumming didn’t sound right so Mr. M. had them stop and he teased poor Stuart “should we get the drumkit out Stuart?” to which the crowd was like “ooooooo” and Mr. M. turned around and grinned. But once that and MoO got going…oh my, the crowd TOTALLY ate it up. There was a guy a few rows in front of me that was soaking it up so much he was throwing his arms up, singing like crazy, totally exaggerating the movements in excitement, it made me smile. 😀 It was also just so stunning to watch it from further and see the graphics, lights flashing behind the guys, Mr. M.s windmilling and Stuarts drumming etc. Once done, the guys stood there just in awe as the crowd just let loose. I love these moments! 😀 ❤️

Calmness for Veruschka and slow ramp up with TLaC tho many arms were in the air swaying. Then “now it’s just fast songs from here” and Mr. C. got a great cheer after his sax of SiL “Mr. Martin Cooper…the SAX Machine”. 😀 The singing got louder and louder too especially during Locomotion and SotSS. I think this was the loudest crowd thus far and it was great to hear plus SEE because it was thrilling the guys and driving them even more. When it was EG time, Mr. M. asked us again if we were tired and as the song went on, he joked saying “don’t slow down now…” NO ONE was! Once done, the crowd just let it all out and the guys were smiles ear to ear. M. H. came down to thank us and said “what an amazing night! You all were wonderful, thank you SO much!”. A lot of waves and kisses blown, front rowers reaching out to get Mr. M. hand slaps, then they walked off as the lights went down. I thought I heard an OMD chant and joined in but it faded but still…good to hear the attempt LOL. 😀

No one around me was sitting when the guys came out and good audience participation for more arm swinging of LaYN. Funny enough, once Pandora’s Box had finished and Mr. M. was thanking us again for coming, a girl yelled out Pandora’s Box. Um…not sure if she had missed the fact that it was just done or maybe she was thinking of Dreamings “should we start this all again” LOL. 😉 But Electricity was our final chance to let loose and more hugs from the couple in front of me as they danced all over, the girl in front of them was out in the aisle bopping, everyone was just loving it all, including the band! Promises of “we’ll be back and it won’t be 38 years this time” and then they were gone and it was done. Pammy and I found the girls, Trevor and Greg and later Jennifer and Bert so a good group photo (missed Nicky 🙁 ) and a chat before heading back to the hotel. A great night for sure!

So my highlight…I have to say watching the joy of the crowd and also just being center and seeing the full band well, the graphics etc. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE front row! But it’s also nice to get back a bit to see things from a different perspective plus this crowd was just so happy and fun to watch. 😀 One more night left…roll on tomorrow. 😀 ❤️