My friend and I made our way to a nearby pizzeria for a bite to eat while our wives made their way downtown and managed to recon with us. A few other VIPers also made their way to the restaurant as evidenced by the cloth passes stuck to their clothing. My wife pressed for details as we dined and after an hour or so it was time to make our way back to the venue. We wanted to secure a good spot on the floor as much as anything. The opening act for this leg of the tour was originally Oh Land, a Scandanavian synth femme. Nothing earth shaking, but acceptable enough. However, at the eleventh hour, there was a hasty rejigging of the bill and Scars On 45 were now doing the honors. I thought that was a great name for a punk band! Unfortunately, Scars On 45 were not a punk band.

The band proffered the sort of bland, early-to-mid 70s pop-rock I had grown up despising. The kind that inspired punk rock’s formation as much as any Rick Wakeman ice rink extravaganzas. As we endured their mercifully brief set, we were wishing we could be elsewhere, but our places on the floor were hard fought for and the main event was still to come. There were about 250 concert goers at this time filling the concrete bunker that is The Loft by this time. When they announced their next song had just been added to a station in town, I thought to myself how unfair it was that OMD had managed to touch greatness again after 25 years of commercial drift and neglect, and this lot had airplay to show for it! Amazingly enough, I recognized their “hit single,” or at least the part of it that was lifted from an annoying Fleetwood Mac song! The whole “thunder only happens when it was raining” verse from one of the Fleetwood Mac songs I hated in the mid-70s [I don’t know the title] had been “sampled” and added to their magnum opus. Their mercifully brief set was over before it got a chance to scuttle the mood entirely.

Andy’s shirt managed to stay dry for at least ten minutes

Soon afterward, OMD appeared to the strains of “History Of Modern [parts III + IV]” which appeared as a B-side to the single “Sister Marie Says.” Andy McCluskey strode onstage in a trademark white shirt and thin, black tie as he began hammering his battleship grey bass to the strains of the sardonic “New Babies, New Toys” from the “History Of Modern” album. Anyone familiar with his performance style would have been amazed that his infamous spaz dancing still managed to get underway on the tiny stage at The Loft. OMD live are definitely a band of two extremes. The rhythm section of Malcolm Holmes on drums and Andy McCluskey on bass completely embody the physicality of the music as they were constantly in motion and were swiftly drenched in perspiration. Contrasting with this was the “left brain” of OMD; twin keyboardists Martin Cooper and Paul Humphreys. Humphreys didn’t break a bead of sweat as he stood behind his keyboard, singing harmony when he wasn’t at the mic himself for lead. Cooper, whom I’ve heard suffers from back pain, topped that by sitting at his keyboard the whole evening; standing only when he was playing the sax lines on OMDs biggest American hits.

Afterward, the band dug into their impressive back catalog starting with their first UK hit, “Messages.” By that time, he had whipped his tie off and was beginning to perspire. Then the wonderful “Tesla Girls” followed and I had to laugh at what it might be for Paul Humphreys to hear his ex-wife every time he plays that song, since it is a sample of the former Maureen Humphreys saying “n…n…n…n…n…n…n…no” that gives the song its hook. Next up was one of my favorite tracks from “Dazzle Ships!” “Radio Waves” was a hit single in my private universe and a nice gift to the hardcore from the group. I always felt that it was the song that should have been a hit single that never got released by the group. After that treat, it was time for another modern OMD classic as they next performed their third and most current single, the title track “History Of Modern [part I].” By this time, Andy was pogoing onstage and gesturing with his outstretched palm for the rest of us to join in. Being polite, of course I complied! It’s the sort of bouncy technopop that they all but invented.

Paul sings lead on “(Forever) Live + Die”

It was now time for Paul to take the lead on “[Forever] Live & Die,” the top 20 hit that sounds to my ears like the closest OMD ever came to reggae, with its lilting melody and deep bassline. At this time I looked back throughout the club to notice that the crowd had swelled to at least twice its earlier size now that OMD were performing. The 650 capacity club looked to have at least 500 people there, as if the stifling heat and humidity weren’t a dead giveaway. The next song was one of my vintage favorites as Paul stayed in place for the delicate “Souvenir.”

Paul stayed front and center for the wistful “Souvenir.”

Next came the other two singles from “Architecture + Morality.” “Joan Of Arc” got the crowd clapping along with the beat but I must say that that song’s fraternal twin, “Joan Of Arc [Maid of Orleans],” managed to be the peak experience of the evening. There’s not a better song that encapsulates what OMD were at the point in time when they recorded this number. Who else would record not one, but two songs about Saint Joan, have the cheek to places them back to back on the album, and then take it one step further by releasing both numbers as back-to-back singles – which each entered the top 10 in England?! The abstract and atonal elements of musique concrete that open it give way to the choral samples they were using heavily on the album; all of it underpinned by some tremendous martial drumming by Mr. Holmes. Andy McCluskey danced like a dervish to the accompaniment of strobe lights and I could only hope that he wouldn’t fall off of the stage. After this one, the audience went nuts with thunderous appreciation to the tremendous delight of the band. I could wax eloquent further on the magnificence of this song, but the video below says it all, albeit with some distortion.

After that peak came the time to slot in my favorite of the new songs they were playing from “History of Modern.” “New Holy Ground” is a brilliant song based on echoing footsteps as the rhythm track. The band loved their old B-side “The Avenue” and looked to it as inspiration for this new song. They lifted the chord sequence from “The Avenue” and when combined with the unconventional rhythm track, it resulted in a track that reeks of OMD yet sounds unique in their canon. Another new tune, “Green” followed. The song’s fadeout recalls the Roxy Music classic “For Your Pleasure.” Though OMD were Roxy Music fans, this is the first time that you could hear it in their music.

Late in the set, they played their last slow number and Andy warned that it was non stop energy after that. “Talking Loud + Clear” was an excellent hit single from their 1984 “Junk Culture” album that offered a moment for Andy to rest a bit since the tune’s delicacy certainly didn’t call for any of his legendary dancing. But the next number certainly did. “Sailing On The Seven Seas” was a huge hit for Andy operating solo under the OMD name in 1991  [at least abroad – their last American top 40 hit was “Dreaming” in 1988] and it was interesting hearing this as played by the “classic” lineup. The tune sports a huge, clattering beat; all the better for more of Andy’s spaz dancing.

Andy mocks his dancing at every opportunity

The set ended with their 1980 hit “Enola Gay” and it wasn’t much longer until the band returned for the encores. First up was “Walking On The Milky Way,” a song that was OMD’s last top 20 hit in the UK from the 1996 album “Universal.” The song is based on Andy’s experiences of being in OMD and had been intended as an elegy of sorts for OMD. It maintains a reflective tone but cautions against nostalgia.  For their performance tonight I couldn’t help but notice that Andy had changed the lyrics in the final verse from this:

I don’t believe in miracles
I don’t believe in truth
I don’t believe that anything
Can recreate your youth

To this:

I don’t believe in miracles
I don’t believe in truth
I do believe that sometimes
You can recreate your youth

Well, as long as a 51 year old man has as much energy as McCluskey does, I’ll grant him dispensation to indulge in a bit of nostalgia – provided he keeps coming up with the goods. Soon it was time for the ultimate OMD set closer. It’s not an OMD concert without their debut single “Electricity.” And with that the long-awaited full show by OMD was finally wrapped. I counted myself as lucky for even having  seen them perform an opening set for the Thompson Twins, so this had been a long time coming indeed. When they reformed in 2005 I was on pins and needles waiting for the not entirely certain tour of The States. When they linked up with Simple Minds for a tour together in 2009, I was certain that these two bands together should be able to cross the pond but alas, it didn’t happen. Heartfelt thanks for OMD going out on a limb and planning this tour at a loss that saw them move into the black when presales became robust enough to even bump some shows into larger venues when they sold out.

With the success of the tour, Andy now says that they will try to be back in The States later this year and play in territories that they missed this last time ’round. At the same time, he’s conscious of not falling into the touring/album grind that did the band in the first time. The crucial element that needs to be ejected for the continued health of OMD is the idea of hit singles. That, more than anything, is what did the band in earlier. They followed their muse to success in the charts; until the charts moved on and the band re-triangulated [via artistic compromise] to hit the new places where the charts were now going. In doing so, the flame of OMD was reduced to mere embers that are now fully aflame once more. It is possible to record and tour and make a living at it, but a band risks its soul [and more] when fame and success becomes the goal they are pursuing. Here’s hoping that the band’s wisdom and experience temper this third act to be a fulfilling one for band and fans alike. So far, they have it nailed.

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