Wembley Arena in London.  Depeche Mode was out and about after a long time away.  I had bought the tickets 9 months in advance and prepared well by getting to know their new album from beginning to end.

Let’s just begin by saying that Dave Gahan is one of the coolest dudes on earth.  It was great to see him sober and so full of energy and vibe and feeling for the crowd!  I had watched a recording of the “Songs of faith and devotion” tour where he was drugged/drunk/both, his speech was slurred at times and there wasn’t much contact with the audience.  I was so glad to see that on this evening in London he was in perfect shape.  He danced the whole time, swung his hips quite a lot and got really sweaty which was nice   He played with the audience, craving participation and he got it!  The crowd was perfect.  Old songs and new, everyone sang along and we had so much fun.  It’s also a great surprise to be up front by the barrier and not be squashed to death, like almost always happens in concerts in Iceland.

Anyway, the other two members of the band, Martin and Fletch were perfect too.  Martin is always the shy and sensitive one and his voice was perfect in his solos.  Fletch, who usually just hangs back by the synth and doesn’t do anything but press buttons, was jumping up and down clapping and singing by the end!

I loved it.  I’ll splurge on a trip to see them again whenever they get back into gear.

5 stars for being fantastic from beginning to end.  The tears Martin shed at the end were the perfect prop!