There’s an old trope in concert reviews that goes something like, “The band and the audience fed off each other’s energy.” I would never type such drivel, and yet, at the OMD concert at the House of Blues in Cleveland, the band and the audience fed off each other’s energy. It was off the chain up in there.
Earlier in the day, fellow PCB scribe and sometime photographer Hannah Wilson saw that someone had posted it was the OMD’s first headlining appearance in the Rock & Roll Capital of the World since 1989. The band later confirmed this onstage. Perhaps that’s why the crowd was particularly fired up.
The build-up
At lunchtime, a radio program called The Odditorium, broadcast on the city’s legendary college radio station WCSB, played a block of OMD tunes. And what an odd selection it was; all B-sides from the band’s 1985 album Crush, plus the 12-inch versions of two of the singles from that long player, “Secret” and “La Femme Accident.” It’s always fun when local radio gets excited for a show.
Scotland’s Walt Disco opened the show and was a great choice. The young quintet were reminiscent of their countrymen Simple Minds, though not as anthemic. However, the sound system was a bit muddy, so it was hard to hear the details in their songs.
Showtime
Officially, OMD was on The Bauhaus Staircase tour, named for their 14th album and most recent album. As such, they played five tracks from that record. Fortunately, they chose all the right ones. Of course, the crowd got a little distracted during those songs. After all, this was an American audience. That’s not shade. I was late to the party too, coming on board at Junk Culture (their fifth album, 1984), so I get it. I blame Epic Records and MTV for that, but that’s another story.
Many American OMD fans really got into the group with the release of The Best of OMD in 1988.
Oddly, there was a lot of chatter during the three-song suite from Architecture & Morality (their third album, 1981). Surely, y’all bought The Best of OMD and know these songs, right? Maybe not. Which brings up a point. I have no problem with people whipping out their phones and recording a bit, or all, of a song. Indeed, I stood sideways so the gal behind me could capture “(Forever) Live & Die.” However, let’s keep the talking to a minimum. You may not know all of an artist’s songs, but someone around you might, and they would like to hear them, not you jaw flapping your jaw—SHUT THE HELL UP! If you want to ask your mates what album a song is from or need to tell them something, talk into their ear. The rest of us don’t need to hear it.
Sing it!
In any case, the songs from Junk Culture through 1991’s Sugar Tax received the biggest response, and not just “If You Leave.” Before “Tesla Girls” there was a bit of hilarity. Lead singer Andy McCluskey said to the crowd, “This next song has been contentious, but we found a way tom introduce it. Paul are we going to mention Elon?” Paul hit a key on his keyboard which triggered the sampled “no” hook from the song. “Are we going to mention any fucking politics,” asked Andy. Paul hit the key again: “No.” Of course, that rule only applied to “Tesla Girls,” as they later played the very fine “Kleptocracy” from the latest album.
For the three songs Paul sang, he only came out from behind his keyboard for “(Forever) Live & Die,” which was unusual but not unenjoyable by any means. It was just so strange hearing people shout the words to songs apart from “If You Leave.” Now, that may have been the case in Cincinnati in 2019 when they headlined Bogarts, but I was barricade, so it’s hard to say with any degree of accuracy if the Queen City crowd was as fired up. I reckon they were. Throughout the evening in Cleveland, Andy kept making remarks about how loud the crowd was. “Paul,” he asked his bandmate, “how did they get 9,000 people in here?” The Cleveland House of Blues holds around 2,500.
Typical of their headlining sets, they wrapped up with “Enola Gay” to much fanfare. They returned for a three-song encore, which started with the best song from the latest album, “Look at You Now,” before Paul (with Andy’s help) sang “Secret.” As the duo crooned, the crowd shouted out the chorus: “Sec-ret!” The final track, as usual, was “Electricity,” which, not surprisingly, brought down the house.
PF Wilson has been writing about music, TV, radio, and movies for over 20 years. He has also written about sports, business, and politics with his work appearing in Cincinnati CityBeat, The Houston Press, Cleveland Scene, Cincinnati Magazine, Cincy Magazine, Atomic Ranch, and many more. Check out his podcast PF’s Tape Recorder available from Podbean or in iTunes.