Hypnotica's Gig Reviews 2007

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OMD Live @ Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham  Thursday 21st June 2007

The Best of OMD Tour

Support: ‘Lovers Electric

Setting the Scene:

Barely a month has passed since the Architecture and Morality Tour and it's time to see the guys in action again! This was billed as a different tour to the A&M one so that was what I was expecting but as that wasn't entirely the case so this review will be a bit shorter than the last one!

 

The Venue:  

The Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham is a pretty decent venue and this time we had front row seats which was great
Royal Concert Hall Notts: Photo by Mat Mckenzie  The only downside was that they were as far on the left hand side of the stage as was humanly possible. This meant that we had a wall of 'bass bins' a foot from our heads which did a grand job of rearranging our insides!
I'm sure our location had a lot to do with it but the sound didn't 'seem' nearly as good quality as at the Hammersmith Odeon

 

 

Warm up:

Pretty much a blueprint of the ‘Lovers Electric’ set we heard at Hammersmith. I would say that the live performance was just as good too - the couple come over on stage as very friendly (which they are I met them at Hammersmith) and both vocals were excellent

 

There was a bit of banter about the Casio MT-100 they used on stage in one of the asides to the  audience and they said they would bring it out to the signing if people wanted!

 

My initial opinion stands - I prefer them live to on CD. The main difference on CD is that there is a drummer but even that aside the live performance does it for me!

 

Welcome Back OMD!

OMD: Photo by Mat Mckenzie

The gig started as per Hammersmith with Architecture and Morality. I was slightly disappointed that it was 'exactly' the same as it was billed as a different gig, but on the other hand the visuals were so cool! and I had a front row seat so I could see the band up close & personal which was great!

 

The Main Course  

I can't say for sure what the play list for Nottingham was, (I still haven't managed to track down a full setlist for Hammersmith yet either!) The music was of course excellent and was essentially Architecture and Morality plus all their big hits

 

Despite the comments from the merchandise stall that a few things 'have' been changed I did struggle a bit to spot new tracks. I think there may have been a few subtle changes in track order here and there but no major differences to the Architecture and Morality tour

 

The concert went well and all the guys looked like they were enjoying themselves - as Andy stated early on, "it was the first audience to all stand up almost straight away!"

 

I have been a fan of OMD since the 80's but never thought of them as making 'dance' music - I tend to prefer the 'deeper' melancholic and very electronic tracks to their more 'poppy' stuff. Witnessing the OMD fans in action however, I could be wrong as they sure like to swing their pants!

 

Contact!!

The highlights for me were pretty surreal, the 'bunny girls' who were next to me in the audience (no really...)gave Andy a rose during the gig and later on he came back, pinched one of the girls ears and put them on my head! Don't think they suited me but nice one Andy :-)

 

Also managed a brief handshake with Paul as he escaped off stage before the final encores - lets hope some of the genius rubs off on my own music....

 

It was great to see them perform so close up. Now I know why front row seats are at such a premium, it's a different experience to sitting back in the audience - there you can relax and enjoy the music and visuals but in the front row you can also 'connect' with the band - it feels like a more intimate venue

 

Another great thing about being front row is that if you can get away with it, and have a decent camera with you, you will get the best shots. I'm quite pleased with these ones - especially from a phone, but if I'd had a really good camera with me they would be excellent

 

All in all a great performance from one of the most influential Synthpop bands ever 

Review copyright by Mat McKenzie www.hypnoticbeats.co.uk      

 

OMD: Photo by Mat Mckenzie
 
OMD: Photo by Mat Mckenzie
 
OMD: Photo by Mat Mckenzie
 

 

OMD - Best of Tour 

Lovers Electric

Lovers Electric: Photo by Mat Mckenzie

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OMD: Photo by Mat Mckenzie

 

 

 

OMD: Photo by Mat Mckenzie

OMD: Photo by Mat Mckenzie

OMD: Photo by Mat Mckenzie