In the second half of the seventies, the invention of Dr.
Robert Moog slowly but surely to the competition for guitar, bass, drums, strings and wind instruments.
The Moog synthesizer celebrated its premiere in 1964. Six years later, Dr.
Moog a transportable model called the Minimoog.
From then on, the use of the electronic equipment and its more developed offshoots in studio recordings as well as on the concert stage increased continuously.
When vocalist and bassist Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys (keyboards, vocals) started the synthpop duo Orchestral Maneuvers In The Dark in 1978 in the village of Meols on the Wirral Peninsula in Metropolitan County Merseyside, there were already much cheaper models, such as the Korg M500 micro preset.
McCluskey's mother lent the two teenagers a helping hand, ordering the device through mail-order catalogues, paying £7.76 a week in installments for 36 weeks.
Remarkable gymnastic movement sequences in the audience
44 years later, McCluskey is just as enthusiastic about the catch-up date of the "Souvenir" tour due to Corona as he was at the start of the company: "At the start of our career, we were clearly more inspired by Düsseldorf than by Liverpool," he explains happily.
With his formula, the 63-year-old musician sums up the source of inspiration.
At the time, McCluskey and Humphreys didn't use the nearby Liverpool pop legends The Beatles as role models, but rather the Düsseldorf electro-icons Kraftwerk and their offshoot NEU!
and La Dusseldorf.
After the ensemble's international breakthrough, there were certainly contemporaries who in all seriousness claimed that OMD were the electronic counterpart of the Beatles.
Even in the well-attended Hanau amphitheater, there are visitors who are interested in the band's career.
Eager discussions do not only take place at the merchandise stand.
There is also expert exchange between the queues at the stands for beer, wine, fries and bratwurst.
Most of the time there is a group of followers who are getting on in years with the formation.
Partly in the new wave look, the loyal fan community evokes the carefree youth.
Exuberant dance choreographies in the audience are already animated by the introduction “Atomic Ranch” including a cartoon video clip – the first of what are now continuous background projections.
A rather avant-garde sound collage from the late LP work "English Electric" (2013).
Then the quartet, complete with drummer Stuart Kershaw and second keyboardist and saxophonist Martin Cooper, conjures up around 20 always melodic hits from the top hat, as if wrapped in a uniform black look.
Frontman Andy McCluskey serves as a passionate entertainer in the spotlight.
From the very first bar he puts his heart and soul into it, singing with fervor in a throaty timbre.
Jumps, dances, twirls, sprints and gesticulates wildly.
Even strikes a self-absorbed pose with a wink.
At the same time, he trustingly shakes hands with the fans in the front rows.
Already after the first few songs, including "Messages" and "Tesla Girls", sweat is dripping down your forehead.
Colleague Humphreys steps up to the microphone with "(Forever) Live And Die" and a little later with "Souvenir".
With each additional OMD classic, the enthusiasm of the crowd of fans increases: To keep clapping along like in Heck's hit parade and singing along to entire songs with confidence, dozens of hips are provocatively swaying, not just among the ladies.
Remarkable gymnastic movement sequences, wherever the eye looks.
In one fell swoop, OMD deliver the poppy "Joan Of Arc" and its majestic three-four time counterpart "Maid Of Orleans (The Waltz Joan Of Arc)".
Then the applause, which was already casually given, lasts a little longer.
Whereby Andy McCluskey, endowed with a pronounced entertainer gene, does not often enough acknowledge the thanks in accent-free German.
Up to the finale with "Electricity", once the very first single from 1979, the detailed exhibition remains a round pleasure for audience and artists alike.