LIVE REVIEW: DEPECHE MODE, AUSTIN 360 AMPHITHEATRE, AUSTIN 20 SEPTEMBER 2017

One of the things I'v really enjoyed about this whole thing has been following Amanda Chaffee and Tara Salt's adventures from their unlucky European trip (lost bags, redirected flights and more) all the way through to the pair's seeming ability to attend every concert on the North American leg, constantly jealous of the way they manage to be recognised by and meet the band. You may recall that Amanda is now the proud owner of one of Mr Gahan's towels for example. Anyway, Amanda's tour has come to an end and here is her final report, this time from Austin on 20 September. Enjoy.

My tardiness requires that I start this post with an apology to David and our readers for the massive delay on providing this review. Thank you all for your patience. Following the band for 19 of their 29 North American shows – flitting in and out hotels, friends houses, and my own apartment for eight weeks – has been an incredible, yet challenging, adventure.

The venue for the Austin gig was by far the most unique, with the amphitheater located adjacent to a Formula-1 race track. The VIP dinner was located on a patio overlooking the track, whose entertainment complex is actually located in Del Valle, Texas in a remote, grass-covered area outside Austin. Unfortunately there weren’t any cars out making runs, so the track and its stands were eerily quiet while thousands of fans descended upon the entrance to the amphitheater a hundred yards away.

The heat for both Texas shows was oppressive – with temperatures in the upper 80s/low 90s (low-mid 30s for Celsius folks) and humidity hovering between 50 and 60 percent, even after sunset. I was grateful this venue had set out huge swamp fans, but sadly they were too far from our seats to feel them during the show. Though I was prepared with ample water and my hand fan, I still left with most of my dress soaked in sweat. I reckoned I may have sweat more than Dave at this show. The heat didn’t seem to affect the band’s performance, however. Martin appeared in a pair of capri-length pants instead of his usual pants for the night, and the band carried on blowing the non-existent roof off the venue despite the heat.

After a disappointing crowd in Nashville, I was relieved to find Texan fans bringing more enthusiasm to the show. As seems to be standard for most shows in the North American leg, the crowd took the first few songs in as smoldering kindling before growing into a full fire. 

Though we were far off to Fletch’s side, Dave still sought us out for some sing-alongs, this time giving Tara the last chant in “Everything Counts,” and breaking his routine of circling center stage to share a verse of “Poison Heart” with us (which, interestingly, he repeated in Dallas two nights later, for a different verse and on the complete opposite side of the stage). 

The usual suspects (Everything Counts, Enjoy the Silence, Never Let me Down Again, Personal Jesus, etc.) whipped the crowd into peak frenzy. That’s not to say that the crowd didn’t enjoy some of the newer or lesser known tracks. Cover Me has been consistently well-received in North America, and the double-header of Wrong and Where’s the Revolution always seems to get people pumped. During Personal Jesus, DM’s head of security held back venue security from shooing people gathering in the aisles from other rows, so we had a bouncing dance party for the last track, going out with a bang.

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Thanks Amanda.

LIVE REVIEW: DEPECHE MODE, AMERICAN AIRLINES ARENA, MIAMI, 15 SEPTEMBER 2017

For this review we welcome back Amanda Chaffee of the And Then blog whose Dave towel catching exploits you will call recall from the Montreal review earlier in this series. After seeing the Tampa gig cancelled due to Hurricane Irma, there were fears that Miami would not go ahead but, thankfully for Depeche fans, the show went on. Here is what Amanda thought of it. I'd like to thank her for the great write up and the superb pictures. You can see the full set here - click

After the last-minute cancellation of the Tampa show due to Hurricane Irma, fans were on tenterhooks waiting to find out if Miami would go on. I was staying with a friend in New York who would be heading to Miami to visit family regardless of whether there was a show, and I desperately needed to find out whether I should book straight to Nashville or stay in New York. The prospect of hoteling alone in either city for $200-300US a night was daunting. Mercifully, the band and venue confirmed Miami would go on two days before the show, so I played Hotwire roulette and made my way down. 

There seemed to be disagreement among fans on whether this show should go on, and I wondered if the turnout would be affected by people unable to return in time after evacuating. My fears were unfounded – devotees of South Florida turned out, and the arena was full. Despite this, the crowd was not the most exuberant that I have seen. Perhaps given the events of the previous week, people were already worn out. 

Some people to the left of me left their seats midshow, and were gone for several songs. One man sat in his chair on his phone for some slower tracks. Mind you this is front row, directly in front of Martin Gore himself. Rude! At least this meant I got to dance with my friend Mike and his wife for a couple of songs, after they scooted into the empty spaces... 

Depeche cranked out the standard set list, and as I’ve seen with several of the less bonkers crowds, people didn’t quite warm up until Cover Me. There was an interesting moment at the beginning of Wrong where Martin and Dave were lurking in the dark. Something made Dave laugh and the mic caught it from a distance. It echoed a bit and added an additional spooky layer to the song’s creeping intro. The band seemed in good spirits in general, with Dave slapping Fletch on the ass at one point near the end of the show. However, the energy of Toronto/Montréal (excellent crowds) and New York (Dave giddy in his home town) versus Miami was notable. It’s a perfect example of how the crowd can take the band from a great show to an electrifying one. 

I think one of the most memorable moments came just after the lights went up. Mike and I were chatting and given set lists by a crew member. A fan who had been in the center section saw us with them. She said, “Where did you get such a treasure??” with incredibly genuine, wide-eyed wonder. We told her the crew had given it to us. She went back to her friends and we kept talking. She came back through to exit the arena, and Mike casually handed her his copy. She was in utter disbelief – so much so that she clasped her hand to her mouth and started crying, while giving Mike a huge hug. She was so grateful for a memento of a show that was clearly very special to her. This act of kindness and her pure reaction to it made me reflect on my journey thus far – this tour, and as a fan. I remembered the days when I would have been that girl, awed by something my friends and I see as fairly common these days, due to our experiences. The brain works in odd ways to create new plateaus of normality. Things that were once awe-inspiring become common place – maybe taken for granted – and the once completely unimaginable is somehow miraculously achievable, even if rare. 

Experiences like this are a reminder that we should be grateful for every opportunity we have to just experience this wonderful band of brothers throwing themselves into their work on stage every other night. Setlists, rare tracks, front row, guitar picks, going backstage, winning meet and greets, sing alongs with Dave... all of those “extras" are icing on the cake. Amazing – sometimes addicting – icing on the cake. Given the state of the world, and the band’s history, being able to see Depeche Mode perform at all is still a treasure in itself. Other fans are not so lucky. And if we're real – one day, we won’t be either. I’m writing this weeks after the initial show (sorry, David!), with 14 ‘Spirit’ shows complete, and I'm still not bored. I am incredibly grateful, happy and looking forward to the rest of my home gigs as DM closes out California

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Thanks again Amanda

LIVE REVIEW: DEPECHE MODE, BELL CENTRE, MONTREAL, 5 SEPTEMBER 2017

This review sums up exactly why I started doing this project last May. I wanted to capture the essence of a Depeche Mode tour, not only so that fans could revel in reading about fellow Devotees' experiences but also so that people who aren't hardcore fans could get an idea of what following the band around for a tour means to people. Amanda Chaffeee who runs the superb And Then blog, is the perfect person to tell the type of story I want people to tell and this review is one you are all going to love. Fans of Dave - get ready to get jealous towards the end....

As I write this, I'm sitting on my plane, and then in a taxi, on my way to New York. Where do I even start to process such an incredible night? Montreal was my second show of the North American leg, with the same setlist as my first show in Montreal. I thought Toronto was a fantastic show, but Montreal was even better. 

The VIP pre-show experience was slightly different than Toronto. Where Toronto had catered curry chicken, rice and stir fry veggies, Montreal had snacks and appetizers. Popcorn, veggie chips, sliders shrimp spring rolls, etc. available in a nice, small restaurant/bar setting. The "Spirit" photo backdrop was conveniently placed in the middle of the room for photo ops. Curiously, the bar allowed us to redeem our drink tickets for basic cocktails, instead of just wine and beer like previous VIP experiences. Score! My friends and I definitely took advantage of the rum and cokes! 

The show was packed, and security provided all the front row ticket-holders with purple wristbands – then enforced them. Anyone without one was kicked out of the area between us and our seats, so we had lots of room to dance and jump around. 

When the lights went down and the band began their entrance, the sheer volume of the crowd's cheers took me a bit by surprise. This was an arena ready to party. The band, hot off the heels of an electric crowd in Toronto, was also in high spirits. Dave was in a cheerful and cheeky mood – a couple times he buzzed his hands over Martin's head as he ran by, like a child playing imaginary airplanes. He even goofed off with Fletch, bouncing around and gesturing in front of his keyboards trying to make him laugh.

Amanda gets into the Spirit of things (sorry)

For the first few songs I kept thinking just how incredibly lucky I was and amazing it was to be so close to the band. The stage was slightly lower and we had more centred seats, so there was a greater feeling of intimacy than Toronto. Of course, Dave found his favourite fans along the ranks in front row and gave them lots of love, singing select lines from Corrupt, Walking in My Shoes (WIMS) and others just to them. During the Detroit and Toronto shows, Dave picked out my friend, Tara, in the crowd and extended the mic stand as far as he could to sing the last lines of WIMS and Enjoy The Silence. He did the same in Montreal, inviting those of us next to her to share the love. We made funny faces at each other during Never Let Me Down Again (NLMDA), and there were also his classic finger points and crotch grabs, saying hello to various others in the crowd. But the focus wasn't just on us – as always, he carefully balanced his performance, making sure his energy could be felt from the front row to the very last, highest seat in the arena.

We couldn't resist the pulsing beats of So Much Love and A Pain That I'm Used To, which turned us into hyper jumping beans. Unfortunately most people in the North American crowds aren't as into jumping and dancing, so we were our own little cyclone of fun. That's not to say the crowd was tame – quite the opposite. Cheers for the opening lines of WIME we're deafening. Fans responded well to the audience participation for songs like So Much Love, Cover Me, and Poison Heart, which I wasn't sure would take off here as well as Europe. 

Martin's performances were as strong as ever, with him starting out serenely in the middle of the stage, and breaking out into his hops, skips and cross-stage dashes for Home. The crowd started out quiet but quickly picked up on the sing-a-long after the song, after hearing hundreds of others. I could hear the audience singing every word of A Question Of Lust at nearly the same volume as Martin, which was impressive.

The sound was great for most of the show, but the bass in I Feel You was so low and loud that I could feel it vibrating my innards, and my arm hairs felt like they were blowing in the wind! I had to plug my ears. No idea what happened there but it was disturbingly loud.

During most of last half of the show, I was fanning myself with a paper hand fan (Dragonball Z merch, like a proper nerd) because I couldn't stop sweating. My heat tolerance has been crap for the last few months for medical reasons, and with all the dancing I was sweating like crazy. I kept thinking to myself if the band could see me, if they wondered why there was this dork in front row with a fan. Was it that hot down there? I wondered, “How funny would it be if Dave noticed and threw me his towel?" But I never thought he actually would! He swung it around over his head as he does, walking around the stage, then stopped in the center and bent back, lobbing it upward with a soft arc over the pit, right into my hands. Sweet!!

Amanda and towel

Throughout the performance, I kept returning to this feeling of gratefulness and awe, taking internal pause while my external presence was anything but. Watching this band consistently pour their souls into shows, continue to make emotionally moving music, and share themselves with an ugly and sometimes ungrateful world – 37 years of blood, sweat and tears for us. How lucky are we that we're all here to celebrate the best music in the world together? To be able to escape the hellscape of real life for just a few hours, and let all our feelings and energies out like some sort of existential exorcism? Six shows in, "Heroes" still makes me cry, and I have to fight it on Walking In My Shoes, Home, Poison Heart and Cover Me (I frequently lose). I've seen DM 28 times now over five tours, and when people ask me how I could possibly be interested in seeing the same band more than once in the same tour, this is why. While the intensity may change, that magic never goes away, and no two shows are exactly the same. 

Hours after the show, a convergence of circumstances lead to us meeting Dave, but it wasn't just a random run-in... he approached us because he recognised us, especially Tara – whom he called his "singing girl” and gave a big hug. He chatted with us for a good 10-15 minutes, like we were old friends. Nobody asked for pictures and autographs – we didn't even think of it. It was just a natural, genuine conversation. He seems larger than life on stage, and at times we tend to see the members of DM as god-like. However, one to one he exuded nothing but calm and friendliness. His energy was exactly as I remember him when we met the first time, 10 years ago next month. I am so incredibly fortunate to have done either. Dave isn't just the singer of Depeche Mode to me – he's an inspiration and someone I deeply admire on a number of levels.

As we look on to our upcoming shows in North America, we are staring into the eye of Hurricane Irma. It will make landfall Sunday, three days before the Tampa show. There's a real threat the Florida shows may not happen, but I am still feeling incredibly grateful for the experiences I have had this tour so far, and Montreal was certainly one of the most memorable. I hope for the people of Florida that by some miracle, the hurricane damage is less than expected, and maybe they can have some reprieve with their heroes... just for one day. Stay safe out there, Floridian fans, and I hope to see you soon for a review of the Miami show!

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Thanks Amanda!