A MEMENTO: DEPECHE MODE, GROUPAMA STADIUM, LYON, 31 MAY 2023

 

Blog friend, fellow Home (depeche-mode.com) mod and geniune film star Daniel Cassus returns to reviewing duties for the Depeche show in Lyon on 31st May. As we will see, there is a Spirits In The Forest mini reunion among much else in this great review. Thanks very much Daniel. All pictures are his so don't nick them without saying that. 

May 31st. The day had come. I woke up at 2am to catch a very early flight to Geneva and then a train to Lyon. The plan was simple: try to do a reunion of us fans from Spirits in the Forest. Well, four of us made it. And it was also my first show of this tour. What can I say?

We hung around the merchandise stand right in front of the entrance and we were… a bit surprised (but then again, not that much) with the spike in prices. I was put off from almost everything simply because I am not a fan of the design of the apparel this time. The skull in particular doesn’t say “Depeche Mode” to me. But I did succumb to the grey fleece jacket. 

A man arrived with a plain white shirt with a special message to Dave written with a sharpie on the back. He did find something else to wear during the show and spared Dave from the odd request.

Let’s talk about the show, shall we? We were all seated together on a grandstand on the left side of the stage. Not the best view, but also the best view. Why? I got to see a DM concert from a distance with the crowd in my vision. 

The visual aspect of this tour that deserves a highlight (no pun intended) are the lights. The entire lighting is a show within a show. It’s as if they translated music into colors and beams of light everywhere in the stadium.

To be honest, the crowd didn’t really go nuts until they played Enjoy The Silence. Not even Walking In My Shoes and It’s No Good early in the set got them bananas as I expected. For me every song sounded fantastic. Sister Of Night with Dave on vocals is a highlight of this tour for me. And even though this setlist seems to have copied half of the one from the Global Spirit Tour, I still caught myself singing loud the lyrics to every song. 

Of course I was voiceless the following day. The singalong expected of Everything Counts simply did not happen. It even looked a bit embarrassing to watch Dave trying to get the crowd singing the coda and the response being almost null. What’s wrong with you people? The new singalong at the end of John The Revelator however gave the song a new life. And from that part of the show on, the crowd finally got wild.

What else could I say? Waiting For The Night is a magical moment. Stripped and Just Can’t Get Enough sounded better this time. If there were complaints that they weren’t using the original sound patches when playing live, this time you can clearly hear that, YES, they are using the exact same sound banks pulled from the studio versions. This also goes for Christian’s drum kit live tweaks. Crashes, snares and kicks all sound like the original sounds we’re used from the studio versions of each song. Peter is on the bass a bit more often on this tour (although I’m waiting to see him play My Favourite Strange” again). 

Dave and Martin were flawless in their performances. All in all, a great show to celebrate friendships while enjoying Depeche Mode before our eyes.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks very much Daniel.

DEPECHE MODE - SPIRITS IN THE FOREST, CURZON MAYFAIR, 30th OCTOBER 2019

Ahead of its release on 21 November, last night the Curzon Mayfair in London hosted a preview of the film followed by a Q&A with its director Anton Corbijn. Thanks to my Halo co-author Kevin May I was able to attend and I have to say that I really enjoyed the film. It's not a Depeche Mode concert film by any stretch of the imagination, in fact it's barely a Depeche Mode film at all. This is something very different for Depeche Mode.

As well as being there with the ultimate aim of writing this reveiw, I was also there on duty for Home because I was interviewing two of the fans who star in the film, Daniel Cassus and Cristian Flueraru. I had a very interesting chat with both of them which remains under wraps until it features on Home.

To the film then. If you are expecting to go along and see 90 minutes of live footage, you're going to be disappointed. The two Waldbuhne gigs in Berlin are the film's focal point certainly, but only in the sense that the fans' stories are told in the lead up to the gigs, with all six finally meeting up in Berlin. The gigs are more a backdrop than anything else. What we get instead is a very enjoyable and, in parts, moving film that highlights just how much of a role Depeche Mode play in people's lives. We all have our own similar stories about when we first fell in love with the band and how their music resonates throughout events in our lives, but if we tried to tell that tale ourselves, we'd quickly bore everyone around us - I can speak from personal experience there.

The film thankfully avoids that trap. The fans' stories are intriguingly told, interweaving as they approach Berlin where we see them all together enjoying the last two shows of the Global Spirit Tour. I enjoyed each story and the approach of letting the fans tell the tale rather than relying on the band's live performance is a bold move but one that works. The film is almost more of a documentary in places. I won't reveal any of the stories as you'll want to see them yourself. This isn't 101 part 2 either. It's much more personal. Contemplative rather than a month long bus party.

There is of course no Depeche Mode film without Depeche Mode and footage from both Waldbuhne gigs pops up throughout the film. As I mentioned above, this isn't a concert film and I was initially surprised at how little Depeche we saw. As the film progresses however, you notice that less and less. What footage there is serves as a reminder of how good those gigs were. There isn't actually a full song in the film - instead we have excerpts of songs, some longer than others. The live footage is shot in a very un Anton way too. We see the band in all their ragged glory, close up and personal and, for a DM/Anton film, unusally intimately. 

I was very surprised by the film, but pleasantly so. To try and tell the tale of how a band can dominate an individual's life is difficult as every fan has different reasons for loving that band, but Spirits In The Forest does that and does it very well indeed. I'm genuinely looking forward to seeing it again in a few weeeks' time.

After the film, Edith Bowman hosted a Q&A with Anton. He discussed the film generally, commenting that Depeche Mode's fans had a unique attachment to the band - "I work a lot with U2 and I don't see it happening there."  He confirmed that the concert would get a full physical release next year although, interestingly, only the Wednesday night show was filmed in full. Anton confirmed that they had "filmed a few things on the Monday" but not the whole gig. There was no suggestion of a release date however.

Away from Spirits In The Forest, he confirmed that his "substantial" Depeche Mode book will be out in a year or so.

Looks like 2020 will be a good year for Depeche Mode books.....

DEPECHE MODE - SPIRITS IN THE FOREST

As you will no doubt have seen by now, Depeche Mode's new film Spirits In The Forest is being released in cinemas on 21 November for one night only, in conjunction with Sony Music Entertainment and Trafalgar Releasing. The film will be shown in 70 countries in more than 2,400 cinemas, from Adelaide to Zagreb and all points in between. If you are wondering if the film is being shown near you, head to the film's site www.spiritsintheforest.com and enter your location. I'm really surprised, pleasantly it must be said, at the sheer number of cinemas showing the film. For example, in Glasgow where I live, there are 5 cinemas in the city showing it and there are then another 11 towns and cities joining in from Kilmarnock to Inverness. This is the biggest Scottish Depeche Mode event since this blog's Global Spirit Tour Project or, more realistically, the band's Barrowlands show in March 2017.

DM fans worldwide are going to get a chance to see this as it appears to be showing everywhere. If you want to see the film in as much of a Depeche location as is possible for example, you could head to Cineworld in Basildon. Alternatively, you could go to Cinestar Berlin at the Sony Centre to watch it near Hansa or quite far from Waldbuhne, and, as the press release promises, cinemas in Adelaide and Zagreb are showing it too. 

Tickets for most cinemas went on-sale on 26 September so get hunting for them now. The first trailer was also released on the 26th and it reveals much more about what is to come:

There was a degree of cynicism about the release among the Depeche fanbase before the trailer was released but it seems that it has answered many of the questions that fans were asking. I was thrilled watching it, a combination of sheer joy seeing footage from those two wonderful gigs and delight at seeing friends like Dicken and Daniel appearing on a Depeche Mode release talking about what the band means to them. Alongside those two, Cristian, Liz, Carine and Indra will each talk about what the band means to them, interspersed with footage from those incredible concerts. 

This isn't going to be 101 part 2. Instead, the fans will explain the impact the band has had on them and, while those tales are firmly personal, we each have our own Depeche Mode story. It will be a real treat to see them talk us through theirs while we allow the film to help us relive ours.

When asked about the film, Dave said  "It's amazing to see the very real ways that music has impacted the lives of our fans." As I discovered during the Global Spirit Tour Project, a Depeche Mode tour is a hugely unifying event as it brings together fans from all over the world at venues all over the world. The two Waldbuhne gigs were special in every sense and to have a film where fans tell their Depeche story against the background of those incredible concerts is going to be a wonderful thing. 

Bring on November 21st.

Spirits In The Forest will have a global theatrical release on 21st November 2019.

GET SPRITE WITH TREE: DEPECHE MODE - SPIRITS IN THE FOREST

On Wednesday this week, the internet rumour mill began muttering about the long awaited Global Spirit Tour film with a website called spiritsintheforest.com popping up alongside a couple of reports talking about the new Depeche film. Yesterday, those rumours were confirmed and so we now have a new Depeche Mode film to look forward to. Well, some of us  do anyway; as ever there are plenty of fans upset about something they've not yet seen.

The film promises to capture "the energy and spectacle of the band’s performance from the tour along with a deeper look into how their music and shows have been woven into the fabric of their fans’ lives."  As well as the band's two performances at the Waldbuhne, the film follows the adventures of six Depeche fans, all of whom were involved in the band's Facebook takeover. The press release says:

"Through the deeply emotional stories of six special Depeche Mode fans, the film shows not only how and why the band’s popularity and relevance has continued to grow over the course of their career, but provides a unique look into music’s incredible power to build communities, enable people to overcome adversity, and create connections across the boundaries of language, location, gender, age, and circumstance."

Curiously, the press release also says that the film is "expertly edited." You'd take that as being a given really wouldn't you? It would be odd if it claimed that the film was "poorly edited."

When I was in Berlin for the Waldbuhne gigs, I had a chat with one of the 6 fans who are featured. From that it would seem that this is not going to be 101 part 2, but instead is going to focus more on the fans' lives in the period leading up to and including the Berlin gigs. Given that many of us travelled from all over the world to attend the concerts, you can see why this angle has been approached. If nothing else, it gives us a new angle on the DM live dvd and it's interesting to see them..wait for it...branch out. Sorry.

Will I watch it? Of course. I'm waiting to see what cinema gets it in Scotland of course and if none take it, I'll wait until it's given a physical release. There have been a number of mentions of Netflix being involved but nothing has been confirmed yet. Presumably we will also get a physical release and it would of course be wonderful if both Waldbuhne gigs were part of that package. All of that is yet to be announced however.

Naturally, the reaction among the notoriously patient and in no way at all pre-judgemental fanbase has been split into the usual three categories:

(a) "I LOVE DM FOREVER THIS IS THE BEST THING WE WILL EVER SEE"

(b) "Typical late period half arsed Corbijn bollocks that could have been painted by a blind dog what's the point it's a joke remember Violator? Where's Alan"

(c) "Oh right cool. I'll watch it"

I'm in the (c) category although I must say that the artwork is quite dreadful. It looks like a bunch of angry golf clubs have escaped their golf bag and are charging the Depeche stage screaming about setlist variation and Dave's dancing. The title is quite dreadful too, but there is a logic to it. 

So now we wait. There will no doubt be more information released as November 21st approaches and I'll write about that as and when it surfaces. For now however, let the speculation begin. Exactly how will the Global Spirit Tour come across when given the live dvd tree-tment? Will we exit the cinemas full of joy or will we leaf in silence? 

No more tree jokes. I promise.