New Wave Legends OMD Played the Majestic Theatre in Dallas
In what was a busy concert weekend for us, we saw Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark on Sunday, June 1st, 2025 at the Majestic Theatre in downtown Dallas. This was a rescheduled show from 2024. We had been anticipating this show for a while. Not just because I’m a huge fan. Most of my top listener monthly badges from YouTube Music have been for OMD most of the other months have been New Order. But it would be the first time for my wife and son to see OMD play live.
Somebody, however, wasn’t paying attention to the concert calendar when they scheduled the Simple Minds, Soft Cell and Modern English concert for the same night just down the road in Irving. In order to see both 80’s New Wave legends in concert, we drove down to Austin to see Simple Minds a few days earlier.
The Majestic Theater a Dallas Landmark
It was a warm summer evening when we arrived at The Majestic. It is a beautiful one-hundred plus year old former vaudeville/movie theater. The Majestic has lots of murals, intricate plaster features and Italian marble floors and is full of history. They have a little museum in the basement that has memorabilia and information about the history of the Majestic Theatre. If you see a show there it is definitely worth spending a few minutes viewing their exhibits.
Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark (OMD) Merchandise
We arrived at the theater after walking a few blocks from the parking structure. First, we hit the merchandise line which stretched around the corner. The Majestic has a small lobby area, so the merchandise table is very small. We each bought a t-shirt. My son and I chose the Bauhaus Staircase logo tour shirt and my wife chose the “Electricity” shirt.
Excitement Builds As We Find Our Seats
We had seats in the lower orchestra section on the right side and on the inside aisle. The views of the stage were very good. The theater was packed with 80’s music fans. There did not seem to be a vacant seat in the house, at least in the lower level.
I last saw OMD in concert in 1988. They opened for Depeche Mode at the Rose Bowl. Billed as “The Concert for the Masses” Thomas Dolby and Wire also performed. I thought OMD stole the show that day. Andy McCluskey has such an energetic stage presence. Plus, they just have a great catalog of songs. Since it has been nearly 40 years since I last saw them perform, I was excited, although I had to wait an extra year due to the postponement.
I Highly Recommend the 2023 OMD Album Bauhaus Staircase
If you haven’t listened to Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark’s 2023 album, Bauhaus Staircase, it is excellent. It might be my favorite album by them, and it is certainly their best since Crush in 1985. My favorite song from the album is “Don’t Go” but I also love “Slow Train” and “Look at You Now”.
Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark Take the Stage
The show started with a recorded version of “Evolution of the Species” with a video accompanying on the screen. After that, Andy McCluskey, on bass, and Paul Humphries on keyboards came out with their band and played “Anthropocene;” both of these songs were from Bauhaus Staircase. The crowd went wild on the opening notes of the next song, “Messages” from their 1980 debut album Orchestral Manoeuvers in Dark. OMD then played “Tesla Girls” off of their 1984 album Junk Culture.
Andy mentioned that the best band from Glasgow in town that night, Walt Disco, opened up for them that night in a good natured jab at Jim Kerr and Simple Minds. They played the second song of the evening from Bauhaus Staircase, “Kleptocracy,” probably their most political song ever. Next up was another fairly recent song “History of Modern (Part I)” from 2010.
Paul took over lead vocals on the next song “Forever, Live and Die” from their Pacific Age album. Before “If You Leave,” Paul spoke about writing the song and working with John Hughes for the song from the movie Pretty in Pink. The crowd was fully engaged, singing every word.
Andy Has Fun During Technical Difficulties on “Joan of Arc (Maid of Orleans)”
Paul came to the front of the stage to sing “Souvenir” off their 1981 classic album Architecture and Morality. They followed up with their two songs about Joan of Arc from the same album. On “Joan of Arc (Maid of Orleans),” Paul had some technical difficulties with the computers and the song had to be restarted. During the wait for this Andy was giving Paul a hard time about it. He also mentioned he dropped a bass pick for the first time in five years and Andy also gave a lady a hard time for leaving her seat during “If You Leave”. Check out the video that I took from my YouTube channel for other concert videos. (Please subscribe!)
OMD Had Some Technical Difficulties Last Time I Saw Them Live in 1988 Too
Funny story, the last time I saw OMD, back in 1988, Paul had technical difficulties at the show as well. I had forgotten about that but was reading Richard Blade’s expanded version of World in My Eyes a few weeks later where he mentioned it.
About that incident, Andy said “After we had gone through ‘Enola Gay’ – because we went on stage [and] started the drum machine to ‘Enola Gay’ – the audience went nuts. I counted it, “In one, two, three, four…” and just as we came in with the whole band for the main melody, there was a power spike in the generators. Everything went off on stage for a split second, and when it came back on, it was just me and the drums. The keyboards had gone off. They are computer keyboards, and two keyboard players were thrashing dead keyboards which was just reading back to them: “disk read error: this will take a while…” [laughs] And so we did this dub version of ‘Enola Gay’ for about a minute, whilst the fucking keyboards reloaded, [of] which the audience probably thought it was some particular dub trick we had thrown in to amuse them for a minute. Then it came back together again. The gig was amazing, but it was an inauspicious start to a massive concert. But it was an amazing day.”
Two More Songs from Bauhaus Staircase Then “Pandora’s Box”
OMD then played two more songs from Bauhaus Staircase “Verushka” and then “Don’t Go” to which Andy led an impressive sing-along. Before “Pandora’s Box” Andy spoke about actress Louise Brooks who was in a film of the same name and how she was the most beautiful woman. Video clips of Louise Brooks were displayed on the screen throughout the song. “Pandora’s Box” is from their 2007 album Sugar Tax, another great song by OMD this century.
“So In Love” OMD’s First Single to Chart in the US
Next up was OMD’s first hit single in the United States from the 1985 album Crush, “So In Love.” The artwork and music video for the single were inspired by the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead: OMD still uses the sugar skull on some of their shirts and merchandise. The band played two more early hits, “Dreaming” and “Locomotion” before playing another song off the Sugar Tax album, “Sailing on the Seven Seas”.
“Enola Gay” From 1980 Closes Out Main Set
Andy and Paul thanked the crowd and then ended the main set with their 1980 classic “Enola Gay,” which had videos of World War II era bombers playing on the screen. The crowd went wild when the drum machine began playing the intro of the song. No technical difficulties this time!
Three Song Encore Closes Out the Evening
After a brief break, OMD came back on stage for a three song encore. The first song they played was the fifth and final song of the evening from Bauhaus Staircase, “Look at You Now”. Paul then took over the lead vocals to sing “Secret” before the crowd went nuts for the final number of the night, “Electricity” also from their 1980 debut album Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark. They thanked the crowd again before leaving the stage for the final time.
OMD Not Just a Legacy Act – What a Great Show!
Overall, it was a phenomenal show, they were as good as I remember them nearly forty years ago. Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark is not just a legacy act, playing their hits from long ago. They have a stellar roster of albums during the 2000 highlighted by their latest album Bauhaus Staircase. If you have an opportunity to see them live, I highly recommend it, and I would love to see them at least one more time. Check out my playlist of OMD Favorites.
