Onetwo - Islington Academy, 30/09/04

The debut gig for this new collaboration between OMD founder Paul Humphries and Propaganda/Act founder Claudia Brucken. Only one EP to their name so far, but with heritage like that they had a wealth of electronic pop classics to play for a crowd that hadn’t seen either on a UK stage for at least ten years.

A surprise guest on the night was Suzanne Freytag, the Agnetha to Claudia’s Frida in their original ‘Abba From Hell’ formation of Propaganda. She doesn’t seem to have aged a single day since 1984’s Dr Mabuse, which they sung as a warm-up to November’s Produced By Trevor Horn Wembley testimonial.

Paul Humphries delved into the OMD back catalogue with reverence and flair. Almost apologetic for taking Andy McClusky’s vocal part in Almost - perhaps their best ever track - it left the OMD nuts wanted to bounce up and down Joy Division-like rather than over-analyse. He’ll have to get some low-down dirty swagger into his vocals to replace Thomas Leer on Act tracks, though.

The best OMD reinterpretations were Messages and So In Love – both sounding better than ever as male/female duets. In all quite startling to witness two 80s electronic music stalwarts back on stage doing credible, new music that builds on their past rather than trades on it. And not a Here, Now, chicken or basket in sight.