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.

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Thanks very much Daniel.

A MOMENTO-OUS WEEK - AND MUCH MORI TO COME

 

It's been quite a week.

Last Thursday (29th September), Halo - The Story Behind Depeche Mode's Classic Album Violator, the book I have written with Kevin May finally came out. It was a surreal day which was spent receiving lots of good luck messages from around the globe and seeing photographs of the book actually in people's hands. It was a real thing at last and the day was a remarkable experience. Thank you to everyone who asked about it, shared info and bought the book. You are all lovely. Kevin and I can't thank you enough.

One of the most surprising things about the book has been the requests for a signed copy. It's not something I've ever bothered with so I suppose I didn't think anyone else would. Loads of people have got in touch about one which is superb though the limited stock Kevin and I have only went so far. Rough Trade advertised the book on their social media and promised signed copies. When they told us they'd sold 51 and needed 100 in total, that presented something of an issue as we didn't have anywhere near that may books. We also live around 400 miles apart so that meant we couldn't just pop next door to sign things. There was only one thing for it - a trip to Newcastle....

Kevin and his daughter Ella had gone to Newcastle to have a look at the University so I headed down from Glasgow. We met up in a pub, signed 30 books plus 100 bookplates for Rough Trade, posed for Ella to take the first official author photo and then we went our separate ways. 

Oddly, no-one in the pub batted an eyelid. If this had been Glasgow, we'd still be there answering questions now.

Becky from our Publishers got in touch on Monday to confirm that sales since release had already exceeded 1000. By this point, everything seemed surreal really.

Then this happened:

Here we go again then.

Seeing Martin and Dave at the press conference was cool though it delivered far less than it promised really. That said, hearing them talk about Andy then and in the subsequent interviews released since was genuinely moving. We'll all miss his presence on the tour, but not as much as Martin and Dave will.

Memento Mori will be out in March next year and we will all then start heading around Europe and the US taking in the gigs. It's been fun watching the various stresses, strains and joys people have gone through over the last few days and I'm really looking forward to my Dublin, London and Berlin trips next Summer. It seems there will be a further leg or two to follow so I imagine those three are only the start as far as my next tour is concerned.

The Depeche Mode machine has started up again the but this time agains the personal background of having released a book about the band. That has made the week even more unusual as Kevin and I find ourselves in a Depeche spotlight of our own making just when the band return. 

What's next then? Well, more book promotion with apologies to those already bombarded with it on social media and the preparation of tour plans.  Until this week, Kevin and I were regularly asked what the next book will be. That has temporarily changed to questions about whether or not I will replicate the Global Spirit Tour Project on this blog and a lot of people have already very kindly volunteered for the role of reviewer.

On the basis that a review project has to be easier than another book, it's time to say yes. The Memento Mori Tour Project will start next March.

What have I done.....

To order Halo, go here for a list of all online worldwide retailers:

https://halotheviolatorbook.com/buy/