Anaheim – November 9th, 2025

So….YAY, we are getting more OMD shows! Wasn’t expecting that, I don’t think anyone was tbh but a very pleasant surprise. 😀 There was the stress of airline cancellations looming but luckily, I saw United, who I was flying with, said they’d not mess up the flights “between hubs” and lucky for me, Chicago O’Hare and LAX are both hub airports for them so…got to LA just fine. Laura had been lucky enough to go to the “OMD day in Los Angeles” celebration which put her in LA so she picked me up from the airport and we had a nice visit during the long drive back to her house (rush hour traffic LOL).

The next morning we went for a walk thru her canyon area with her dog Betsy before having a quick lunch and then heading to pick up Christine from the John Wayne airport. It was going to be a fun girls weekend because after a great dinner at Laura’s, Marilyn arrived too. The three of us were staying in Laura’s guest house so I joked and said it was going to be a party LOL.  😉

Another great meal in the form of breakfast the next day and visiting, then we made an early departure to the “mall” where the venue was to meet Mark and have an ORIGINALLY planned lunch. However, when we arrived, there were the usuals there (about 7) but we were told there’d be “about 20” by door time in that group. 😯😠   So we decided heck with lunch, we’ll just stay in the line and take turns getting food. It was in a big mall so there were bathrooms and plenty of eating places to choose from, plus, by this time it was 12:30 and half the waiting area was in shade. HoB also had some outdoor booths and since the place didn’t open until later, we stayed in the shade while we ate. No complaints with that! 😀

Unfortunately, this venue’s lining up system STINKS! We had all paid $35 for Fast Pass tickets but APPARENTLY there were “Foundation Room” tickets also. NONE of us had seen that and we found out it was only $15 when buying the ticket AND, they get in first as they get to go in and sit inside for an hour with their bags already checked, body scanned etc. Their door opens when Fast Pass does but we have to be scanned and such. There’s also a line for Disabilities and they get in before everyone. So…you could be first in the Fast Pass line but have tons in front of you which was what happened. NOT a fan of this venue if it’s going to be like that! 😠

The time actually went well tho with there being 5 of us to chit chat and we got to talking to a woman behind us who was from Texas (but I met her briefly in NYC as she was a few people behind me. I remembered the purple hair and clothing as purple is my favorite color LOL 😉 ) named Carol. She was lovely and ended up offering us her lawn chair for the next night since she said she didn’t want to walk all the way back to her car and obviously couldn’t bring it in with her. It was a mad dash once being let in but with the help of some friends, we still managed to get to the front row. Apparently a lot of the Foundation Room people wanted the seated area…um…why? Don’t they know it’s OMD and OMD means dancing/bouncing? 😉

We originally weren’t sure if there’d be an opening act but once investigating a bit more, we found out yes, called Midway. Advertised as a mix between DM, Morrissey and…can’t remember the other band, it was a 5 piece and we all quite liked them. Had some sounds of DM, The Cure, Smiths etc and on a few songs there was a stand up bass! 😀 Singer Daniel had a good voice too and came out into the crowd during one of the songs which was fun. I’m glad that they’ll be there again next night! 😀

With the show being sold out, I didn’t dare do my usual bathroom break between bands so had done it prior to MidWay. Got to watch the entire stage change and also took some pre gig pics with friends before the lights went down and we knew the show was about to start. We got a lovely surprise with…”Atomic Ranch….Atomic Ranch”. 😯 Wow! And then it went into Isotype…so the start from the past tour…nice! 😀 Of course the next song was Messages, Mr. M. joking “we switched it up a little bit there since we were here earlier but it’s the third song now and that’s always the same”. Bass in tow, he started playing and then joked “Paul, why does it smell like weed on your side?” Mr. H. laughed, shook his head like ‘I don’t know’ and by the middle of the song…yeah, it DID smell of weed. YUCK!🤨😝

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Having Mark there meant a good strong “yes, Yes, YES” to TG….after Mr. M. asked Mr. H. if he could talk about politics and Mr. H. did his “no” sound LOL. We did our thing and at the end, Mr. H. jokingly pointed to us and tried to insist on his No to our Yes LOL.  😀 ❤️

We stayed on the same page for the next few songs too with the fun Kleptocracy “talking about politics…this one’s called Kleptocracy…look it up.” and then the bass came down and Mr. M. said “if you’ve been to an OMD show before, you know what this time is. It’s time to bounce”. Mark was behind Laura and I, holding on to our shoulders for balance and that helped propel me a bit higher which just made me laugh so hard! 😀 😀  Oh, forgot to mention that at the start of the song, some woman had put an LP of their greatest hits and a marker on the stage. Mr. M. picked it up, saw he had signed it and kind of motioned like “that’s ME, I’ve signed it already” and handed it back to here. When FLaD was about to commence and he and Mr. H. started to change spots, he said “Paul, you have one job right now.” Mr. H. was like “what’s that?” and Mr. M. said “to sign that album over there. Unless she sold it on Ebay already. It’s worth more right now”. Mr. H., bless his heart. came over, kneeled down to sign to which Mr. M. joked and said “that’s how women like you, on your knees” and then he handed it to her, did a quick little mix between jump up and stand up and got ready for the song. Awww ❤️

When it was over and the guys had changed spots again, Mr. M. laughed, pointed to a girl about 3 rows from front and said “it’s not often that you see a girl in an Iron Maiden shirt singing to a cheesy chorus”. IYL was next with a good sing along but then we were treated to another set list change….an add on actually…”we don’t play this song too often. It’s from Architecture and Morality”….and then they did She’s Leaving. OMG yay! 😀 Once over, Mr. M. said “that’s actually Stuarts favorite song. Of OURS, the rest are Nirvana and Stuart laughed. They then proceeded to do the usual trifecta from A&M. I debated recording JoA/MoO the next night because I love it so much but watching the magic and just feeling the bliss of it all, I decided nope, gonna just enjoy it again the next night LOL. The crowd’s reaction was amazing as usual too which was great to see in all 4 guys! 😀 ❤️

We wondered if we’d get a different slow song for the break but that bit stayed the same with Veruschka. Mr. M. then said that they had a great day on Friday because it is now officially OMD day in Los Angeles. He thanked the politicians and then said this next song was for the sunny day…this leading into the final change of setlist with Talking Loud and Clear. Sway back and forth time 🙂 It was then bouncing time with SiL and massive cheers for Mr. C. and his sax playing. People are always so happy to see him TRULY play an ACTUAL saxophone! 😀 More bouncing and singing along to Dreaming before we got the joking around of Mr. H. and Mr. M. for Locomotion.

Stuart’s drumming was the lead for SotSS and we made the swimming motions at the appropriate moments and then it was time for the first of 2 oldies…Enola Gay. Major bouncing with the bouncing sandwich of Laura, Mark and I and then the guys came to the front. They seemed really happy to be playing here again and Mr. M. joked “this was such a great night, I think we’ll come do it again tomorrow.” Mr. H. laughed and said “yes, let’s”. 🙂 The OMD chant started for a little bit but died down before the guys came back on stage. I hadn’t recorded anything so I grabbed Look At Us Now but OMG, the lighting was horrible! I think it as the fact that I was right in line with the light blocks so it kept causing glares. I pretty much couldn’t see Mr. C. or Stuart at all and only got Mr. H. occasionally. Decided I’d get Secret too and put my camera up higher to help counter act that. But as the intro… Mr. M. said “Paul has a secret and I’m going to tell it.” Paul laughed and said “oh no.” Mr. M. continued to say “2 days ago he became a dad again at age 65! That Viagra must really be working.” 😯 Oh my! Not only explains why he missed the Friday OMD day ceremonies but congratulations in order too. 😀👍

It was time for the absolute final moment of the show with Electricity…Mr. M. gently shooshing everyone saying “it’s like at Christmas, you need to be nice and quiet” and then the tap of Stuart’s to get things started and off we went for the final bounce of the night. When it was all over and the crowd was going crazy with cheers, Mr. M. introduced each other to many, many cheers. Waves and “see you again tomorrow” before they all left the stage. We did post gig group photos and also talked to Daniel from Midway a little bit before all heading to the car to go home to Laura’s. (well Mark going home to his house LOL).

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So…highlight of the night for me would have to be bouncing with Mark and Laura but also just having a great group of friends around (forgot to mention Marilyn and I doing the little, er, tongue rolling part at the start and end of EG 😂 and nice chat standing next to Christine😀). Also loved hearing She’s Leaving. It was a really fun night despite the chaos outside.😀👍