P
retending... is the first official OMD
biography since Johnny Waller and
Mike Humphreys’ Messages in 1987
and I can confirm this new one is as
unputdownable as the last. The group have
played literally hundreds of concerts over the
years and Pretending sets out to tell the story- either by group or audience member – of
almost every single one.
The only trouble is, one of their most
memorable gigs is completely missing. Not
even a passing mention of 28 September
2010’s show at Supperclub (formerly the
Subterania) in London. But that’s OK,
because I organised their performance, so
can fill in the blanks.
I’d first seen OMD with the Andy
McCluskey/Nigel Ipinson line-up on the
Sugar Tax tour in 1991, followed by the
debut show by Paul Humphreys’ Onetwo in
2004 (where he sung Messages as a duet
with Propaganda’s Claudia Brücken). And
I’ve revelled in the more recent reunion
shows, not least Dazzle Ships at the Royal
Albert Hall in 2016. (Dazzle Ships has the
bizarre honour of being the only album I’ve
ever talked about in my sleep.)
But back to 2010. I was running Trevor
Horn’s ZTT Records when he decided to
stage what he called The Lost Gig, a charity
concert in which The Buggles were to reunite
and perform their debut album, The Age Of
Plastic live for the first time ever. Tickets were
selling well but after seeing Paul and Andy
unveil their History Of Modern album live as
a two-piece I had an idea that I thought
could make the show sell out instantly.
I asked OMD if they might play a special
guest support slot. Which was rather bold as
they hadn’t been a support band in the UK
since their Factory Records era. Sticking my
neck out even further, I asked if Claudia
might join, too, so they could morph on stage
into Onetwo (the first and only time that
would happen). They were interested, but on
one condition. That when Onetwo played
Propaganda’s Duel, that single’s original
backing vocalist – Trevor, as it turns out (whoknew?) – should join them on stage for the
first time ever to do the backing vocals live.
OMD agreed, Trevor agreed (he’d loved
the thought of OMD supporting, singing
Enola Gay in the meeting when I first
suggested it), we sold all our tickets, and the
audience roar when Paul and Andy took to
the stage made the evening a success right
from the off.
They kicked off with Electricity, introduced
simply by Andy as, “Here’s a song we wrote
when we were 16.” Just 20 minutes before,
I’d been waiting with them backstage as he’d
described playing gigs to me as like being in
the trenches in the First World War: “Long
periods of boredom peppered by moments
of complete terror.”
I think there was more than a dose of
healthy rivalry between the two groups.
Andy later pointed out that they both
released debut singles in 1979, though
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark got
there first by four months. But at the time
I was preoccupied by far more mundane
thoughts like, just before we were about to
start, realising there was no water available
in the venue whatsoever which meant I had
to run to a local corner shop and run back
with 50 bottles of Evian for all the artists to
have on stage, literally as the house lights
were going down and those infamous pulses
of Electricity started to boom from the PA.L IS FOR... THE LOST GIG
I’M CURRENTLY READING PRETENDING TO SEE THE FUTURE,
RICHARD HOUGHTON’S CHRONICLE OF 40 YEARS OF CONCERTS
BY ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK. BUT THERE’S
ONE SPECIAL SHOW THAT’S MISSING...
IAN PEEL‘S A TO Z
of
ANDY MCCLUSKEY
DESCRIBED PLAYING
GIGS TO ME AS
LIKE BEING IN
THE TRENCHES
IN THE FIRST
WORLD WAR