Depeche Mode in Cologne, June 5, or home match and home victory

Came back from London on Sunday. Later arrived two french friends of mine. I met them the first time in Madrid 2014. We became friends via our connection on Facebook. Unfortunately I had to work on Monday, Whit Monday, my office is open the whole year.

After work I drove to the Rhein-Energie-Stadium in waited in front of the stadium of many friends, devotees to take a picture here for this blog and for the official Depeche Mode Facebook site. I have the honor to take over the site tomorrow.

What a pleasure to be together with all this devoted peoples. There are fans from Argentina: Veronica and Guillermo of Argentina, there were my friends from Brazil : Helge with his daughter Zoe.

It was a sunny, warm day. First stadium concert with great weather for me.

We came into the stadium to hear the support act : The Horrors. But couldn't listen to it, because the whole time I met people I know. It's my hometown and my favorite band. 

then the snippet of the Beatles and the "Where's the revolution" intro and Depeche Mode came on stage. Frenetic applause! And increased as the maestro Mr. Dave Gahan climbed his podium.

From the first moment I knew, that will be an unforgettable concert and evening. And so it was.

Setlist like usual.

After the first two songs Dave greeted the audience with "Good evening, Cologne!"

I was so happy to hear this words. It's great to travel through the world to see Depeche Mode but it is an incomparable feeling when they playing in your hometown. And believe me: the Cologne audience is a party audience. We know to celebrate!

" Pain that I used to " and already everybody jumped the whole song. 45000 people in this great stadium. very good sound, well organized, only the front of the stage areas are a little bit to full with people. Many people poked other people, the Germans didn't like physical contact. Hey, go to spanish concert of Depeche Mode, there standing the people in the arenas packed like sardines in a can and have fun together.

" Corrupt" worked very well in Cologne and then with " In your room" followed by " World in my eyes" the audience started singing with Dave. Crested by "Cover" me. 

I was in love with Depeche Mode, Dave Gahan and the Cologne people. Dave knew where he was, I noticed this. It was a give-and-take relation. 

The two songs of Martin aroused a special atmosphere. Quiet, everybody was listen to Martin, but so intense.... wow, a shiver ran over my back.

Dave came back in a good temper and led us from the quiet " Poison heart" to a revolution. " Where's the revolution" was celebrated so wild, a new maximum.

"Wrong" as prelude to " Everything counts". " Higher and higher".... I 'm searching for words. 

"Stripped" gave us a breather  before the last height was reached. Dave danced liked in old times to "Enjoy the silence" and never let me down", I couldn't believe this. I wanted to pinch my arm, dancing and dreaming....all this really happened?

After the short break the first encore with Martin: " Somebody" and like in Lille thousands of mobil phone flashlights lit up. Goosebumps.

After "walking in my shoes" a german fan action started. Many fans held signs with the imprint: "Depeche Mode, Heroes, ever and ever". I danced arm in arm with my friend Brit. We both were so big Bowie Fans, it was an amazing feeling to hear this song in this big stadium in Cologne.

Many years ago I saw Mr. Bowie at the E-Werk Cologne, a small club, where he sang " Heroes" by himself. dave liked the fan action, he smiled the whole time.

What can I say about the two last songs?

" I feel you" in such a powerful version, the master whips his slaves higher and higher towards the cliff. The cliff is " Personal Jesus", we can dance one last time before we burn the wings like Icarus.

What a final....the band looked very happy as they said "Goodbye to this unique, unbelievable audience. Happy, happy, happy....and very happy that I could leave the stadiums together with my friends. We will never forget this evening, which we have experienced together.

Such a perfect day.

At home I met my french friends. They had "early entrance" and catcher a good place in front of the catwalk and were happy like me about this fantastic performance.

Today we had breakfast together before they went back to France. Thank you Jean-Georges and Peggy for this great 2 days with you, I feel so embraced by your presence and the gifts.

Very excited because the Depeche Mode Facebook takeover. Don't know which posts of me they will publish. 

Thank you all for your support. In the last days I got many feedback and I'm very happy about that.

Thank you all guys for supporting my picture yesterday:

Thank you Martin, Micha, Heike, Brit, Arkadi, Isa, Ohst, Helge, Zoe, Thomas, Timo, Dirk, Andre, Marcel, Simone, Martin, Kai, Peter, veronica, Guillermo, Carsten, Julia, Claudia, Antje, Sonja, Kerry, Penza, Jochen, Christian, Kämpfer,Thomas, Melanie, Marc, Nancy, Claudia, Julia, , Thomas.

Thank you my son Anton to take the picture and thank you, Helge for editing the picture.

Depeche Mode in London, June 3 or "Poison heart"

Friday I flew to London. Arrived in my nice small hotel " London residence" near to Victoria station in the early evening. Had a wonderful and delicious vegan dim sum. Then I met a group of friends and we enjoyed a few drinks together! Next morning I ran with my friend Heike from Cologne via Buckingham Palace and the Lady Diana Memorial Walk to Westminster Abbey and back to the hotel. After breakfast we spent the whole day in Camden, visited the Depeche Mode Merchandise Pop Up Store, ate a fast but healthy meal at the Lockmarket and had a few beer in the ice wharf at the canal.
all drinks are very cheap, the place is beautiful. If you come to Camden, visit it.


Then we picked up our tickets at the London Stadium, which is an imposing building. I can't remember, that Depeche Mode played ever in a bigger venue in the United Kingdom.
But this evening was a very special evening for me. As I booked the concert I couldn't know that my all time favorite Football club " Juventus Turin" will play in the final of the Champions League at the same evening.
I thought long about this problem and I decided to watch first the football game in a sports bar near the stadium and after the win of Juventus Turin I had the idea to enjoy the rest of the concert with my friends.
Short summary: Juventus Turin lost this final against Real Madrid. It made me so sad to see how Gigi Buffon lost this game and I went lonely to the stadium. in this moment Depeche Mode played " Enjoy the silence". Soundtrack of my life, yes!  It was very hard to came inside. I could't know at this moment that London had been haunted by another attack ( three men drove with a car in a group of people on the London Bridge and after that they attacked people with knifes. The police killed all three). But there was an assistant, he had pity on me  because I had been crying and let me inside. I came to the end of " Never let me down". It was an amazing mood inside.
Pure electricity.
Found my friends in the golden circle and enjoyed with them the last songs. A great " Heroes" by Dave fitted to my mood.
Met many of friends there.
After the concert we got the information about the attacks on London Bridge. The public traffic broke down and we need more than 2 hours together in our hotel. We sat together and drank a few beer, totally shocked about this unbelievable depravation.
Yesterday morning after another run at River Thames I flew back to Cologne.

I am appalled at the latest attack. I've never been so close. I am sad, frightened, happy to be healthy.
I could feel the panic that pulsed through the city.
In Torino, more than 1000 people were injured because there were a mass panic attack at a public viewing of the Juventus game.
What can we do ? I do not want to give up, but it gets harder.

"You have poison in your heart
Yeah I'm sure of it"

Made a lot of pictures to share with you.
Now I'm back here home. very early morning, because today Depeche Mode will play here in my home town. Will met many friends today and planned to take a picture together with all my friends and devotees. You will find my report here tomorrow and on the Depeche Mode Facebook side on June 7.

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!

Depeche Mode in Copenhagen May, 31 or takeover by Evelina

Here is a short but exciting review from Evelina. I discovered her on instagram and ask her, if she will takeover my site for Copenhagen. I was glad, as she answered : yes!
Look at her great pictures taken from the second row. Amazing

Evelina

There was so much love last night in Copenhagen. I can with no other words describe the concert at Parken in Copenhagen. I have seen Depeche Mode at that arena every tour since The Exciter tour and this was the most amazing one of them all. The sound was perfect, the crowd were on fire and Dave at his best. I have had the pleasure of attending both The Barrowland gig in Glasgow and the tour start in Stockholm. So far nothing beats the Barrowlands but Parken comes pretty close.

A new supporting band was a big welcome in Copenhagen and The Horros gave so much more energy than The Raveonettes. I will say no more about them, they were ok.

Having queued since 10 in the morning, in a very windy and cold Copenhagen it was a pleasure to hear the intro, see the lights go out and look for Dave on the upper stage. I had the pleasure of getting to second row in front of the stage. Right in front of Martin. I am only 158 cm tall (or short) so it helps to be close to the stage. And queuing all day means you get to meet a lot of nice Devotees. I acutally got to front row during the encore for being nice and giving a fello Devotee a piece of my Snickers since he was very hungry. I hope he and his wife have an excellent time at show in London on Saturday.

The setlist was the same as previous shows. There was a really good vibe from the band right from start with "Going backwards" and I think it escalated with "So much love".

I really enjoyed "A pain that I’m used to". Peter Gordeno played the base well and the crowed started jumping.

"Cover me" is for me a new DM classic. The backdrop from Anton Corbijn sets a tone that takes the song to a new level. I get goosebumps hearing it live and Dave was brilliant as ever.

Martins part with "A question of lust" and "Home" made the crowd go mad and Dave had to thank the audiance to shut us up and then he gave Martin a kiss. 

"Everything counts, Stripped, Enjoy the silence" and "Never let me down" made the crowd go mad but then those are the songs that everyone knows.

"Somebody, Walking in my shoes, Heroes, I feel you" and "Personal Jesus" - I got to enjoy front row. "Walking in my shoes" is my absolute new favourite live but then it has very powerful lyrics. And during I feel you the arena exploded. I hope everyone attending the show had a great time. Waving arms, singing along, dancing and red scrafs showing in the hands during Where’s the revolution must be an excellent review for the band.

Thank you so much, Evelina.

Love devotees, please contact me via Facebook, instagram or here, if you want to takeover my blog for one day. Write a report for a concert and send it to me with a view pictures. 

I'm traveling to many further concerts but I can't be everywhere ( although I wanted).

I'm very nervous, have so much things to do before I go to London in a few hours.

Will come back on Sunday and two friends of France will visit me.

And then finally the Monday. Depeche Mode will play here in my hometown and I have planned fan action, means a picture in front of the stadium. I'm looking forward to meet many devotees, long time friends, travel mates, colleagues.

So stay tuned and enjoy Depeche Mode!