A walk on the geek side with OMD at Britain’s first Vintage Computing Festival
Tickets now on sale
26 April 2010
Two of the pioneers of British synthesiser music, OMD frontmen Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys, will be appearing at Britain’s first Vintage Computer Festival (VCF). Held at The National Museum of Computing (TNMOC) at Bletchley Park, McCluskey and Humphreys will play and talk on the Saturday of the two-day weekend event 19-20 June 2010.
“This first VCF in Britain is attracting huge interest from participants and visitors alike,” says Simon Hewitt, VCF lead organiser. “Already in the line-up are Sophie Wilson - co-designer of the BBC micro - author Christine Finn, Tony Sale and other well-known speakers. There will also be displays from vintage brands such as Acorn World and Amiga user groups. Tickets have just gone on sale and we are anticipating large attendances on both days.”
On the Saturday of the VCF, OMD frontmen Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys will talk about their musical influences, style, and early career, which stemmed from the legendary Eric's nightclub in Liverpool. There will be an audience Q&A, and they will play some of their best-known hits, as well as premiering a few tracks from “History of Modern”, the band’s first new album in 14 years.
McCluskey and Humphreys have been at the forefront of British pop music for over thirty years. As Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, they named themselves after one of their own early songs. They developed a unique style of intelligent, electronic pop melodies which led to a string of hits including Electricity, Messages, Enola Gay and Maid of Orleans. More recently the band has reformed to play live, appear with philharmonic orchestras and create art installations. Their new album, “The History of Modern”, is due for release in September this year.
“We are delighted to be playing at Bletchley Park and celebrating British computer history at The National Museum of Computing,” says McCluskey. “We all have our 'geek' side.”
Tickets to see McCluskey and Humphreys in the intimate Bletchley Park Mansion cost £20. Tickets are strictly limited and must be booked in advance from http://www.etickets.to/buy/?e=4677 (Entry to the performance is separate from VCF entrance).
Tickets for the whole VCF weekend cost only £8.50 (online in advance through a Bletchley Park season ticket, but excluding the OMD gig) are available from http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/shop/index.rhtm/130872/cat.html - bring that print-out with you on the day. Tickets to the VCF on the day will cost £10.
Members of TNMOC will have free entry to the VCF. Anyone can join TNMOC for only £45 at http://www.tnmoc.org/supp-menu/membership.aspx and will receive a range of other benefits.
Latest information about VCF: http://tnmoc.org/39/section.aspx/124
Twitter alerts: @tnmoc
About The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park
The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park, an independent charity, houses the largest collection of functional historic computers in Europe, including a rebuilt Colossus, the world’s first electronic programmable computer.
The Museum complements the Bletchley Park Trust’s story of code breaking up to the Colossus and allows visitors to follow the development of computing from the ultra-secret pioneering efforts of the 1940s through the mainframes of the 1960s and 1970s, and the rise of personal computing in the 1980s. New working exhibits are regularly unveiled and the public can already view a rebuilt and fully operational Colossus, the restoration of the Harwell / WITCH computer, and an ICL 2966, one of the workhorse mainframes computers of the 1980s, plus many of the earliest desktops of the 1980s and 1990s. The latest display is the much-talked-about Technology of the Internet gallery. In June 2010 TNMOC will host Britain’s first-ever Vintage Computer Festival.
Funders of the Museum include BCS, PGP Corporation, IBM, NPL, HP Labs, InsightSoftware.com, Black Marble, and the School of Computer Science at the University of Hertfordshire.
The Museum is currently open on Thursdays and Saturdays from 1pm, and on Bank Holidays in spring and summer. Groups may visit at other times by arrangement.
For more information, see www.tnmoc.org and follow @tnmoc on Twitter.
Media Contacts
Stephen Fleming at Palam Communications
t +44 (0) 1635 299116
e sfleming@palam.co.uk