In Sympathy

Last night was the 7th Depeche Mode concert that I've been to, and I feel traitorous to say that it was the worst one that I've ever been to. I LOVE THEM, so let me start with that. Depeche Mode is my most favorite band ever. They have been for the past 19 years. So for me, this was a huge deal.

First of all, the venue was crap. It was a nice night, fortunately, but good weather does not make up for the fact that the sound SUCKED (was SOOOOOOOOOO not LOUD enough! I shouldn't be able to have a conversation with the person next to me, much less hear about the PTA meetings the bitch behind us was bitching about to her friend!) and the screens were so tiny, they were worthless. Too small and not enough of them.

The setlist?? OMG. They did 5 songs from the new album, and 3 of them were (IMO) the worst songs on the album. They opened with "In Chains", which is an amazing song BUT it's too slow to get a crowd going. If they had a more upbeat mix of it then it would have worked. I am not wild about "Hole To Feed" or "Jezebel", and "Miles Away" is a good song BUT there are SEVERAL much better songs on the album that would have been amazing live. I was very disappointed that "In Sympathy", "Fragile Tension", "Peace" (WHICH IS EVEN A SINGLE) and "Come Back" were not performed. Oh, and "Corrupt", which is another song that could have been amazing. So ok, aside from their latest album, the rest was pretty much a greatest hits tour. That's perfectly awesome and acceptable, but DAVE DIDN'T EVEN SING on like half the songs. He "let the audience sing". We're not idiots, Dave! We could tell you weren't feelin' it. Shit, I don't think he even remembered the words to "I Feel You", but aside from that the song was done well. "Enjoy the Silence" and "Personal Jesus" were amazing. I liked that they ended with "Waiting For The Night" but I also think a faster song would have been great. I also LOVED that Martin sang "Judas".

To be honest, Martin pretty much carried the show. When Dave would stop singing, you could hear the strain in Martin's voice, as though he were like, "Well shit, someone's gotta sing!" It was Martin or US singing a lot of the time! Dave did swing his mic around in circles and shake his ass at us, but you could tell that something was just missing. It was sad at the end, when Dave said, "See you next time!" and then he said, "See you next time, RIGHT??" Poor Dave. :( I just wanted to hug him and make him a cup of tea. He either wasn't feeling well, is just getting old, or he was high, and I PRAY that it was not the latter.

There was just a huge lack of energy in the show. Usually their shows are PUMPIN' and make you want to dance the entire time. It wasn't loud enough to really get into it. I blame that on the venue, but, I don't know.

Also, $45 for a t-shirt??!! HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLL to the NO. They are $30 on their website, WTF?! I would have paid $30, but NOT $45 for a fucking t-shirt you will be able to buy on eBay for $10 later.

So, yeah, I just wanted to give them a hug. I hope Dave gets to feeling better and that there even IS a next time for them to make up for this one.