Catching up with Depeche Mode

Earlier this week my husband took me to the Depeche Mode concert. The one I really wanted to go to was in 2006, but the baby was still a baby and I was still feeling pretty housebound, so when I heard about this tour, I decided this would make up for it. They even had a new album, which I have yet to download, but I figured I’d know most of their songs if they stuck to the bigger hits.

Wrong.

I knew maybe 25% of the set list. It didn’t matter though, unknown live music is always better than the song you know played on the same old speakers anyway. You get the visual of the person actually singing, dancing and playing the notes (or at least the illusion of it) and you can feel the thump of the beat from the stage to your seat.

Last year we went to the Cure concert. There is some overlap in the fans. I couldn’t help but notice that I spotted only one other black person in the massive crowd. Generally I don’t care and being the true minority doesn’t bother me much because I’m pretty used to it. There were more brown people in the Depeche Mode crowd.

They played from their list and left the stage. Then the crowd kept cheering for an encore. I really hate this part of concerts. I guess it’s a game, or a test to see how much the fans love the band, but it’s sort of silly, isn’t it? So they came back, played more songs and then disappeared again. More cheers. Came back, more songs, bowed and left, for real this time.

Observations:
I wanted to hear Personal Jesus and they played a great live version of it in the second encore. I was not disappointed

I don’t know most of the songs that happened after "Violator" and before "Playing the Angel." That covers about 15 years of music.

I hope I’m in the same physical shape as David Gahan when I hit 47 or so. Half of the time it seemed like he was channeling Richard Simmons in the aerobics instruction.

Martin Gore has more guitars in his collection than Nigel from Spinal Tap, but unlike Nigel, he actually plays them.

The fans rose for the popular songs. The FANS stood for all of the songs. At last year’s Cure concert, I was a FAN, but for this one, I was a fan.

Martin Gore would look so much better if he lost the eyeliner. Apparently no one told him it’s a Glamour don’t to outline your entire eye, especially if they are close set to begin with. Ironic, considering the group’s name translates to “Fashion news.”