On Janaury 10th, I visited the OMD home page since I saw that it had updated in my browser. I was amazed to see that the long anticipated US tour had finally materialized! Since the band had reformed their classic lineup in 2005, had extensively toured [UK and Europe] and recorded a fantastic new album, “History Of Modern” that was released last September, I had just about given up that they would ever tread the boards in North America. Especially since they were on the US Bright Antenna label, which probably didn’t have the cash for tour support. Heck, does any band get that from labels now? Probably not.
A scan of the dates below and the first to catch my eye was the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. I went there in 2002 to see The Rezillos and Simple Minds play over the course of a perfect weekend of Scots rock! I’d have no problem going there for OMD… but they had a date in Atlanta that was twice as close, so color me there. Better still, this is a modern tour with all sorts of ways to separate me from my money. Tickets were ridiculously inexpensive initially, but the band with their US label were selling a $100 Gold Pass and a $150 VIP Pass to die-hards like myself. The Gold Pass proffered admission, the soundcheck, plus an assortment of tchatchkes like T-shirt, program, autographed glossy and your choice of the album as CD or 180g vinyl [+ download]. The VIP Pass had all of that and added a meet and greet with the band as well for good measure. Well, that was a no-brainer! Gold was limited to 70 people per venue and VIP just thirty, so I didn’t waste any time in ordering my tickets. The full itinerary is shown below.
- MAR05 • PHOENIX CONCERT THEATRE, TORONTO
- MAR06 • LE NATIONAL, MONTREAL
- MAR07 • PARADISE ROCK CLUB, BOSTON
- MAR08 • WEBSTER HALL, NEW YORK
- MAR10 • 9:30 CLUB, WASHINGTON
- MAR12 • CHICAGO PARK WEST, CHICAGO
- MAR14 • THE LOFT, ATLANTA
- MAR16 • HOUSE OF BLUES, HOUSTON
- MAR20 • GRANADA THEATRE, DALLAS
- MAR22 • BLUEBIRD THEATRE, DENVER
- MAR23 • THE DEPOT, SALT LAKE CITY
- MAR25 • THE MUSIC BOX, LOS ANGELES
- MAR26 • MEZZANINE, SAN FRANCISCO
The last time I saw OMD was on their Crush tour in Dec. 1985 as they crossed the country opening up for the Thompson Twins, who were about 18 months past their sell-by date, as I reckoned. They played the fabulous Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia and my trip there to see them was the first time in that city. We blew off the Twins since OMD delivered more than enough for us. The setlist was a great mix of material that did not disappoint. The friends I hitched a ride with were also very interested in visiting Wax N’ Facts in Little Five Points, but that sterling record store wasn’t open on a Sunday [day of the show], so we skulked around Little Five Points until they opened the next day just to hit that fine, fine store. It was worth it!
One of the guys I was traveling had a shift at his job to work that Monday, so we had to call in from the road and let the manager in the mall record store he worked in know that he would be late. It was then that the manager told him that the Thompson Twins tour has added a date in Lakeland, Florida at the hoary old Lakeland Civic Center. That was the only venue capable of seating 8000+ people in Central Florida at the time. Orlando had the Bob Carr PAC, a 3000 seater and after that, just the Tangerine Bowl. Bands of a certain caliber always passed Orlando and went to sleepy Lakeland instead. The upshot was, we would get another chance to see OMD on that tour a few weeks later.
I went with a different pack of friends and like the first time, consensus was that OMD were so good, staying through Thompson Twins’ set [pun intended] was anti-climactic. Fast forward 25 years and I’m seeing them again with one [allegedly two, if he bothers to show up] of the same friends I saw them in Lakeland with in 1986. I’d be thrilled even if their reformation album, “History Of Modern” wasn’t my favorite album of last year/decade! Now that I’ll get a chance to speak to them, it’s time to weigh my topics of conversation carefully. OMD mean a lot to me because I sense that the personalities that form the nucleus of the band have a lot in common with my ideals and values. They are the artists who come closest to matching my worldview in their art.
– 30 –
Post-Punk Monk 
Be very, very careful about meeting your heroes.
In my life as a live and studio sound engineer, I have made dozens of records and engineered about 2000 concerts. A small fraction of that work was with people I admire greatly… Laurie Anderson, David Byrne, Nick Cave, Robert Fripp, James Brown, Royal Crown Revue, and many others.
The #1, foremost, ultimate, irrefutable rule I have formulated is: never meet your heroes.
This is why I quit my job at the Park West, after 700 shows there, a week before David Sylvian played there. I was going to quit anyway, and my only real choice was “before or after the Sylvian gig?”. I chose “before”.
Nearly nine years later, I believe I made the right choice. My manager let me come in and watch the show from a prime seat, and it was great.
That was 2002, and I haven’t set foot in that room since.
Although….. I just may go see OMD there!
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@james – Well, I met Bryan Ferry in 1994 and consider myself all the richer for it! It was just 60 seconds at an aftershow but it represented 20 years of my life up until that time. It’s not too dramatic to say that my wife and I really bonded when we first had a conversation discussing how much we liked Bryan Ferry shortly before it happened. Afterward, I related the story to her and the next thing you knew sparks flew and we’ve been together since.
At least you got to see Sylvian! I had tickets in my hands for that show and the effete b@$tard canceled the Atlanta gig!! Bitter…?!! Yes!!!!
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hey there. I too am excited to see OMD again (going to their Paradise show in Boston). My history of seeing them live…’85 and ’86 headlining theatre dates, ’88 in an amphitheatre as warm-up for Dep Mode, and then in ’91 in a club. Even tho the ’86 show was in support of one of their very weakest albums (The Pacific Age), it was a really lively, fun (albeit very POP) show. I ever so briefly toyed with the idea of buying into the VIP pkg for this tour, but quickly realized that I really could use the $130 savings for better things. But I do look forward to hearing about the momentous meeting between the band and the Monk.
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@Taffy – I completely understand why they fissured after “Pacific Age.” A treading water record if ever there were one. “Sugar Tax” and “Liberator” fail for me as they are heavily laden with the dreaded mid-tempo ballads. I only liked the “rave” material on “Liberator!” “Universal” had a spirit that I liked a lot, some classic material [the title cut] was there though the new one blows it away. Have fun in Paradise!
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I would really love to go to this, and could even afford it (there’s a lot of incidental expense in my case however), but I’ve surely missed my chance to get a VIP ticket and frankly I’m avoiding flying in the US as much as possible these days thanks to the TSA bullshit.
I can only hope the tour is successful enough that they return — or add dates in Vancouver or Seattle.
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chas_m: Well, there’s a lot of Pac NW sentiment on the OMD forum and Andy regularly posts there, so he’s go to be aware of it. In fact, I’m just not used to pop stars posting to their own forums. It’s seems like it’s just not done. On one hand – it’s hands-on admirable. On the other one it’s kind of unseemly. WWJWD? [What Would John Waters Do?]
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