Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark performing their The Punishment Of Luxury Tour at The Royal Concert Hall on Monday 6th November 2017.


Images and Review by Kevin Cooper

It is not very often that a synthpop band that formed nearly forty years ago is still able to fill the Royal Concert Hall, but last night Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark did just that.

Touring to promote their latest album, The Punishment Of Luxury, it was new song, Ghost Star that opened their set and had the crowd immediately on their feet where they stayed until the very end. Delivering the entire song in near total darkness when the lights did finally find lead singer Andy McCluskey with his endless energy and boundless enthusiasm, the crowd went wild, as he lead them into the Kraftwerk inspired Isotype.

There were other gems from the new album, One More Time, What Have We Done and the title track which had everyone singing along as though the songs had been around for years. But it was the hits that most had come to hear and they were not disappointed.

With the use of backing tapes, there were fans favourites such as Messages and Souvenir sitting alongside She’s Leaving off the Architecture & Morality album, the song voted for by the fans on the night to be included in the set list, the hits just kept coming. Tesla Girls saw the use of strobe lighting that made the band look like robots and highlighted McCluskey’s odd style of dancing which made him look like he was trying to get out of Marcel Marceal’s glass box. There was Maid Of Orleans with its double hand clap and Joan Of Arc with its excellent staccato drumming by Stuart Kershaw.

For (Forever) Live And Die it was the turn of keyboard player Paul Humphrey’s to come to the forefront of the stage. And when the hauntingly wonderful Joan Of Arc (Maid Of Orleans) came to an end, the crowd didn’t want to stop clapping.

Main set finisher the iconic Enola Gay saw a demanded encore that included Secret and Electricity which rounded off a night that had seen OMD deliver a master class in sheer entertainment.