OMD + SCRITTI POLITTI – BRIGHTON CENTRE 16.11.21
OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark) pulled into the Brighton Centre tonight on date 12 of 15 on their UK arena tour, which saw the band perform songs from their iconic 1981 album ‘Architecture & Morality’, plus many more hits from their legendary back catalogue.
The band were formed in 1978 by teenage friends Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys. They quickly became electro-pioneers with a string of hit albums released throughout the 1980’s, eventually selling over 25 million singles and 15 million albums across their career to date, establishing them as electronic synthesiser pioneers and one of Britain’s best-loved pop groups.
Tonight, the band who were all clad in black, were unquestionably still at the very top of their game. I first witnessed them performing live 15,383 days ago (42 years, 1 month, and 11 days) when they played the Brighton Dome as support to Gary Numan. I always remember that concert as some luddite in the balcony shouting “We want live music!” in reference to their TEAC 4-track tape-recorder christened “Winston” which was named after the antihero of George Orwell’s novel ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’. It was a big worry at the time that machines would take musicians’ jobs, but as we now can see, they help the artists!
OMD took to the Brighton Centre stage at 8:46pm and performed an impressive 98 minute set to a relatively large crowd. The venue hadn’t sold out, but they most certainly would have burst Brighton Dome’s capacity, so clearly the band are on the up again!
These days the band are a live quartet that feature Andy McCluskey, Paul Humphreys, Martin Cooper and Stuart Kershaw. Tonight, McCluskey was out front, with the trio behind him on three separate podiums with Humphreys (stage left, our right), drummer Kershaw (central) and keyboardist and occasional saxophone player Cooper (stage right, our left). The lighting was truly excellent as is the overall sound which is very crisp indeed.
They began their 23 song set with the nine tunes found on their famed ‘Architecture & Morality’ album from 1981. The obvious opener being the unusual but gripping title track before moving onto ‘Sealand’ with its terrific drum sound that hit us right in the chests. Things were ramped up with the arrival of the all encompassing ‘New Stone Age’ and then right bang in the middle of the electropop world with their tune ‘Georgia’.
McCluskey informed us that the next number, ‘She’s Leaving’, should have been the fourth single lifted from the ‘Architecture & Morality’ album, but he put the mockers on it. I suspect that he may have felt that the already released three international hit singles (‘Souvenir’, ‘Joan Of Arc’ and ‘Maid Of Orleans’) which together sold eight million copies, may have been enough. This evening’s delivery of ‘She’s Leaving’ was probably the best I have ever heard it performed live and the hairs on my arms stood erect in appreciation.
The aforementioned previous three singles followed in release date order – ‘Souvenir’ with Humphreys on vocals, ‘Joan Of Arc’ (with the audience on handclaps) and arguably best received ‘Joan Of Arc (Maid Of Orleans)’ with great back screen graphics, Kershaw’s impressive drumming and McCluskey on Ian Curtis style dancing.
For the final number of the ‘Architecture & Morality’ album, the atmospheric ‘The Beginning And The End’, the quartet were stationed at the front of the stage in a line and were bathed in blue light which gave the effect that the keyboards at either side were floating in thin air.
Song ten tonight ‘Atomic Ranch’ was a brief link track on tape which can be found on their excellent 2013 ‘English Electric’ album. This flowed into the 1980 standalone single ‘Messages’. This tune too made the hairs on my arms stand on end. It’s a timeless tune! There were handclaps aplenty on ‘Tesla Girls’ as McCluskey bounced around on stage like the Skids Richard Jobson does. ‘History Of Modern (Part 1)’ got an airing and thus McCluskey ensured that the standing fans jumped up and down in a slow pogo fashion. After the tune finished, he bent down and retrieved a bra from the stage. He stated “If it’s not a double F, then it’s not my size!”.
Humphreys again took over lead vocals for ‘(Forever) Live And Die’. This was followed by their newest tune of the night, the ‘Don’t Go’ single from 2019. ‘So In Love’ came next, which saw Cooper take on saxophone duty. ‘Locomotion’ came and went and a couple from the 1991 ‘Sugar Tax’ album followed, namely ‘Pandora’s Box’ and ‘Sailing On The Seven Seas’.
Arguably their most famous tune, ‘Enola Gay’, was performed as the last main set number. There were three encore tracks ‘If You Leave’ (from 1986 ‘Pretty In Pink (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)’ which I found the least successful tune of the night; the seminal 1979 single ‘Electricity’, which as always was rather good, and finally the deep synth sounding ‘The Romance Of The Telescope’ arrived, which McCluskey informed us that they were ending with this tune as that’s what they ended the original ‘Architecture & Morality’ tour with back in the early 1980’s.
Clearly the band were overjoyed with the Brighton crowd’s response to their very polished set and McCluskey informed us that they would return. For now, they vacated the stage at 10:24pm. Tonight was a very enjoyable concert and I would urge all synthpop fans to attend an OMD concert. The band have since posted this message on social media: “How fabulous to be back by the seaside in Brighton. Seemed like the Bexhill bouncing crowd were abundant. Thank you all!”
OMD setlist:
‘Architecture & Morality’ (Intro) (from 1981 ‘Architecture & Morality’ album)
‘Sealand’ (from 1981 ‘Architecture & Morality’ album)
‘The New Stone Age’ (from 1981 ‘Architecture & Morality’ album)
‘Georgia’ (from 1981 ‘Architecture & Morality’ album)
‘She’s Leaving’ (from 1981 ‘Architecture & Morality’ album)
‘Souvenir’ (from 1981 ‘Architecture & Morality’ album)
‘Joan Of Arc’ (from 1981 ‘Architecture & Morality’ album)
‘Joan Of Arc (Maid Of Orleans)’ (from 1981 ‘Architecture & Morality’ album)
‘The Beginning And The End’ (from 1981 ‘Architecture & Morality’ album)
‘Atomic Ranch’ (from 2013 ‘English Electric’ album)
‘Messages’ (from 1980 ‘Messages’ single)
‘Tesla Girls’ (from 1984 ‘Junk Culture’ album)
‘History Of Modern (Part 1)’ (from 2010 ‘History Of Modern’ album)
‘(Forever) Live And Die’ (from 1986 ‘The Pacific Age’ album)
‘Don’t Go’ (from 2019 ‘Don’t Go’ single)
‘So In Love’ (from 1985 ‘Crush’ album)
‘Locomotion’ (from 1984 ‘Junk Culture’ album)
‘Pandora’s Box’ (from 1991 ‘Sugar Tax’ album)
‘Sailing On The Seven Seas’ (from 1991 ‘Sugar Tax’ album)
‘Enola Gay’ (from 1980 ‘Organisation’ album)
(encore)
‘If You Leave’ (from 1986 ‘Pretty In Pink (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)’ album)
‘Electricity’ (from 1980 ‘Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark’ album)
‘The Romance Of The Telescope’ (from 1983 ‘Dazzle Ships’ album)
For more information on OMD, visit www.omd.uk.com
Support this evening came from Scritti Politti who took to the stage at 7:30pm for a 10 track 47 minute set.
After a false start, the 4 piece were off with ‘The “Sweetest Girl”, which founding member Green Gartside informed us that he recorded with Robert Wyatt – he was on keyboards on this breakthrough single.
This was as far as I can recall my second encounter with the band, having previously seen an early post-punk incarnation at I believe the Top Rank Suite. My memories are a little sketchy with this, but I think they were on the same bill as the 7-piece Thompson Twins and Scritti’s drummer fell off the stage. Maybe someone can help jog my memory here?
I have pleasure in stating that Green Gartside’s distinctive vocals are today just as good as they ever were and that they perfectly filled the arena, which sadly at the time was a little sparse – Support act syndrome! Whereby people can’t get there in time from work, or are instead at the bar, or worst of all, not bothering to see the support bands.
The rather funky ‘Small Talk’ was up next and that was followed by the chugging reggae beat of ‘The Word Girl’, which could have easily been a hit by UB40 back in the day.
Song four was ‘Trentavious White’, which as Gartside stated was recorded as a tribute to the rapper of the same name who was murdered in the studio in 2016. He was better known by his stage name Bankroll Fresh or Yung Fresh.
Next up was ‘Oh Patti (Don’t Feel Sorry For Loverboy)’ which was written as a message to Gartside’s first ever girlfriend – the boy dun good! The typically mid 1980’s sounding track ‘Hypnotize’ was played to us next. ‘The Boom Boom Bap’ followed and was penned about his love of hip hop music. It was then the turn of ‘Perfect Way’, which had more than a little whiff of Phil Collins’ ‘Sussudio’ about it.
The quartet’s final two numbers were seriously funky affairs. Both ‘Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)’ and ‘Absolute’ would have sat superbly within any Prince album. They left the stage at 8:17pm to the respected applause that they deserved.
Scritti Politti setlist:
‘The “Sweetest Girl”’
‘Small Talk’
‘The Word Girl’
‘Trentavious White’
‘Oh Patti (Don’t Feel Sorry For Loverboy)’
‘Hypnotize’
‘The Boom Boom Bap’
‘Perfect Way’
‘Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)’
‘Absolute’
Electronic synth-pop pioneers pt2 can be found HERE.
Electronic synth-pop pioneers pt3 can be found HERE.
