In Concert: Depeche Mode

or (for us):

Finally getting our Christmas present

or (for me):

Visiting my past

The first concert I ever went to was Depeche Mode, nearly more than 25 years ago. (YIKES!) I was totally in love with their album Black Celebration, I listened to it without end, and when they played a concert nearby, I had to see them. My older cousin had to go with me (she wasn’t much into music) because I was rather young. And a good friend came with us, too. I bought the next album, Music for the Masses, but that was it. I preferred other music more now.

When I learned sometime last year that they would go on tour, I thought about going to a concert. A trip to my past, visiting my youth, something like that. Besides, they are supposed to be awesome live. The Boyfriend was also interested and so we got two concert tickets as our Christmas present. Then a few weeks ago we bought the new CD, Sounds of the Universe, to be prepared. (I rather like it).

You probably know that the tour got interrupted because of Dave Gahan’s illness and recent surgery, but I didn’t see a difference to what I knew his performance to be like from videos and DVD. Granted, our seats were far away, and didn’t stand in front of the stage like I love to do, but his energy still got me.

It started like this:

While waiting for Depeche Mode to come on stage, The Boyfriend got us something to drink (it came in the two cups on the right) and later, around 10 minutes before the start of the concert, the whole audience (40 000) did audience waves. It’s called La Ola here, but I’m not sure what it’s called in English. We kept it going for quite some minutes. It started at the front of the stage, swept through the audience down there, then jumped to one side of the seats and raced around the stadium to begin again in front of the stage. It was great!

When Depeche Mode did come on stage, the applause and the cheering was unbelievable. They had us from the start.

Here’s the first song:

DEPECHE MODE – June 2009 – In Chains – HD

Dave Gahan’s voice was amazing, the sound was very good and incredibly clear (we had a bad experience at another concert there last year), and the audience was enthusiastic and in a really happy mood. And woo-hoo!, they played four songs from the album Black Celebration: A Question of Time, Fly on the Windscreen and two of my most favorite Depeche Mode songs ever: Stripped and A Question of Lust.

A Question of Lust is sung by Martin Gore and he’s only accompanied by a piano here. Great song and great voice!

DEPECHE MODE – June 2009 – A Question of Lust

One of the last songs they played was Strangelove. Cool video on the stage screens.

DEPECHE MODE – June 2009 – Strangelove

Initially, I might have gone there because of nostalgic reasons; but it soon became clear that this was a very good and special concert. One I’m glad I could be part of and one I’m sure I’ll never forget. It was a great performance and a great audience. It all came together that night.

The overall highlight probably was the song Never Let Me Down because everyone was waving his/her hands in the air for the whole song. 40 000 persons!

DEPECHE MODE – June 2009 – Never Let Me Down Again – HD

Here’s just the waving:

The person who put this clip on youtube.com calls it “the most awesome thing I have ever seen at a live concert.”

He’s right. It was.

And I don’t mean just the hands waving.

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Next up:

• Linkin Park
• Placebo

(That is, I can wish!)

To Cheer Me Up*

Where Is My Mind? by The Pixies

(my favorite song)

ETA: For the youtube video I wanted (without scenes from the film Fight Club) embedding is deactivated.
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* This morning, I found out (WordPress forum) that my shiny, not-even-one-week-in-use blog theme Neo Sapien has an annoying quirk: the sidebars on the right disappear to the bottom of the page when the browser window is set too narrow or when the screen resolution is not high enough.

*SIGH*

New blog theme.

Concert: James Blunt – October 2008

EDIT TO CORRECT: It is Glasgow, not Manchester. Seesh.

I know that James Blunt is one of the singers/musicians you either like or not. He’s also known as a “women’s singer” (that is at least what I was told) but I like his songs, so here it goes.

I discovered James Blunt late. I knew about him, of course, but it was in March this year when I bought his first album Back to Bedlam and fell in love with it. Seriously, I always have trouble with questions that ask “What CD/book/film/… would you take if you were allowed only three?” It changes all the time, but it changes the most with music CDs.

But when I listened to this album, I liked it ALL. Needless to say, the following days I listened to it without end. Then I made the mistake of listening to it during the time when I thought my life would change drastically at the end of March/beginning of April this year. I still remember the one afternoon when I was at home and it was a bright and sunny day outside, and I was inside and thought my world was falling apart and I listened to this CD over and over again. It ruined this CD, and it ruined James Blunt. It was only a few weeks ago that I was able to listen to it in one go again.

So when The Boyfriend and I bought tickets for one of his concerts here, I looked forward to it with a strange mix of joy (I wanted to see this concert) and trepidation and finally bought his second album, All the Lost Souls.

The opening*:

James Blunt – Live – Leipzig – Oct 19 2008 – Opening

We stood in the pit, maybe 15-20 rows back from the first row, but his upright piano was right in line of our sight and we could see nearly the whole stage (in a situation like this I’m glad I’m rather tall for a woman).

I really liked the opening. It made everyone cheer and clap hands and put us all in the mood for what was to come: (leaving aside his more sad and contemplative songs) a fun and joyful concert. I was really surprised how dynamic and energetic the show was. Probably I was too influenced by some of the other live videos I saw on youtube (Bedlam sessions, BBC), which are rather acoustic in style. Not that there’s anything wrong with that but I really liked the way they played the songs now. I hope they release a DVD for this tour.

Anyway, on with the concert. I had the impression that they all were happy and had fun playing the concert (which is something of a wonder when you look at the number of concerts they did/do). I also thought the use of light was perfectly timed to the music. James seemed to have some trouble with a sore throat a few times but who cared. Really, there were more than enough people willing to take over for him, some a bit too much like the blonde behind me who was showing off to her English boyfriend by loudly singing along to all songs, even No Bravery. Umh yeah… I guess I was a little annoyed by her. Sorry. But in general, I love an audience that’s so happy and enthusiastic to sing (just not in my ear). I always think it’s a little awkward when a singer wants the audience to sing and they don’t really go for it all that well. At the concert we saw, there was no problem with that. As I said, we all had a really good time.

As for my trepidation? I needn’t have worried. There was only one time I was a bit teary-eyed. And they didn’t play Tears and Rain, which is probably my favorite song, so I was safe.

I also like 1973 better now. I thought it a so-so song while listening to it on CD, but since the concert, I really like it. It was the last song they played. I couldn’t believe it when James got up on the piano during the song, but oh how I loved it, and at the end of the song, confetti was raining down on us and it was just so fitting with the whole concert. Everyone was happy, clapping hands and smiling. I also loved the idea of taking a picture of the audience and showing it on the monitors on stage as the last picture. This last song is a good example of what the concert was like.

Here it is, 1973*:

James Blunt – Live – Glasgow – Oct 10 2008 – 1973

I’m sorry for going on and on but I needed this happy memory today because otherwise, this weekend was more of the category “black weekend” where a gaping whole comes and swallows you up out of the blue.

But don’t let this deter you from telling me my music taste could be better. *grin* I promise I won’t care because

THIS WAS A GREAT CONCERT!

* I tried to find videos where the sound and pictures were at least all right.