Mitsubishi Electric Hall, Düsseldorf, Germany1st February 2024
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (OMD) - “Bauhaus Staircase” Tour - Support: Walt Disco
The 80s were more diverse in terms of musical styles than any other decade. Rock, Pop, Heavy Metal, Ska, Reggae and many others found their fans. Electronic music also produced many bands. Some were one-hit wonders and some are still active and successful today. Like the English duo ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK (OMD), who visited the Mitsubishi Electric Hall that evening.
Walt Disco
As support, the Scottish band WALT DISCO fired up the audience. The five guys took the stage in their predominantly black, stylish outfits. Singer James Potter immediately grabbed the microphone with stand and greeted the audience. With a musical style of Post-Punk and experimental Rock from the 80s, the audience seemed a little sceptical at first, but the enthusiasm grew from song to song. The androgynous-looking singer danced across the stage, spinning and twirling his arms. James also has a wide vocal range, which he utilised in the various songs. After nine songs, the performance of the likeable Scotsman was unfortunately already over. https://waltdisco.os.fan / https://www.facebook.com/waltdisco
Setlist
01. Seed
02. Gnomes
03. Cut Your Hair
04. Come Undone
05. How Cool Are You?
06. Pearl
07. Black Chocolate
08. Macilent
09. Weightless
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Light: 8
Sound: 8
Total: 8 / 10
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
After the change-over and after the fans had waited long enough, it briefly went dark in the packed Mitsubishi Electric Hall. With instrumental music, many small pictures with the letters OMD appeared on three very large LED walls. The image on the panels then changed to a kind of control panel as the band entered the stage. Paul Humphreys stood behind his keyboards and Andy McCluskey entered the centre of the stage. The fans naturally responded to this appearance with a huge round of applause and cheering, before OMD opened the evening with the songs ‘Anthropocene’ from the new album ‘Bauhaus Staircase’ followed by the older ‘Messages’ and ‘Tesla Girls’. For a few songs, Andy got out his electric bass and even danced on stage with it. For the song ‘(Forever) Live and Die’, Andy and Paul switched positions and Paul took over the vocals while Andy stood behind the keyboards.
When the first notes of ‘Maid Of Orleans’ rang out, the audience could no longer be held back. Andy gestured to the audience to clap and first played the drums with his hands and then rowed and danced to the music. At the end, Andy was visibly taken with the warmth of the fans. Andy said that it was something special for the band to play in Düsseldorf, the city where their idols come from. As the band stood next to each other at the front of the dark stage and each one was illuminated by a spotlight, it was clear that the bands idol was KRAFTWERK. As Andy thanked the fantastic audience for the evening, the first notes of ‘Enola Gay’ could already be heard. Supposedly the last song, but almost every concert has encores. This was also the case with OMD.
With ‘Look at You Now’, ‘Pandora’s Box’ and the classic ‘Electricity’ the show found its ending. A fascinating concert and very impressive what Andy and Paul are still capable of. https://omd.uk.com / https://www.facebook.com/omdofficial
Setlist
01. Anthropocene
02. Messages
03. Tesla Girls
04. Kleptocracy
05. History of Modern (Part I)
06. If You Leave
07. (Forever) Live and Die
08. Bauhaus Staircase
09. Souvenir
10. Joan of Arc
11. Joan of Arc (Maid of Orleans)
12. The Rock Drill
13. Veruschka
14. Healing
15. Don’t Go
16. So in Love
17. Dreaming
18. Locomotion
19. Sailing on the Seven Seas
20. Enola Gay
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21. Look at You Now
22. Pandora’s Box
23. Electricity
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Light: 9
Sound: 9
Total: 9 / 10
All Pictures by Andreas Klüppelberg
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