Depeche Mode – O2 Arena – February 20th 2010

A month late, but hey.

Four weeks ago, I went to see the mighty Depeche Mode at the impressive O2 Arena in London, a good 9 months after the gig should have originally taken place and almost 18 months after parting with my hard earned for the privilege.

For someone who loves music, I kind of hate gigs. A bit stupid, you might think. And yes, I’d have to agree. To a point. What is to enjoy about standing for 3 hours or so, behind some arm flailing, drunken twat who loves to “conduct” the band with both hands, whether it’s holding a pint of rip off beer or not.

In my desperate excitement to order the best possible tickets for the show, I had plumped for standing as opposed to seated, under the now blindingly obvious misconception that I might get a good view of the stage and have a cracking time.

As DM themselves would say, WRONG.

Depeche Mode fans are a strange and bizarre bunch. Just read through the DM forum at the official DM site to see exactly what I mean. Obsessive, over zealous, crazed, maniacal, fanatical and vicious, these people can often argue a point over 160 pages of one thread, and often do. So it was with little surprise, I guess, that upon reaching the O2, I discovered that to get the best standing places, I should’ve arrived at 6am to queue. I’m sorry, but at aged almost 40 and with a family to sort out, that was NEVER going to happen. So I was left with the final third of floor space and decided to park myself right by the sound desk. This is not bad for two simple reasons. One, you are guaranteed the best sound, and two, you have something to lean on, and for someone with a back that is as fucked up as mine, is a good thing. Sadly, only standing 5’6″ in my stockinged feet, the aforementioned fuckwit waving his arms around pretty much spoiled the evening.

As for the band, they were superb. The stage show was typically simple yet incredibly powerful. The massive rear projection screen and projection globe providing stunning, Anton Corbjin created, backdrops to each song. DM are by far and away one of the best live acts ever. Dave Gahan, by far and away the best front man too. A good combination of new and old material got the crowd rocking and to be part of the Never Let Me Down Again “wheatwave” was pretty cool.

So, apart from TfL doing their utmost to prevent us from getting there (and failing) and despite the crapness of my position and the inherent fuckwits that surrounded me in that position, it was a fine concert by a fine band and at least that’s another one off the list.

I playlisted the the set list on Spotify and here are some pics and video for your delectation….

Spotify Playlist