Depeche Mode concert (cont.)

[petronia]

I have actually been writing this entry for three days. ^^;

( fake cut to setlist )

I've never been to a concert at the Bell Centre and I won't go again if I can help it (moot as I won't be able to help it; if I'm willing to dole out 100$ to see a band live, I'm willing to see them at the Bell Centre, and if the ticket costs 100$ they will be at the Bell Centre). It's just too huge. The security are right bastards, you can't bring food in your bag whether or not you intend to consume it on the spot, when it comes to visibility halfway down the parterre may as well be the back of the Metropolis and you can't go up front without a special ticket. Perhaps most unforgivably, the acoustics are muddy. :/ If the settings are such that you can understand what the vocalist is singing you can't understand what he's saying between songs, and vice versa.

OTOH there's nothing like being in the centre of an entire stadium of people flipping out hardcore to "Never Let Me Down Again". XD

I was rushing about to the washroom and trying to find my seat and barely heard the first two numbers She Wants Revenge played, something of a pity as they clearly only had an album's worth of songs and were obliged to play all of them, so the catchyness quotient declined as the hour progressed - but for all of that it was still pretty catchy. If you caught my mini-rant re "These Things", all of it was along the same lines plus or minus quantities of synth. However I couldn't make out a word of the lyrics, a factor I suspect contributed to my enjoyment. XD; Keyboardist sported a white tie, bassist carried his instrument in the style of Hooky, vocalist wore a knit cap and waved his arms about and pranced and arched his back in grandiosely foofy gestures. It was hard to take seriously. I'm softhearted toward bands whose only sin is liking the same music as I do (*cough*Le Sport*cough*), but She Wants Revenge reminded me irresistably of something I'd make up for a parody shoujo manga inside joke, like if you'd asked me to write Gravitation but more Cure/Depeche-oriented. Which is an inviting description in a way.

Well, it is catchy, and if I had the songs I'd play them again (at least once if the lyrics prove as horrible as my darkest suspicions), and that's what counts in the end. :P

I took several photos of the DM stage but it's hard to see what precisely was going on, and I didn't put in too great an effort as the photos would've turned out crap from half the range, going by experience. The UFO-like pedestals were for Fletch and the other dude, Dave and Martin's microphone stands were up front. The back of that half of the stage was occupied by a bank of moving screens that sometimes showed videos/animations and sometimes showed what was happening live, modulo heavy graphic filters (there were lovingly tracked shots of Dave Gahan's tattoo collection XD;). The other half of the stage was occupied by a giant suspended ball in the same greenish-grey plastic as the UFOs, which lit up in words for emphasis - big red words like ANGEL and VICE, and a scrolling ticker that for the first few songs showed words like 'dissolution', 'torture', 'angst', 'tears', etc. It was like fractionated ffnet deathfic, I wasn't really laughing but, uh, sort of laughing in the back of my head. XD;; Later on they switched it up with the band members' names or Biblical references; for "Home" it showed the word home/house in different languages.

Thanks (I assume) to Martin Gore they played minimal for half an hour while setting up, maddeningly all schtuff I couldn't identify, though some of it sounded familiar. The sound quality made it hard to tell. :P One of the last tracks was slamming Ellen Allien-esque breaks and the entire crowd responded to the way it built, cheering and expecting the band to come out. Funnily enough because - while I think yr avg DM fan should get along with the current crop of trendy remixers based on sonics alone - they're a Dull Normal eighties pop band and have plenty of fans who do not ever listen to Ellen Allien or Trentemoller or Tiga, I know I know I'm stereotyping. XD Like well-dressed middle-aged ladies and men in suits and such. Lots of girls and couples ranging from university age up to old-enough-to-have-liked-them-as-teenyboppers (i.e. my HS friends' older sisters' age - that's around thirty, come to think of it). Some goths in special finery, which is always entertaining, apart from the eight-inch-tall dungeon mistress ponytails blocking one's view. Tall hair should be banned at rock shows, srsly; I'd say tall people as well but that's genetic and not a lifestyle choice, one can't really hold it against them.

Although one does. Especially if they don't dance.

Martin Gore played the guitar and wore an EXTREMELY baffling hat. It was like a foot-tall mohawk-shaped black feather headdress that hid all his hair so I barely recognized him. The feather-thing in the center of the album cover, to which (one senses) the band attaches some portentous esoteric significance, is revealed as mere shadowy remnants of Martin Gore's hat. He also had quarterback face paint on in silver glitter. If I'd just drawn a picture of him and not explained, I probably would've been able to pass it off as JoJo fanart. He took it off halfway through "Home", though; I'd imagine the thing was wretchedly hot.

Basically Martin was in charge of the acoustic emo ballad sector. I still have to dig up the setlists that were posted early on in the tour for comparison purposes (not to mention the concert bootleg I downloaded - would anybody like that btw? it was the KROQ show), but after "Home" he did "Judas" w/ acoustic guitar, and I was like :000 :DDD because 1) it was nearly the last song I would've expected to hear, and 2) I associate it with my stupid Mirage of Blaze FST, so it has emo strings attached to begin with. I sort of understand those people on ILM who say Martin is the better vocalist now! This isn't the case on the albums, where Martin sounds weaker, but Dave will go flat or up in his nose live (in all the concert recordings I've heard, too) and Martin doesn't. Somehow they seem to sing more and more alike as they go though, at this point it's rivalling Kings of Convenience. XD;; Maybe being in a band is like being married, you start sounding alike or... I haven't the slightest.

jokersama informed me she needed to know, so I made notations in the setlist when Dave Gahan took his clothes off. He also wore his trousers v. low; they may have been black leather. :P As aforementioned it was difficult to make out what was said between songs - it sounded like "blahmumble HI MONTREAL blahmumble" - but Dave took care of that by not saying much of anything and twirling about with the mike stand and shaking booty instead, which the audience took to be the equivalent friendly overture. (Did I mention he wore his trousers low? Also the impressive tattoo collection?) It was hard because you wanted - not so much to be dancing along to the music; you could, there was enough space for that in the parterre at least - but to be moshing, along with everyone else. The crowd was hugely enthusiastic and adoring but the place was so huge the energy didn't spill over completely until the string of hits before the encore. Basically it was all about obeying Dave Gahan. XD He was getting people to sing along as early on as "A Question of Time" but uhm, few of us remembered the words. T_T EARLY ALBUM OKAY. For the rest I was almost embarrassed at how well I knew the lyrics; normally I have problems coming up with song titles when taking down a setlist, even if I'm a huge fan of the artist, but with DM I barely had to think. He didn't sing "Enjoy The Silence" so much as we sang it back to him. I had the thought - which I'd never had re audience singalongs before - that it was a way of thanking the band, for writing a piece of music one cared enough to get by heart. In any case it must be great fun to make all those people clap and wave their hands in time etc. XD;;; At least Dave Gahan did not abuse his power like that one Queen concert vid I watched in which Freddy Mercury made the crowd sing arpeggiated runs.

Comments

[jokersama.livejournal.com]

NRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

GOD I WANNA GO TO ANOTHER DEPECHE MODE CONCERT SO BAD NOW

NO FAIR

ARRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHH

Okay, I'm done now. ;___________;

(BTW join us tonight on IRC if you've got a chance! XD)

[tsutanai.livejournal.com]

I had the thought - which I'd never had re audience singalongs before - that it was a way of thanking the band, for writing a piece of music one cared enough to get by heart.

So what does that say about Japan, and that Cheap Trick Tokyo concert album? XD

[i-smile.livejournal.com]

She Wants Revenge reminded me irresistably of something I'd make up for a parody shoujo manga inside joke

Did you ever say something about "These Things" being the sort of song Hachiko would write if she were in a high school band, too? I've listened to it a few times, and I can't help thinking of Nana each time. :D

[helvetius.livejournal.com]

Dave took care of that by not saying much of anything and twirling about with the mike stand and shaking booty instead, which the audience took to be the equivalent friendly overture.

XDXDXD

[dipping_sauce]

I'd say tall people as well but that's genetic and not a lifestyle choice, one can't really hold it against them.

Although one does. Especially if they don't dance.

;___;