Depeche Mode in London, June 3 or fan takeover by Manuel

I flew on Friday to London. You can read my experiences in the post after this post. Because special circumstances I didn't saw the whole London concert of depeche Mode. So I asked my friend Manuel to takeover it for this day.
I met Manuel the first time 2001 in front of the Madison Square Garden in New York.
There were many german fans and we stayed in touch since this first encounter.
Over all the years we became friends, because we live in the same city. He is a huge Depeche Mode fan and  England Lover, so he was the right man to takeover it for the London concert.
Enjoy!

Hi Claudia, I’m so happy to take over your blog for the concert in my favourite country England, even if it's not Manchester.

Although it was a hard trip with a three hours delay due to heavy storms and we arrived at our hotel at 4am, we had a great sunny day in (Karl’s) Hyde Park, saw the Tate and the London Pride Depeche Mode Party Boat on the River Thames.

Because of noise issues the show started early at 20.15 which meant that is still was bright until Never Let Me Down Again.

It was not only the biggest show they’ve ever played in the UK, but also the best London crowd ever (of course the crowd in Manchester still is No. 1 and the show at the Royal Albert Hall will always be the best in their career). The London crowd improved over the past years, also New Order and The Cure had great audiences last year.

Thus the band especially Dave was so amazed. He shouted ‘London, you're the best’ and ‘All you beautiful people!’ He was so happy about such a concert in his home town.

It became a melting pot with the start of World In My Eyes. The whole audience for example sang every word of A Question Of Lust. Even Wrong was a highlight for most of them. Obviously the highlights for the masses have been Enjoy The Silence and Never Let Me Down Again, where even the last row danced and sang along. Awesome!

A funny incident happened at World In My Eyes when Dave struggeld and his mike fell down to the floor. Martin was laughing for the rest of the song and they gave each other a high five afterwards.

Heavy black clouds rushed over the beautiful Olympic Stadium but luckily the English summer rain poured down only for ten minutes during Everything Counts and Stripped.

Again ‘Heroes’ was another highlight from Dave’s voice. After the first word the crowd shouted from every corner of the Stadium. Dave again sang it so brilliantly. It was such a pleasure. I think it's the best song performed by Dave ever. He loves and lives the song, extremely authentically.

I Feel You is getting stronger and stronger night by night. I'm so happy they haven't dropped it and I celebrate it at every show.

After Personal Jesus huge masses rushed to Stratford Station but the great infrastructure allowed us to get on board of the very first train. We will never forget that happy day in London! My favourite tracks have been Wrong, Everything Counts and I Feel You.

After Depeche Mode’s home concert we’re now ready for our home concert tomorrow in Cologne :-).

Thank you Manuel for this report. Your words gave me courage. Yesterday morning I was so sad about the attack. We must be courageous. We will continue. Concerts, cities, countries, dancing and celebrating with friends. Stay strong!