Minneapolis-June 26th, 2025

Well, back on the road AGAIN after being home for 3 days. (my poor cats, they can’t figure out if I’m coming or going anymore.🤪😞) This time it was the easy 6 hour drive up to Minneapolis (easy because there’s rarely any traffic issues so things move smoothly. This time however we got hit with a rain storm so things boggled up a bit for the last hour but ah well). Laura had come to Minneapolis on Monday so she was already there and we met at the hotel to get checked in and ready.

OMD had played First Avenue a number of times and I’d seen a few other bands there too so I was familiar with it. It’s a cool, trendy venue who has stars with bands/artists names all over the building (no OMD…YET…I’ll get to that😉) What I don’t like about the place is that they have TWO lines for getting ready and 4 metal detectors to walk thru. So despite us being there early (2.5 hours and others were there already) we had to contend with a whole other line that formed AFTER we were all there awhile….NOT right!🙄😠😞 But anyhoo, Kim was first followed by the Kansas City girls (Dianne, Monica and Madison) and then 2 girls who were OMD newbies…love when we get to be around newbies!😀👍 And with clever and fast moving, we all ended up in the front row…Kim and the KC girls middle, the newbies on their right, some other OMD newbies who must have been in the other line on their left and then Laura and I (thus on Mr. C.s side). YAY!😀

WD did their thing, people seemed happy and liked them but then it was OMD’s turn and as soon as the OMD backdrop went up, the place erupted. When the guys came out and started performing, the crowd started bopping and cheers for all 4 guys. Once done, Mr. M. joked and said “It’s a hot one tonight, that’s why I asked for an extra fan” and pointed to his right side. I thought “just wait until you get to Chicago…you’ll MELT”. It was only high of 69F in Minneapolis vs. 90F in Chicago!😞🥵  Lots of bopping around for Messages and large cheers when done so that Mr. M. joked “yeah, this is going to be a fun one tonight.” Mr. H. agreed. Laura and I did the “yes, Yes, YES” bit to TG on our own which was fun and I saw a few others bouncing a little to Kleptocracy. But the main thing was the cheers and screams coming from the crowd.

When it was time for HoM, Mr. M. asked how many had seen them before to which there were a lot of cheers so then he said we’d know what to do once the bass went away. Laura and I bounced and did the arm sway over the barrier with plenty of room LOL. Once over, Mr. M. laughed “1600 people bouncing around to a song about the end of the universe.” He then said “if anyone’s feet are sore tomorrow, don’t sue us. Sue Lori here because she started the bouncing 15 years ago.”😯😯😊😊 I laughed and cheered bless him. Then it was Mr. H.s turn and boy did the crowd love him. Tons of cheers and singing along, a few screams from the back and Mr. H. was all smiles when done. Mr. M. came over and wiped his forehead saying something about he was hot too and Mr. H. laughed.

The “other John Hughes song” was next and it was cute because not only did people cheer when Mr. C. started his sax solo  but also when he was done and the song was still going LOL. Then even more cheers when Mr. M. hit the big note at the end. The guys all looked at each other smiling because of the crowd. Laura leaned in and said “is this any better than other crowds?” I said maybe because it’s a smaller venue it’s more thunderous….? The A&M trio was great as always and as it turned out, tonight I had a PERFECT view of Stuarts drumming! Hard to explain but basically not only was he at a better height than most nights due to the stage being smaller so he was on a riser but the other guys weren’t (which meant he wasn’t as high off the stage in total as he normally is) but also there’s gaps on each side of his drumkit on the sides of his front most drum. I was in line with one of the openings/gaps so I was able to see his hands moving and him hitting specific drums…it was way cool!😀👍

We got the slow down of Veruschka which some got excited to see as it was something different and I saw a few people grab their cameras to snap or take videos. But then it was time for bouncing and fun. The sing along to DG was quite loud and impressive and I wasn’t the only bouncer for SiL. Funny enough, Mr. M. bumped into Mr. H.s mic stand while moving to the other side of the stage so he repositioned it, made an “oops” face and moved on LOL.  The fun and energy kept going for Dreaming and during, I saw the guys kind of looking and smiling over  to the side where WD had been watching them. When done, Mr. M. gave them a shout out and said “go buy their merchandise, get in on the ground floor with them.”

Locomotion was hilarious tonight because not only did Mr. M. go behind Mr. C., get very close to him and sing in his ear but at the end he also swatted Mr. H.s butt!😯 to which Mr. H. was a bit started but laughing too and tried to swat Mr. M. back as he walked away. Too funny!😂❤️  Mr. C. got an extra shout out motion during SotSS because, like in SiL, when his keyboard solo was finished, the crowd cheered while the song was still going. So Mr. M. was about to start singing again and dancing but instead stopped and pointed back at Mr. C. again, cute.😀👍

Before EG started, the guys were all smiles again and Mr. M. promised they’d for SURE come back. Then it was bouncing time again and lots of arms in the air. When done and the guys came forward, they were looking outward and up and thanking everyone, giving waves and hand hearts. I heard the start of an OMD chant just before the guys came back out again and Mr. M. said “we’ve played here many times but this was the FIRST time we’ve SOLD OUT….THANK YOU!” Mind you, that shocked me as this was 1600 people but they had sold out bigger venues both on the last tour and this so how could First Avenue not sold out before now? BUT…Laura said maybe that will mean they get a star as we weren’t sure but were thinking the stars on the building were for sold out shows. That would be SO cool if it was the case!😀😀👍

LaYN had everyone swaying and Secret was fun with people yelling “THANK YOU” when performed. Before Electricity Mr. M. said “the band is 47 years old! We formed in 1978 but we wrote this song in 1976”. Final chance for bouncing, many took it LOL, then it was over. More loud cheers to then Mr. M. joked and said “when we come back here, maybe we’ll do TWO nights.” Even MORE cheers LOL. Final goodbyes and thank yous before they left the stage. Once over, Laura and I smiled because the newbies that were between us and the KC girls each got a drumstick from Stuart and were literally screaming their heads off. Gotta love it LOL.😂 The employees were ridiculous with shooing everyone out, I mean literally moving the barriers further and further around so as to corral people out, geez! Laura and I had planned on waiting to see if we could say hi to the guys so we went outside but we only saw Mr. C. and we didn’t go up to say hi because the KC girls were giving him something for Mr. M. so I didn’t want to incrouch on their time.  And after waiting another 45 minutes, we gave up and headed back to the hotel. 😞

So…highlight of the night…well I loved my shout out of course.🤗 but also being able to see Stuart’s drumming so clearly. I’d never really been able to catch it that way so it was great to see exactly what he does during MoO. 😀👍