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Sperkstember it was long time ago reuploading to bait fellow sparks fans

#these are so cute and lovely ;_; #and ;___; the No 1 in Heaven Ron.... ;___; aaaah #art

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#[points] #suosikki magazine you have my thanks

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Photos by Hiroki Nishioka (Japan, 2017)

#I love these photos and stare at them longingly whenever I see them........ #those red glasses on Russell! #that top photo of Ron...... #I #Ｒｏｎ #(most lustful emoji you can imagine) #and the bottom photo is :'3 aaaww

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The Revenge Of Two Hands One Mouth - O2 Academy Bristol. November 27, 2013 by Adam Gasson

After 11 years of not finding a single photo from this show, I found these yesterday! I can not begin to express what this means to me, I nearly cried and I couldn't sleep last night. I was still a rather new fan and this was my first time going to a show in the UK, the first show I went to see with a friend, and my first time meeting that friend, too. And these above photos are SO GOOD! Not much was preserved from this show at all, there was no recording allowed (no charcoal drawings either), and to my knowledge not even the full setlist for this specific show was preserved anywhere. So better late than never, but here's what I remember (with some help from these photos!) and the things I've puzzled back together:

If there was opening music or an opening act, i don't recall, but Russell entered the stage alone. It was dramatic and impactful, and it went quiet as he gave an intense stare into the audience and did a drawn out "ahhh" into the microphone. After a little moment of quiet, it turned out the microphone had been connected to a sequencer which now started repeating "ah ah ah ah ah ah". Suspense, excitement. Russell added: "Hold, hold, hold, hold". (...I was definitely freaking out.) While that started looping on top of the ah ah ah sequence, he made stop signs with his hand as we all listened. A few repeats passed. "I'm getting mixed signals, mixed signals - mixed, mixed, mixed signals".

^ the only seconds of this show I recorded as I didn't yet know it wasn't allowed - security signed at me and I put the camera away. It was fine. (Here's a recording of it made during the US tour later that year - recording seemed to be less frowned upon at that point.)

I don't recall when Ron entered the stage at this show, whether it was during the song or after, but what a way to open! And what an amazing song choice!

The performance that left the biggest impression on me at this show though was Nicotina. It was a choice I didn't see coming, but also the way Russell sang it! Falsetto heaven. (Sadly not a single video is to be found of Nicotina from this tour. But for your falsetto heaven needs, I hope you can find a video of Here In Heaven that they also performed on this tour, because that will also kill you.)

As everyone here probably knows I am quite big on Bergman, which at the time was heavily promoted during the tours, and, the excerpts they played on this tour were different from what they played during Two Hands One Mouth! They played "I Am Ingmar Bergman", The Studio Commissary (my favourite song on Bergman), Limo Driver (but sang by Russell, and HOW!) and "Oh My God". (Here's a video of it from one of the American shows. It's extremely good. People who've been around for a while have seen me lose it over this video many times.)

The most unexpected song choice was probably Katherine Hepburn. Me and my friend had been joking for absolute months that we were going to see Sparks and they'd play Katherine Hepburn (as if that would ever happen, we were obsessed with that song though!). And here we were, and they were playing Katherine Hepburn right in front of our eyes. (What is reality.)

Falling In Love With Myself Again had me losing it over the organ sounds, always a fan of Ron on organ, and I LOVE that song. (Russell sang a line in my direction (I died), and he managed to throw another line at me during Those Mysteries ...I died a few times that night. As you might expect. That was kind of the whole THOM/TROTHOM experience anyway. Lots of dying. But the variety of dying where you end up in heaven. (You're at a Sparks show after all.)

They wrote a song especially for this tour, which was not released but only ever played live: Revenge Of Two Hands One Mouth. What a thing to experience! A very dark song, but wonderful. (REVENGE! REVENGE REVENGE!)

At the end of the show Ron took a photo of Russell with the audience. I don't really remember that happening, but the photo exists and it really was not a thing they did often back then. We were a good audience that night :)

Here's all the songs that were probably played that night in random order:

Your Call's Very Important To Us. Please Hold., B.C., Good Morning, Here In Heaven, Academy Award Performance, Those Mysteries, Falling In Love With Myself Again, Big Boy, Nicotina, Popularity, This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us, excerpts from The Seduction Of Ingmar Bergman, Katherine Hepburn, Revenge Of Two Hands One Mouth. They likely also played The Number One Song in Heaven, When Do I Get To Sing 'My Way' and Suburban Homeboy. (I see mentions of How Are You Getting Home? and How Do I Get To Carnegie Hall? in setlists for this tour as well, which they very might have played but I very sadly have zero memory of ever hearing those songs live.)

This tour had a real air of mystery, possibly even more so than Two Hands One Mouth, as the lack of existing footage definitely adds to it. But luckily some of it *is* out there, and I am so grateful for these photos :) On top of the songs I especially mentioned above, I would also advise people to look for recordings of Academy Award Performance and Popularity from this tour, because the arrangements are probably not going to be the way you expect them to be. And as you might expect: B.C. is stunning live. (I could start a whole rant about Good Morning and Suburban Homeboy live but I think I sufficiently screamed about both in my personal notes on THOM the year prior.) Final note: I know Russell had some sort of dance move for Big Boy because me and another friend couldn't stop talking about it for months. I don't remember what he did, but both THOM and TROTHOM were wonderful for Russell dances <3

#:') #what a tour to experience :'3

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#I did indeed get the little plastic stands #as well as the albums #:'3

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Coughing baby.

#Russell :3

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Sparks: What The Hell Is It This Time? (2018)

Ron Mael (and His Expressive Face) during 'Missionary Position' (requested by @betweentimeand42)

#I love when he does this.................. #and gif number 1 is especially eee ;_; because Ron‚ your eyebrows.

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some screenshots i took from the sparks brothers

#and gifs! sweet gifs! #:')

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Happy 50th birthday Edgar Wright!

I love Ron's pose in these!

#Aahhh I'm enjoying how cute this is :') #(and I'm gasping for breath at the suggestion in the reblogs of Ron potentially bringing back his curly hair-down look. We can but dream!) #(and wait)

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#;_; #I need to... hold...

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Sparks - Get In The Swing (x)

#I can't not reblog this gifset of Ron. I have the disease that means I have to #... when he mouths along to the lyrics I

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Photo by Julian Bourgeois (x)

#awhhh look at them :')

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#colour version!?!?!!!! #I love this. aaah

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you gotta beat the clock you gotta beat the clock you gotta beat the clock you gotta beat the clock you gotta beat the clock you gotta beat the clock you gotta beat the clock you gotta beat the clock you gotta beat the clock you gotta beat the clock you gotta beat the clock you gotta beat the clock you gotta beat the clock you gotta beat the clock you gotta beat the clock you gotta beat the clock you gotta beat the clock you gotta beat the clock you gotta beat the clock you gotta beat the clock you gotta beat the clock you gotta beat the clock you gotta beat the clock you gotta beat the clock you gotta beat the clock you gotta beat the clock who allowed this outfit to happen

#aaaawwh #:'3 #Russell #and his heart shaped tongue! #art

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Tryouts For The Human Race - Crackerjack Performance

Plus Bonus Ron

#sighing loudly for a full 10 seconds in true longing

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This video was uploaded a month ago and I didn't notice until @heart-worm told me about it. The Discoring video we've previously (on tumblr anyway) only had a few stills from!

Short interview and La Dolce Vita, 1979

#Sparks #Sparks band #Ron Mael #Russell Mael #this was lost media (to me at least!)!!! #aaaah #Youtube #I'm in love with the way the host keeps touching Ron (I understand you‚ sir) #and oh my god Russell. Host: “how are you?” Russell: “Federico Fellini!” #they're both great here. I'm laughing

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Ron during the eclipse!!!

#this is how I found out there'd been an eclipse in the USA #he's ;_; #he's ;___; so cute #Ron... #more specifically STUBBLE RON. This is not a drill