Depeche Mode - Düsseldorf 2006

Performance
“Hello” was the first thing written on the LED of the futuristic metallic ball. When the band entered the stage which was flooded with blue and black light, they were welcomed with a loud jubilance out of thousands of throats. Martin was dressed up with black pants and some kind of black skirt over them, black shirt with angel wings and a strange looking cap with a cockscomb made of feathers. He looked a bit like “Mr. Feather” himself. Dave otherwise was the real gentleman with black pants and vest and a stylish grey jacket. Compared with these both guys, Fletch looked a bit conservative just with dark pants and t-shirt. The band took their places on stage and after the intro was over, the set just started with a loud siren introducing the first track of the recent album: “A pain that I’m used to”. What a fulminant beginning of the show! The word “Sex” now was glowing in orange on the metallic ball and the names of the band members were running through the LED. The stage was covered with red light while Dave was chasing over the stage. The show continued equally fast with “John the Revelator” out of the new album too. The backdrop with “Mr. Feather” was falling and the screens came to use for the first time this evening. Now the stage was painted in green lights while the word “Pain” was glowing on the ball and a code of figures and letters was running through the LED. Dave and Martin were rocking together and people in the audience just were absorbing the energy coming from stage.

Away from the recent album the show went back to 1986 with the following song: “A question of time” which was welcomed with huge applause and loud cheers. Now the word “Angel” was glowing on the ball and some kind of digital watch was shown on the LED. Dave has put off his jacket by now showing his still perfect body to the audience. The screens on stage and besides it were now showing distorted live impressions from the show. Very stylish and fitting. Anton Corbijn (who took photographs on the second show) did a very good job in creating the stage design. As we know it from our favourite front man, he was spinning around with the microphone stand in his hands making all the girls go crazy. He left the refrain to the audience and the masses were singing altogether “It’s just a question of time, and it’s running out for you…”. Dave was enjoying this scenery standing at the end of the catwalk and conducting the audience. As he was touching his “best” part during the lines “…and have their fun with my little one…” all the girls and women screamed for their idol not recognizing all the other boys anymore. From the very first moment, Dave as the perfect performer has the audience under his control. At the end of the song it was finally time to greet the audience: “Good evening, Düsseldoooorf”.



With “Policy of Truth” we moved a bit forward in time to 1990 and the era of the great album “Violator” – probably still the most famous and most liked album within the mass appeal. Martin was changing to the keyboard while Dave still was letting the audience sing the refrain. The whole stage was mostly covered in red while again live projections were shown on the screens. From the past back to the present: with “Precious” the first single out of the recent album followed, newly arranged for the live performance. The song started quite calm with gentle piano sounds. But the instrumental parts between the strophes were a lot heftier than on the album. Martin changed back to guitar to add his unique chords to the song. The LED on the globe now showed the words “love… regret…”. Live projections underlined the song too. As the song was finished, another highlight in Depeche Mode’s history followed with “Walking in my shoes”. The highlight of this song was surely the projection which showed the very well known bird-woman in red, walking on a blue screen. The word “Pain” was again glowing in orange on the metallic ball and the LED showed words out of the song lyrics: scapegoat, pain, absolution or unconsciousness. The following version of “Suffer Well” – the first song of the set that was written by Dave – was also rearranged for the live show: a very upbeat version that made the audience move. Live impressions shown on the screens underlined this song.

After the quite fast first part of the show it was time to slow down now and Martin took over the microphone – still wearing his funny cap (during former concerts he got rid of it much earlier) and with a starlike guitar over his shoulder. The stage was tinted totally in red with red screens in the back too. Big pictures of Martin were projected to the screens when he started a stunningly beautiful version of “Macro”. Somehow I liked this song live much more than on record. Now Dave stood in the back doing the second voice and dancing deeply sunk into himself. The second song performed by Martin was “Home” from the 1997-album “Ultra”. The word “home” was shown in different languages - koti, heim, thuis etc. - on the ball. Martin’s face was projected to the screens surrounded by a blurry corona. Additionally there was some DM-symbol shown: the red rose known from the “Violator” era. The projections were creating a very sensitive mood, showing the rose waving in the wind. Martin performed in his typical pose on stage: raised arm going within the beat. He sang “Home” with an extremely good voice which was frenetically acclaimed by the audience. At the end of the song, Martin showed himself unusually extroverted, walking to the end of the catwalk while playing guitar. As he arrived back at his place on stage he even went down on his knees and hailed to the audience. With “I want it all” another calm song followed, this time sung by Dave. The stage was tinted in green light while the word “Love” was glowing on the globe. “Love” was also written on the screens while live impressions were showed. For this song, Dave was accompanied by Martin singing the second voice.



The next song – “Sinner in me” from the recent album – brought again a tempo change to the faster into the set. Different to the album version, this song develops much more dynamic towards the end due to the use of Martin’s guitar and the fulminant drums which are driving the audience. The live version was much harder and it also contained some new keyboard parts. Harsh drum parts played by Christian add a certain note to this song. Also the performance was very vivid starting with Mart running from one side of the stage to the other holding his silver starlike guitar. The LED on the ball was showing lyric parts: “…known for its anger…” Dave and Martin were playing very well together: while Mart was standing with widely spread arms Dave went down on his knees. In the middle of the song, Martin performed a guitar solo which was different to the album version too. All guys on stage were giving their very best. It went on quickly with a newly arranged version of “I feel you”. Straying flickering lights above the stage and strobe lights appeared, then the drums started and the screens flamed up. Dave was playing torero with his black towel. With a harsh guitar chord played by Martin the song starts. The screens on the stage were showing blurred live impressions while the outer screens showed a female face putting on make-up. When the whole audience was singing “this is the morning of our love”, Dave answered them with his screams: “Oh, yeah”! Now, the word “Sex” was flaunting shiny orange on the screens. The woman on the outer screen was now totally visible wearing red underwear and lying on the floor. Finally it was time for Dave to undress his vest what was pleasantly welcomed by his female audience. He was standing at the rim of the stage acclaimed by the audience. While the girls within the audience were looking at Dave’s bare body, the boys had something to look at too: the now partly undressed woman on the screens. Dave was pushing up the audience even more – “Sing it!” – “I can’t hear you!” – “Come on”. And people were singing even louder. His jump with the microphone stand marked the end of the song accompanied with his well-known screams.



The following song “Behind the Wheel” was probably the most acclaimed one of the whole set – at least the loud screams indicated that. Thousand-fold jubilations were surging through the arena. Countless hands were stretched out towards Dave fulfilling his plea “I wanna see those hands”. Dave was shown in close-ups on the screens while he was moving lasciviously behind his microphone shaking his butt and making all the girls scream. My God, does this man look good! He was coming even closer to the audience walking onto the catwalk being celebrated by his fans… giving them another shake with his butt as a little thank you and waving up to the tiers not forgetting the people farther away. After that song from the “Music for the Masses” album a triple of “Violator” songs followed starting with “World in my Eyes”. Seems this part of the set was the absolute highlight. The stage first was covered with red light broken with white spots. The screens were showing detailed close-up of Dave: his hand on the microphone just in front of the middle part of his body while he was dancing very seductive as well as showing his tattoos. During the line “…let my hands do the soothing…“ he was petting the micro stand making imagine it was you he’s touching. “World in my Eyes” was also the song when Dave introduced “Mr. Andrew Fletch Fletcher”, holding his hand and singing besides his keyboard for a wile while the screens showed live pictures from the show. Towards the end of the song Dave come to dance for the audience on each side of the stage. A very deep bow and Dave’s gentle and floating “flight” over the stage marked the end of the song. The all time favourite “Personal Jesus” was introduced with harsh beating drums. The applause and screams in the hall were growing louder and louder. Most people change the line “reach out and touch faith” to “reach out and touch Dave” no wonder if you see the sexiest man alive on stage. The arena was filled with a big choir of voices. Hell, isn’t that man on stage not any ones own personal Jesus? The words “Sex”, “Pain” and “Vice” were now glowing on the globe. When Dave shouted “Oh yeah” a big choir was answering. Mart was adding some new guitar sounds to the middle part of the song and especially his solo part invited the masses to jump. The whole venue was quaking when Dave sang “Reach out and touch Faith” and thousands of hands were risen. Our Jesus was walking to the end of the catwalk, holding the micro into the audience and asking “Say what?” and a big choir answered “reach out…”. The end of the song showed the well-known “Mr. Feather” in the screens. As if “Personal Jesus” wasn’t the highlight of the show, the band brought their most famous song now: “Enjoy the Silence”. White searchlights were flickering through the arena accompanied by red lights. The shown projections were the surely highlight of that song… the music video for “Enjoy the Silence” was transferred to drawings: a crown, a coat, a face… all coming together to a king who was walking around with a canvas chair. It’s a fantastic feeling hearing 50.000 people singing “All I ever wanted, all I ever needed is here in my arms…” and Dave answering “Yeah, that’s right”. Dave did not have to sing much during this song… most parts were taken over by the audience and Mart as second voice. “Enjoy the Silence” was also surprising with a new instrumental part different to former versions. Mart was introduced during his guitar solo: “Mr. Martin L. Gore!” At the end of the song, Dave was putting on his vest again and said goodbye: “Thank you my friends! Good night, thank you”. Hard to believe that the show was over and people screamed for more. And as we know we all got more.



Martin returned to stage after a few minutes of rejoicing only accompanied by Peter. The stage was totally red when Martin intonated the first lines of “Somebody” to Peter’s piano sounds. His clear voice and the song itself touched all people in the hall and hundreds of flues and sparklers were enlightened. The arena presented a fantastic look! After “Somebody” they even went more back in time to the very beginning. Mart took his place behind the keyboard to start the well-known and sometimes hated “Just can’t get enough”. The audience just went mad jumping, singing and clapping. The screens now showed the drawn faces of the band members. The whole audience sang along the line “I just can’t get enough” while Dave was holding the microphone into the audience. So you did not really realize the little mistake when Dave started a line too early and just sang it again. Mart and Dave just laughed at each other showing how much fun they had. Long singing by the audience finished that song. And the band stayed in the good old times presenting “Everything counts” which was starting with quite hard drum beats. All the lines on the globe were glowing now, showing the words “Sex”, “Pain”, “Angel” and “Love” altogether while you could see “Enjoy” on the left and “Vice” on the right side. The screens were showing live impressions; especially the audience was shown. Also a few new sounds were added to this song from the early days in history. As we could expect and as we know it, the refrain was sung by the audience and Mart while Dave stood conducting at the end of the catwalk eavesdropping to the audience. But Düsseldorf is not Pasadena and people did not keep singing long enough to create that special feeling… it worked much better on the second day though. The song was finished and again it was time to say goodbye…



The word “Angel” was glowing and the globe and was written on the screens too. Loud yells for an encore floated through the hall. After a while the band returned. “Thank you very much” said Dave before the first sounds of “Never let me down again” appeared while a mosaic of live impressions was shown on the screens. All the masses clapped along this famous encore-song which was again presenting an extended instrumental part that was reworked compared to former tours. The instrumental was introduced by Dave’s scream, it started reserved and developed to full power making people jump. Strobe lights, a turning front man and distorted sounds… that’s how we like it. Of course people were waving their arms at the end part of the song… just like Dave was showing on stage and at the catwalk. It’s a breathtaking picture seeing up to hundred thousand arms waving. It was those stunning pictures that were shown at the end of the song on the screens. Unbelievable! Now that all people were pushed to the max it was time to calm down for the very last song. “Shhhhh” was written on the globe and “Shhhhh” was Dave saying to get people down. The whole stage was tinted deep blue for the beautiful “Goodnight Lovers” – a perfect last song which Dave and Martin were performing together at the catwalk. A little thank you kiss from Dave to Mart, a bow from the whole stage crew at the very end and the show was over. A totally blown and really happy audience was left.
You might believe it or not… but it can even be better. The mood within the audience was much better on the second day in Düsseldorf. There were only slight differences in the set: Martin sang “damaged People” instead of “Macro” and “A question of lust” instead of “Somebody”. That’s the recognizable difference. The other difference was just in the mood which was deeper, nicer and more emotional. Now there is only one thing to look forward… more concerts to come.