The second last gig of the second leg saw Depeche Mode arrive in Vancouver for another rapturously received show. Alan Lines traveled all the way from Southampton to see this one and wrote this cracking review for the blog. Look out for more from him on the 3rd leg. Thanks very much for this Alan and thanks as ever to Depeche Mode Classic Photos & Videos Facebook group for letting me run amok again.
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| Picture courtesy of Depeche Mode Classic Photos &Videos Facebook Group |
Intro
So after reading the reviews on Portland it looks like we are in for another great night of modeness. First some background on me. In 2006 shortly after meeting my long suffering wife Nicky, we started arranging all our holidays during tour time around DM concerts. I'm not the kind of fan that knows the bands Birthday's or the name of Dave's cat I just love their music and seeing them live. Of all the countries we've seen them i guess a field in Costa Rica was the highlight. Or maybe it was making life long friends in Lithuania! So many happy memories. Tonight promises to be extra special as we missed Rome due me falling off my bike and breaking some bones! Right time to put on my new DM Mohawk hat and head into town.
The Concert
As we neared the venue we started to feel like we were the only people not going to the football match in the stadium next door. Still no DM shirts on view and when we reached the arena we actually wondered if we were at the right venue! Of course that all changed when we went inside! We took our seats early and enjoyed Warpaint who were very well received by the crowd. We were still very anxious (along with others we spoke to) at the thought of having to sit through the concert. However we need not have worried because as soon as the band came on everyone stood up and got straight into the concert, unlike many European concerts we have been too.
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| Picture courtesy of Depeche Mode Classic Photos &Videos Facebook Group |
From the start Dave in particular was on fire. It was only our third concert of this tour so I don't know if this has been happening everywhere but from what I saw Dave was interacting with the crowd more than ever. Maybe it was just us but we thought the band put more energy than ever into it (didn't think that was possible!) and it certainly paid off. Our days of fighting for front row seats/standing are long gone so we are often amongst the less super hard core fans. Row 27 tonight and in these areas although the view is still great the atmosphere can be a little subdued compared to front of stage. A lot of people we spoke had only seen DM once or twice and were probably hearing some of the tracks for the first time. However they were feeding off the bands energy and going crazy at every one of Dave's antics. There was lots of whooping and a hollering from the male part of the audience too!
After the first few tracks everybody was ready for a classic and In Your Room hit the spot. Although I hate to criticise this was one of many tracks where the sound wasn't right, the vocals were just not loud enough at key points or was the background music too strong? This was also the case with Home, Walking In My shoes and "Heroes." Never experienced this before so maybe it was a local thing. No sing a long after the amazing rendition of Home but I don't think the crowd were aware of the possibility and Martin didn't try to start it. It was good to see Fletch get a mention from Dave around this point. Andy was great tonight and seemed to be really enjoying the night.
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| Picture courtesy of Depeche Mode Classic Photos &Videos Facebook Group |
Well the concert powered on it seemed without let up tonight and hit 11 when the crowd realised the new intro was for Everything Counts. From then until the encore the band carried on excelling with each song getting great crowd responses. I've seen more hands for Never Let Me Down Again but could see a lot of people blown away by the whole thing. The encore, Somebody, was just perfect. And then the funny thing - the crowd seemed to go a little flat for Walking In My Shoes. It then became quite emotional for "Heroes" and flatish again for the last two tracks. Was I the only who wanted to reach out?! I had a good look around and realised everybody was still loving it but not interacting like we often see. However there was still plenty of that whooping and a hollering from guys and girls.
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| Picture courtesy of Depeche Mode Classic Photos &Videos Facebook Group |
So, in summary I hope I haven't sounded critical in any way. It was our first North American concert and I have tried to highlight the differences. Considering the group are near the end of the leg it's amazing they are still putting on such high energy, aweeeeeeeesome shows and Vancouver you rocked. I don't do twitter etc so don't know the gossip but seeing Dave and Fletch appearing to be getting on ok was the highlight for me.
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Thanks Alan!
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