Sept 24: Review from hardyG <hardyg@primus-online.de>
Hi there!
I've been at the DM concert here in Erfurt, Germany on Sunday, September 20th, and would
like to give some info about it. If you still care about the Mode, read it, if you detest
them after Alan's departure, feel free to ignore it. :)
Venue: Messehalle, Erfurt
Promotion:
good, a local radio station held competitions for last available tickets, Sunday was
declared "DM-day" and they played Mode songs almost continuously for 24
hours; needless to say this all wasn't really necessary to draw in the masses :)
Attendance: 12,000 (sold out)
Support act:
Purity, a 3-piece female Prodigy-like band, albeit far more agressive; played seven songs,
crowd seemed to like them (read: no abusive chants for most of the time).
Stage design:
toned down, focussed on the band, relatively small stage, light show and video screens not
as elaborate as during the Devotional tour in Europe, but fitting perfectly with the
overall concept.
Sound:
Simply perfect!
Background movies:
not as many as previously, only during Walking In My Shoes, It's No Good, BOAG and
Stripped, IIRC; but very nicely done.
Performance of the band:
Dave- very energetic, just like in the good old days, great voice
Martin- switching between playing keyboards and guitar as usual, played some nice
guitar solos
Fletch- well, I didn't pay much attention to him, all I know is he clapped and danced a
lot, and his mic wasn't on...
Christian Eigner- played drums like a demi-god
Kerry Hopwood (I think)- took over Alan's keyboard parts, looked a bit lost on stage, but
played very well indeed
Background tapes:
They've apparently used Alan's programming on most of the older songs, but those tracks
still sounded very original, since the
live drums (on all songs except somebody, of course) and additional guitar and keyboard
parts changed them a lot.
They played the extended version of NLMDA just like on the MFTM tour (but with Martin
opening with his guitar), and IYR was based on the Zephyr mix. That disappointed me
initially, but drums, guitar and vocals turned out to sound so much more
powerful and intense than on the track Butch Vig dared to maime so cruelly, and this
resulted in a nearly perfect live version of DM's best song.
In short, this was the best DM concert I've ever seen!! Of course, I would have preferred
to see them perform with Alan, but luckily enough Hopwood (?) did a good job on stage,
even during Somebody.
The band seemed to be very relaxed and in a good mood, the relatively small venue
contributed to the great atmosphere, the live drums sounded so dynamic, and the crowd was
simply ecstatic and joined in to sing/scream all the lyrics word for word,
even the ones of the new songs. Those tracks got received very well (and they were also
superbly performed, especially Useless), but of course the masses cheered even more on the
older tracks. The highlights for me were A Question Of Time, NLMDA, Enjoy The Silence and
Personal Jesus. It was so emotional to welcome the guys again after such a long time, to
join the masses waving their arms, to scream "Reach out and touch faith!" again
and again and again...
So to all the people out there still having reservations about seeing the "new"
DM live: get there, you will have the time of your
life, even without Alan doing the work on stage, as unbelievable as it may sound.