Depeche Mode @ Wembley Arena

I went to see Depeche Mode last night at the newly refurbished Wembley Arena. I first saw them at Hammersmith Odeon in 1984, on their Some Great Reward tour at Hammersmith Odeon. Then again in 1986 at Wembley Arena for their Black Celebration tour. But it's been 12 years since I last saw them live on their World Violation tour, also at Wembley Arena in 1994. I remember that Wembley show as one of the best concerts I've ever been to, despite the fact that we were at the back of the arena, far from the stage.

So far I haven't really got into their latest album Playing the Angel. When I saw the set list on the official site yesterday, it seemed chock full of new stuff. However, apart from Macro, all the songs from the new album sounded great live. So, I'll have to give it another listen. [A note on Macro: For me the songs that Martin sings are either absolutely brilliant, Home and The Things You Said, or rather boring like Macro.]

Speak and Spell was released in 1981, so that means I've been a fan for 25 years. That makes me feel old! Not that Speak and Spell was a great album, the singles New Life and Just Can't Get Enough were good but there were some rather dire tracks on it (Nodisco and What's Your Name - wich the band admitted is their worst ever track and with lyrics like "Hey, you're such a pretty boy, Hey your'e such a pretty boy, You're so pretty" - who can disagree!) written by Vince Clarke who left for different pastures (Yazoo and Erasure). While I have enjoyed Vince's subsequent work, it has to be said that Depeche Mode only became a truly great band once Vince left and Martin Gore became principal song writer.

The car parking at Wembley continues to be a total rip-off. How they can justify what they charge is beyond me, are we funding the new and much delayed Wembley Stadium perhaps? I phoned in the afternoon to see how much it would be (remembering it was about £10 when I saw Anastacia last year) and was told £8-10. Fair enough, at least it hadn't gone up. However, when we arrived they were charging £15. I protested, and repeated the price I had been told on the phone that afternoon. The guy explained that we were in the VIP parking area, which is close to the arena (it wasn't, it was still a 5 minute walk) and that was why it was more expensive. He asked how much money we had, I said £10 and he gave us an £8 ticket and £2 change but we still got to park in the so-called VIP area. :-)

Yesterday I read the message board on their official site and somebody was complaining that on Sunday they were sitting in a block with a bunch of people in their 50s who wouldn't stand up and kept telling him to sit down. Most of the people near me last night and milling around during and after, were in their late 30s/40s (largely male) so I expect this was a younger fan. Honestly how old does he expect fans to be, for a band who have been going for 25 years? If you want to sit down, and one person is standing and obliterating your view it can be annoying as I found out. We were in front block S10, about half way back on the left side and after one song people in front of us stood up, and we had no choice but to join them, if we wanted to see anything. However I must say that, standing is really the only option to experience the show fully, as I'm sure the guy in front of me would agree. He spent most of the evening jumping up and down, whooping and turning round to take a picture of himself and his girlfriend with the stage in the background.



At arena concerts there should be video screens at the side of the stage, otherwise how are the people at the back supposed to see? Those above the stage last night were more for the sake of visuals than anything else, which would have annoyed me if I had been further from the stage. My only other complaint was that the sound wasn't loud enough. I thought it would be as the support act sounded loud from just outside the arena. However, Depeche Mode themselves should have been much louder. Everyone around me was singing a lot of the time (mostly out of tune) and I could hear them above the music most of the time. Maybe he was the same guy who stood in the row in front of me and spent most of the evening jumping up and down, whooping and turning round to take a picture of himself and his girlfriend with the stage in the background.

Depeche Mode came on stage at 21:05 and were on for about 2 hours. Highlights for me were Home (one of my favourites that Martin sings), Policy of Truth, Walking in My Shoes, Enjoy the Silence, Behind the Wheel, Shake the Disease and Never Let Me Down Again. I shall definitely go and see them when they tour again.

Set list

Intro
A Pain That I'm Used To
John The Revelator
A Question Of Time
Policy Of Truth
Precious
Walking In My Shoes
Suffer Well
Macro
Home
I Want It All
The Sinner In Me
I Feel You
Behind The Wheel
World In My Eyes
Personal Jesus
Enjoy The Silence

encore
Shake The Disease
Just Can't Get Enough
Everything Counts

encore #2
Never Let Me Down Again
Goodnight Lovers