LIVE REVIEW: DEPECHE MODE, O2 ARENA, PRAGUE, 31 JANUARY 2018

For the third and final time on this tour. Martin Sernestrand from Gothenburg in Sweden returns to reviewing duties, following up his two Copenhagen reviews with this excellent blog about the Prague show on 31 January. Thank you very much Martin, not only for the review, video and pictures here, but also for all your work on this Project. Enjoy everyone.

It is the third concert on the third leg of the Global Spirit Tour for me. Since the nineties, when I saw the band for the first time, I have not seen any gigs outside Sweden or the Nordic region. But on this tour, I decided to go all the way and visit eight cities (including London, Berlin and Prague).

Martin (far right)

Sadly, Depeche Mode aren't playing more than one gig in Sweden on this tour - something of a disappointment. I mean, our neighbors Denmark has even had three visits, so it is clear that you could at least hope for one more visit to Sweden too. A comparison figure could be that they visited Sweden three times during both Touring The Angel and The Delta Machine Tour and four times during the Tour Of The Universe.

So what's the problem? Is Sweden tired of Depeche Mode? Is Gothenburg and Malmö too far away compared to Copenhagen? Are Depeche Mode dejected from visiting Sweden again after the poor response from the World Tour Premiere at the Friends Arena in May last year. Maybe a bit of each. Of course, I can admit that eight Depeche Mode concerts in one year (it's not even twelve months since the Stockholm concert last year) is enough even for me.

You begin to feel as if you know exactly what's coming. You know that, at least during the third leg, it starts with Going Backwards, It's No Good, Barrel of a Gun, A Pain That's Used To, Useless, Precious, and builds to when World in My Eyes ends. The first part before Cover Me initiates the slightly calmer section with Insight and Home. You know that the highlight of the night is Everything Counts, Stripped, Enjoy the Silence, Never Let Me Down Again and you know that Strangelove is the next song when Martin Gore comes up on stage alone with Peter Gordeno. It's hard to be surprised anymore.

But it's as hard to keep calm. The encore with Walking In My Shoes, A Question Of Time and Personal Jesus is truly amazing. The band sounds tight and Dave Gahan sings perfectly. The audience is deafening, not at least in the chorus. The classics sounds like they should, as do the new songs. Depeche Mode live is a well-oiled machine, which tonight does not fade more than in the beginning of the concert where they lose you a bit.

I can see many concerts without tiring, but I would not mind bidding on some more surprises in the evening. Imagine if Depeche Mode would dust off songs like Lie To Me, Here Is The House, The Things You Said, Sweetest Perfection or The Sun And The Rainfall.







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Thank you Martin.

LIVE REVIEW: DEPECHE MODE, ROYAL ARENA, COPENHAGEN, 9 JANUARY 2018

For the first gig of 2018, it's great to welcome Martin Sernestrand back to reviewing duties. Martin covered the first Copengahen gig of the tour back in May and I was delighted when he said he'd be travelling from Gothenburg to Copenhagen once again in January and asked if he could review this gig. Many of you will know Martin from his stunning Depeche Mode collection and others will know him from his book Deepche Mode In Sweden - see http://www.depechemodeisverige.se. Go and check out the book as it's well worth a read. Thanks very much to Martin for this review and for the superb pictures too. 

It does not take many minutes for the synthpop icons Depeche Mode to prove their greatness. Going Backwards launches the evening and the year's first concert on the Global Spirit Tour. Led by the sympathetic front figure of Dave Gahan, the group immediately show all of us, who have been wise enough to travel to the Danish capital this Tuesday, that they are hungry for more. To get the singer's smiley look smiling at me already in the first track is amazing. I'm getting both glad and a little bit embarrassed.

The setlist looks the same as last time I saw them in December, but that is nothing that worries me remarkably nor is it anything that interferes with the overall experience. The nostalgia bomb towards the end is absolutely wonderful. 

Everything Counts begins some magic minutes, as after that Stripped, Enjoy The Silence and Never Let Me Down Again are played at a furious pace before Dave Gahan, with a happy facial expression leads the group to the end, ploughing through the usual set.

Cheerfully, of course, when Martin Gore climbs on stage alone with Peter Gordeno, he sings an acoustic version of Strangelove before Walking in My Shoes, A Question of Time and Personal Jesus ends the encore. 

However, I can not let go of the idea that they could have become even more elaborate in the selection of songs - especially in the first half of the set. To a great extent, David Gahan, Martin Gore and Andrew Fletcher continue to make a fresh alternative to other old 80's bands. But one question remains: when Depeche Mode's song material is so strong, why does the band strive to repeat the same old songs as they have done over the last 15 years. 

Somewhat unexpectedly, however, the band is not playing I Feel You. What is even more surprising is that they do not replace it with any other old track. Anyway that is not important - what is important is that Depeche Mode rarely gets better than this.

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Thank you Martin!

LIVE REVIEW: DEPECHE MODE, TELIA PARKEN, COPENHAGEN, 31 MAY 2017

The guest reviewer for Copenhagen is Martin Senestrand from Gothenburg, Sweden. Martin is a legendary Depeche Mode collector and his youtube videos showing off his collection make for wonderful viewing if you are a person like me. He is also the author of the Swedish language book Depeche Mode In Sweden (http://www.depechemodeisverige.se/), a book that charts Depeche Mode's history in that country and one that is well worth a look. Thanks to Martin for this review and the wonderful photos and video that accompany it.

I traveled with the Öresund train to Copenhagen from Gothenburg at 11:28 and took a walk north through Nørrebrogade to visit the Accord record store.  I didid some shopping and later met my friend Fredrik Wik Clarke and his wife Rhona Clarke at Halifax, on Frederiksborggade. After checking in at Scandic Copenhagen along Vester Søgade, I went to the evening's arena Telia Parken, in the district of Østerbro, to meet up with my friends again. All three of us had Golden Circle Early Entry so we had to get in extra early, just as I had done in Stockholom. In Stockholm, I ended up at the catwalk, but in Copenhagen I got a place on the left of the scene, just below Martin Gore. Perfect!

Old bands that make farewell tours remind you a lot about hypochondriac older relatives who say this is the last year we will have them in life. A few days before the world premiere in Stockholm at Friends Arena, Georg Cederskog of Dagens Nyheter interviewed me and asked how many records and tours I thought remained. I replied that I have the feeling that this may be the last tour and album. The end is close, I'm still stuck to that, but it may take a few years before it actually ends. Depeche Mode has not said anything about that this tour, the Global Spirit Tour, would be their last ever, but the band members are getting older - following their normal release rate, the next album wouldn’t be released until 2021. Many people in the audience maybe didn’t saw the band at Saltlageret In Copenhagen on November 26, 1982, but at least they did not miss the historical moment at Valby Sports Park, August 16, 1986. 

After 37 years of pioneering music, complicated relationships, overdose and internal wear, it's hard to understand how Depeche Mode are still here. They should simply have ended from conflicts, fashion shifts, drugs and unbridled debauchery a long time ago. However, they have returned this year with one of their best records in 15 years, and still sell out venues and major sports venues around the world. Probably, they will also continue to do so in the future as well. Depeche Mode is an arena band of the same caliber as Rolling Stones or U2,  with the difference that they are making music that is still relevant. Crucially,  the concert at Parken is a good concert, better than anyone is entitled to expect from such an old band. But the most inspiring thing about Depeche Mode in 2017 is probably not the music itself, but the thought of all the amazing bands they have paved the way for. I do not know any other band in the same genre that shows a greater musical width than them and the mere existence of the band is evidence almost as if they are still relevant.

Telia Parken has a capacity of 38,050 people. It is Denmark's largest arena and the third largest in the Nordic region, after the Friends Arena in Stockholm and Ullevi in ​​Gothenburg. Perhaps there are a few thousand fewer now considering how the scene stands, but it's completely full and the atmosphere is superb. The sound is also surprisingly good. It's better than in Stockholm on May 5th, where it was not too good at first. I think that the concert overall is better than in Stockholm as well. The Danish press is very positive and Jan Eriksen of the Danish evening magazine BT writes that Depeche Mode delivered a magical evening. He gives the concert six of six stars as a grade. They also get a great review from Ras Bolding from the Danish edition of Gaffa. He writes that this is Depeche Mode’s best concert on Danish soil for many years. This is undoubtedly a huge compliment for a band whose career is tied to internal unrest and personal problems. The conerrt's track list (see setlist sheet below) is the same as at the Friends Arena except that they have moved the songs around a bit -  Home is now played after A Question of Lust instead of the opposite. Once again I’m very pleased when I go back to the hotel through Faelledparken.

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Thanks very much to Martin for that excellent review. Remember to check out his book.