OMD – The Sugar Tax Tour – 1991

October 23rd 1991 – Birmingham NEC

This gig was a bit of a birthday treat to me. If a trip to the NEC could ever be considered a “treat”.

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark had now gone through a bit of a change, with FIVE of the main protagonists leaving the band.

They had spent the year before in America and done pretty well, but on their return to the UK, brothers Graham and Neil Weir left the band. They were followed shortly after by Paul Humphreys….this was a major blow as in essence, he was the bands main musician backing Andy, so this started to feel not like OMD anymore.

The final blow to the band came when both Martin Cooper and Malcolm Holmes left to join Paul Humphries new band. I don’t remember hearing much about why they fell out, but definitely musical direction was a big factor as Paul wasn’t happy with the music being more commercial….something I agreed with!

The Railway Children

I don’t remember much about these guys but they were a pop rock band from Scotland and this was their hit around the time. I remember the tune, but can’t say I remember them much from the gig. They were destined to split up in 1991, but left a few decent records.

So this tour was only Andy McCluskey with a new band and I’m afraid it did show. There was a level of keyboard sound missing and as expected, the sound was very clean and sharp electronic. Don’t get me wrong, everyone was playing an exceptional quality of music and Andy McClusky was at his windmilling best, but Paul was missed, the band was missed, the NEC was its appalling best as usual. Andy McClusky was brilliant and clearly felt he had to dominate the stage more to make up for the absence of Paul.

“Sugar Tax” struggled to provide songs I really liked. The hits were not my cup of tea, although to be fair, “Sailing on the Seven Seas” worked a hell of a lot better live than it did for me on record. “Call my Name” and “Pandora’s Box” were probably my favourites.

Songs were missed out which like, “She’s Leaving, ” and the really good ones, rightly, were saved for the encore, which meant it was quite a slow gig really. But, it’s still one of the most important bands in my music growing up, so they will always be cut some slack.

I chose “Pandora’s Box” as the song, take a moment to read the notes at the start of this video, which gives an emotional look at the life of the subject of the song, Louise Brooks…..very interesting.

Set List

• Apollo XI
• Sugar Tax
• Messages
• Tesla Girls
• Call My Name
• If You Leave
• Then You Turn Away
• So in Love
• Big Town
• Talking Loud and Clear
• Walk Tall
• Maid of Orleans
• Walking on Air
• Locomotion
• Dreaming
• Pandora’s Box
• Sailing on the Seven Seas
• Enola Gay
• Encore: Joan of Arc, Electricity