There was an electric atmosphere in Edinburgh’s Usher Hall well before OMD took to the stage. This was only heightened by the exciting young Scottish support band Walt Disco.
Their ‘Goth Glam’ songbook went down excellently with the crowd who loudly cheered them through their set. It won’t be long before they are headlining their own tour. OMD seem to think that too and has enrolled the band to support their tour of America later in the year. Ones to watch.
The full audience was more than ready for the main act. The hall was set up for a lively night with the seats removed from the stalls and the two circles packed. The stage was revealed to show three risers with synthesisers on the left and right with the drums in the middle under a large screen.
It’s always interesting to gauge the vintage of the audience at a gig and the crowd was mainly made up of the Raleigh Chopper generation who have grown up with the band. The excitement in the air was mixed with the smell of big night out Old Spice!
The reception for the band was huge from the moment they walked out onto the stage, led on by front man and bass player, Andy McCluskey who greeted the crowd as cofounder Paul Humphreys (keyboards, vocals), along with Martin Cooper (keyboards, saxophone) and Stuart Kershaw (drums) took to their risers.
OMD was formed in Wirral, Merseyside and the 80’s synth kings, landed in Edinburgh with a full bag of tricks. They were about to entertain with a 23 song mix of classics and new tunes from Bauhaus Staircase, the latest album in their 40 plus year journey.
The night kicked off with Anthropocene from the 2023 Bauhaus Staircase album. The song has a real 2020’s feel, electronic but with spoken word and sung passages. It could have been a Public Service Broadcasting track. New material can sometimes kill the energy of an audience set to hear a band’s greatest hits, but not tonight! The crowd loved it.
They loved the classics more and, Messages and Tesla Girls had the crowd literally bouncing. Andy seemed delighted with the reception. The live sound of the band was loud and powerful and gave a new life to tunes which had been bubble gum pop songs in the 80’s.
It was two songs about ‘A little Catholic girl who’s fallen in love’, 15th Century Hero of France, Joan of Arc, and the staccato drumming of Joan of Arc (Maid of Orleans) that were the highlights of the first half.
The tracks from Bauhaus Staircase were well received and showed a band still capable of producing quality tunes. The section where all the band came to the front of the stage with three synths and an electric kit to run through Veruschka, Healing and Don’t Go from the album was a real highlight.
But it was their classic tracks that were the crowd’s favourites and the last songs of the set, Locomotion, Sailing on the Seven Seas and Enola Gay that received the most rapturous reception with the crowd transported back to their youth jumping, clapping and belting out every well remembered word.
Two more of the band’s hits, Pandora’s Box and Electricity finished the evening on the perfect note for the delighted crowd. A real ‘I was there’ moment for many of them.
It’s on to the rest of the tour for OMD and home for a Radox bath for the audience!
Words by Graeme White @head_in_the_bass_bin
Pictures: Calum Mackintosh@ayecandyphotpgraphy