Thursday, February 02, 2006
Reach Out And Touch Berlin – Depeche Mode in Concert
My new friend Oliver from Berlin was kind enough to deliver this amazing and exclusive Xtinefiles report on the DM concert in Germany...read on...
Reach Out And Touch Berlin – Depeche Mode in Concert
Wednesday, 2006-01-22 0630pm, Velodrome, Berlin. A 200 m queue in front of the Velodrome. Thousands of Fans waiting in line, freezing. It’s cold on the outside but not on the inside. The hall (actually for Bicycle races) is packed soon with 10.000 people. Sold out since months. To shorten the wait people warm up with La Ola waves throughout the hall and clapping along the beats of a Minimal Techno set. Support act on the European leg of the tour is The Bravery from New York City.
They kick off at 8pm exactly for a 30 minute show. Compared to previous support acts on
Depeche Mode tours The Bravery are well accepted it seems. Their style is a mix of The Cure, Duran Duran and other classic 80ish sound.
A good and short start for what is to still to come.
After another break and more superb minimal beats the siren call of ‘A Pain That I’m Used To’ is opening the Show we have all been waiting for so long. The band climbing the silver shinning futuristic stage (designed by their longtime mate Anton Corbjin).
Here we go again, after 4 years of waiting, Depeche Mode arrived finally in Berlin.
The atmosphere is not to be topped from the first second. People dancing, screaming and singing along the new songs from Playing The Angel as well as old hits like Enjoy The Silence, Personal Jesus, Just Can’t Get Enough and Everything Counts.
It made me a bit feeling like 15 again:-D
A highlight of every show is when Martin L. Gore takes over the lead vocals, this time with Macro, Home and the old 1984 classic Somebody. Thousands of lit lights lighten up the hall during these ballads. The show finds it’s all time high during the last encore with Never Let Me Down Again. Thousands of arms waving through the hall. The show ends with the Exciter track Goodnight Lovers. Depeche Mode in unity with their fans…soul sisters and soul brothers…a fantastic end for this show.
So this is the end!? Two hours are going by damn fast. I am looking around and see people smiling, laughing and some even weeping. Some might say this is a all retro show, but this is far more. After 26 years this Band is still around, writing their own songs, touring, selling out world wide tours in a few days time. Like Dave Gahan said here in an Interview with MTV: “This makes us still some kind of relevant”. Pure understatement. Where would be Electronic Music without them today?
Depeche Mode continue to tour throughout Europe until Spring, taking a little break, and coming back for a Summer Open Air Tour. There are some tickets left for a few shows so take your chance.
We will continue our in-depth reports from the live shows in March (Friedrichshafen) and in July from the Locarno, Switzerland and Berlin Open Air Shows. Stay tuned.
SEE YOU NEXT DATE!
