LIVE REVIEW: DEPECHE MODE, EDEN ARENA, PRAGUE, 24 MAY 2017

This review has been written by Conkan Larsson, a Swedish Depeche fan and a great chap who is well known among the Depeche fan community. His review is a superb read, taking in all of his Global Spirit Tour experiences thus far. By happy coincidence, today is also the day that Conkan is taking over Depeche Mode's Facebook page - keep an eye on that throughout today (May 26). Thanks very much Conkan!

THE INTRO

Depeche Mode started their new world tour 'Global Spirit Tour' at the beginning of this month, and after seeing them in Stockholm for the world premiere and last week in Bratislava, I had very good vibes for the gig in the Czech capital. The contrasts, of the stylish ultra modern venue in sunny Stockholm and the old post cold war venue in stormy Bratislava, were huge. I enjoyed both gigs wholeheartedly, with a special shoutout to the very active Slovakian crowd. Depeche Mode has started the tour in high spirits and with lots of energy. So, Prague is one of my absolute favourite cities so my hopes and expectations were very high for my first Depeche Mode concert on Czech ground. 

THE VENUE

I took the tram to the venue, the football arena Eden Arena. Eden Arena in its present form was inaugurated in 2008 and its capacity for sport activities is around 21 000 spectators. However, there have been 'older versions' of the venue at the very same spot, at least from the early 50's. After getting lost a little, I finally found the venue, and there were many fans already queuing. Eventually, I entered and decided to grab a spot just by the end of the catwalk. The venue, all red with wooden ceiling, was tight with pretty steep stands. Perfect for a big concert. 

THE CONCERT 

Chilly winds but no real rain, thankfully. I felt a few small drops on my head but that was it. The crowd was energetic and received both supports acts very well. DM came on and the place went wild. I made several new friends during the gig and we all had a blast together. DM started as always with the first song on Spirit,  Going Backwards. Live it lacks something, I felt, but the band continued with So Much Love and Barrel Of A Gun. Slowly they worked up the energy and it got - as always - only better and better. In my opinion, it is Wrong that is the song that marks the start of the party set. Highlights for me were the full band version of Home and it's a song I never grow tired of. Of the new songs, Cover Me is the one that really makes an impression with its atmospheric back projections and Dave Gahan on the catwalk. I must also mention the old fan favourite - that finally is back in the set list - Everything Counts. It sounds fresh and lush and the singalong in the end works great. During Martin's Somebody, with Peter Gordeno on the piano, I saw more than one person with tears in their eyes. A lovely performance by Martin Gore. If the venue would have had a roof, it would have blown off during Never Let Me Down Again and the insane "cornfield" led by Dave Gahan. The atmosphere was that good. 

THE CONCLUSION 

Tonight's gig is near the start of the tour and it shows. The band is full of energy and they clearly enjoyed their time on the stage. An active audience enjoyed every moment. The set list worked well and got the crowd going. When Wrong kicked in followed by Everything Counts, the audience was completely in Dave Gahan's hands. 

THE OUTRO 

I'm now entering a small post summer leg blues hence this was my last (as of now) planned gig. But one should never say never. Thanks a lot to the blog boss David McElroy for having me, and thanks to you all for reading this far! See you next time!

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Thanks very much Conkan - enjoy your Depeche Mode Day!

NOW THIS IS FUN: DEPECHE MODE FACEBOOK TAKEOVER - 20 APRIL 2017

Well, that was an odd day.

As you probably know by now, Depeche Mode are running a Facebook Takeover for 365 days, inviting fans to apply to be in charge of the band's Facebook page for a day. I obviously couldn't pass this up, so I applied and, fortunately, got picked. It was a remarkable experience.

Before your day goes live, you liaise with the lovely Carl and Ale who sort everything out for you. You can submit up to 5 posts including an opening bio post and, once they've been cleared, the DM Facebook team schedule them and post them. All you've got to do is be online when they pop up and interact with any of the band's 7.3 million followers who happen to get involved. No pressure there then.

I chose 4 posts in addition to the bio thing (see here) and after more thought that was no doubt necessary, went for these (click each for article):

My Gareth Jones interview from A Month Long Period Of Rejoicing

A post about my collection

Depeche Mode Live In Scotland Part 1 - 1981

But B-Sides That, What Have Depeche Mode Given Us 

I thought they offered a good spread of things from the interesting (Gareth Jones) to the collector geek friendly and that seemed to work. What was most surprising though was that, firstly, Live In Scotland has proved to be the most popular post and, secondly, that many, many more people than I expected got involved both on the Depeche Facebook page and on the blog itself.

Th experience of seeing my picture on Depeche Mode's official page together with a picture of my records was incredible. For that second, and in the picture I captured (below), I featured heavily on my favourite band's own site. If you'd told the 16 year old me that in 1990, once you'd explained what the internet and Facebook was of course, he'd have been beyond happy. To be honest, the slightly older than 16 year old me was very much beyond happy when he saw it yesterday.

Just me and Dave - remarkable

I'm a Depeche Mode fan and I know what we're like, but nothing prepared me for this. Before 2 p.m. yesterday when this all kicked off, my blog had had 251,000 visitors since I started this in 2011. I was happy with that figure and I've had consistent increases in hits each month since I began. Yesterday though caused these figures to go absolutely crazy. At the time of typing this, my blog stats are currently:

All time visits - 644,537 (an increase of just under 400,000!!)

Pageviews today - 222,673

Pageviews yesterday - 166,179

Good grief. The Live in Scotland post alone has had 180,019 reads since it went live at 9 p.m. on 20 April. That's less than 24 hours ago at the time of writing. I can't get my head round it really.

That's the Depeche Mode effect I guess, or really, that's the Black Swarm effect. Eager to read anything and discuss everything about Depeche Mode, the DM fans have blown my mind and the whole Facebook takeover thing was a one off, incredible experience. I even got responses like this from the clearly wise Camie Chance:

It was that sort of day!

Thank you very much for the chance Depeche Mode and thank you Carl and Ale for all your help. Thank you mostly to each and every Depeche fan who got involved. If you're new to this blog, welcome and I hope you'll stick around. If you're a regular, thank you for spreading the news around the world yesterday and making my day so much fun, if a little tiring. 

If you're a Depeche fan and you think you're interested in the takeover, apply and watch your Facebook notifications go through the roof. You'll love it.