By the time McCluskey finished “Messages” he’d collected enough lingerie to open a shop, in spite of his ruptured duck dancing. But he wasn’t finished working the audience yet; he was just getting wound up. He took a second-wind break and switched places with Paul Humphries before returning for the second half of the show.
After finishing up the “A&M” section, the group moved quickly into a dozen of their various hits throughout their career, which added still more new life to the crowd. This portion of the performance was a whirlwind tour of the group’s heyday, 1980-1986, when OMD produced an even dozen Top 40 hits, which took the codger half of the audience down memory lane while their children who accompanied them were learning what all the excitement is about. It was at this point that drummer Martin Cooper appeared to be flagging a little, but Humphries slowed things down enough for him, too, to catch a breather. From here until nearly 90 minutes later, the crowd belonged to OMD, if they hadn’t already. An excellent, long overdue performance with good camera work and production.
A special mention should be made of Eagle Vision and Eagle Rock Entertainment, the company responsible for bringing this and many other great performances to today’s new listeners and viewers, as well as those who grew up with some of this music. Production standards are high, and of the Eagle Rock DVDs and CDs I’ve seen and heard, the final product is never wanting.
In addition to the performance, the Bonus Features included alternate edits of “Joan of Arc (Maid of Orleans), and “The New Stone Age,” interviews with the band, and with Hambi Haralambous, himself a former singer with several groups, and the mastermind of the graphics mentioned above.
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