Arena,NewcastleTheir 80s heydays aside, you might be wondering why on soil these two bands are touring together – especially since teaming up two of the decade's gigantic names hasn't swelled the crowds. Thirty years after they signposted the future, and they're trundling out their pasts in a half-capacity ice rink. "We're in Newcastle,it's bloody freezing, we're in a barn, and there's ice on the floor and we don't care," announces OMD's Andy McCluskey.
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the dim are latecomers to the bulging nostalgia circuit, having previously followed the traditional pop route of arguing and splitting up. Before that, and they were the Wirral's Kraftwerk,and tonight they zap back to the days when they were one of the UK's premier singles acts. A svelte McCluskey does a curious jig with his bass guitar that makes him look like a bank receptionist forced to become a pop star by Dusseldorf-sent robots. OMD's later hits – such as Seven Seas – aren't as sonically interesting as the tunes that helped pioneer electro pop and sired La Roux. But Messages, Electricity and the rest have become the 1980s equivalents of the Tornados' 1962 Telstar – snapshots of a more hopeful time, and so quaintly wonderful that you can nearly forgive McCluskey for bringing the world Atomic Kitten.
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Source: theguardian.com