OMD travel to US soil on January 19th for a Museum Talk + Dazzle Ships-centric show

Stop the [word]presses!! Reader Jordan is currently in Arizona and has discovered that OMD are set to visit The States in conjunction with the Museum Of Contemporary Art – Tucson’s “DAZZLED: OMD, MEMPHIS DESIGN, AND BEYOND” show that will run from January 19th through April 13th at MOCA-Tucson. It’s a good thing he thought to mention it to yours truly, since the official OMD website and mailing list were curiously silent on the hot topic. The show looks at the influence of dazzle art from the warships of World War I to later flowerings in contemporary arts; including the OMD classic album and the concurrent Memphis Design arts movement.

KXCI DJ/moderator Elva De La Torre

OMD will be there for the opening in a V.I.P meet + greet event followed by a panel discussion between KXCI DJ Elva De La Torre [left]. Here is the schedule for the event:

• 5:00pm: Cocktails and OMD “Meet and Greet” (VIP EVENT, TICKETS REQUIRED)
• 5:30pm: Dialogue between OMD and KXCI’s Elva De La Torre (VIP EVENT, TICKETS REQUIRED)
• 7:00pm: MOCA Members’ Preview
• 8:00pm: Public Reception with live DJing by Dave Wright and Falcotronik from KXCI’s Under Surveillance

Tickets are $75 and available here. Tickets have been on sale for over two months, so any southwestern US OMD fans should hurry if they want to attend. I would have mentioned this earlier, but a certain Liverpudlian band failed to mention this. Then, the band will be helming a concert at the Rialto Theatre in Tucson on Jan. 22 giving a concert with special emphasis on the “Dazzle Ships” album. This includes the legendary semaphore performance of “ABC Auto Industry” that the Museum Of Liverpool got a few years ago in their Dazzle-centric concert.

The stinging irony was that I had gone to OMD’s show calendar of late and I had seen the three US dates in the southwest obviously built around this event, but without any of this information above to give it context. OMD shows, even in The States, are common. An arts event with them in attendance, like at MOCA, are not. The band have also cannily rolled an appearance at the Vegas HOB and at one of those 80s weekenders held in L.A. the same week where lots of bands get 20 minutes to play a few hits and move along on the conveyor belt of pop. I see how it amortizes the cost of their trip over, but it’s not my cup of tea. Here are the US dates:

OMD | Dazzled Event/January US Shows | 2019

• Sat. Jan. 19 | MOCA Dazzled VIP opening/Panel w/OMD [$75 tickets]
• Tues. Jan. 22 | Rialto Theatre, Tucson [$35 tickets]
• Thurs. Jan. 24 | House Of Blues, Las Vegas [$35-47 – Live Nation so prices are “flexible”]
• Sat. Jan. 26th | 80s Music Weekend [+ Bangles, Bananarama, etc.] | Microsoft Theatre, Los Angeles [$67-505]

It was most distressing to the notices on the Live Nation [spits] website declare that “ticket prices may fluctuate according to demand.” Well, let me demand that each and every one of you boycott such exploitative ticket agencies! Tickets to the Rialto show are from Ticketfly who know how to sell a ticket without raking the customer over the coals!

Those who attend both the MOCA event and the Rialto concert may buy a combo ticket here. OMD have done several interesting art events like this that mixed their live performance with museum shows, and it’s great to see them mounting an event like that outside of the UK for once! Having seen some of my favorite musicians give panel lectures is a real treat, and one should look upon the chance to see such as being rare and interesting events that allow us to have a better understanding of the art behind the songs we all know and love.

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