It was damn hot in there, but that wasn't the only reason the crowd was on fire. The singalongs for Martin's AQOL and Shake the Disease were some of the loudest I've heard. Martin seemed pleasantly surprised. At one point Dave called him "Marty Fresh." LOL

Dave sang a good chunk of Precious to me and a gal to my left (see photo) - or perhaps I should say sang with, as I sang every word back to him. The girl next to me was shocked and loving it too much to sing, so she danced and hooted instead (I think? I wasn't focused on her. ;) ).

After four German shows I was hoping to catch a few new ones last night and was treated to Miles Away and Shake the Disease. I was super excited to hear Miles Away! It was great, and it's not my favorite from SoTU. I think the crowd got into it a bit, but there was not nearly enough dancing and singing from parts of the front row.

I managed to get Dave's setlist from his setup near Christian's drumkit - it had a puddle of honey spilled on it, which made it tricky to carry around.

I was so beat from dancing, singing and sweating that I opted to hang out and relax at the Palms with some buddies instead of going to the Beauty Bar afterparty. This proved to be a fortuitous turn, as we ended up meeting Martin as he was leaving a club there! He was super sweet to take pictures with a few fans and I was able to give him the three copies of the fanbook I brought for the three guys! He thanked me and seemed genuinely touched after I told him what they were. *warm fuzzy* I do hope they enjoy them. :)

Overall, everything about last night was amazing.. An awesome show, Dave giving his sassy 110% and rubbing/grinding the mic stand a lot more than Ive seen this tour. Must be the city. Or the sea of girls in front! Almost the whole front row was chicks! Glen was pimpin'. ;)

I met SO many people I'd wanted to meet after months/years of talking online in DM communities! From BONG to Home to Modefan.com and the DMMB.. You guys were all awesome!!

I cannot complain about much, other than the stressful queing situation or lack thereof and people that kept throwing random things on stage. I also did not take my camera, but it allowed me to enjoy the show full-out.

My throat is hoarse, I've only slept for a few hours and the come down from this will be huge.. But on to Denver on Thursday!


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After a scrambled morning that involved a 7am cab ride, a few hours on a train to Munich and a long walk to our hostel, we arrived at the impressive Munich Olympiastadion around 1:30pm. This was by far the weirdest line set-up.. there were several lines at different gates around the venue. We stuck around in the one that looked like it'd be the straightest shot to the front of stage area. Fortunately though the day was sunny, we had dappled shade from the ample trees and a cool breeze. The atmosphere was light and mellow. I didn't manage to sleep any while in line this time, though I wished I could have.

We ended up being part of a group they let through the first gates early by accident, so we had a little head start once the main gates opened. However, that was only after we stood around in the sun for 30-45minutes while they figured out what they were doing. Unfortunately once we were in the venue, this was a run similar to Berlin in that we found ourselves at the top of the stadium with a huge column of stairs to descend. However, unlike Berlin, the stairs near our gate dumped directly into the right side of the front of stage section. My legs were barely functional for running by this show, and it was the best I could do to jog down the stairs and around the catwalk. Not to mention the horrible security bottle necks. I think I had to pass through like four different check points just to get to the Front of Stage area. By the time I arrived, a six foot tall man ended up in front of me. I was freaking out, thinking my last gig in Germany was going to be stuck behind this guy, craning my neck around his very broad shoulders the whole time. Fortunately when the shows started, we shifted around a bit and my view was no longer obscured! Phew!

Before the show, the people around us were exceedingly friendly and wanted to know all about where we came from, what North American gigs and audiences were like, etc. It was the first time we really had a group of people asking us a lot of questions, one guy was even considering taking a California vacation and wanted to know about So Cal. Throughout our gigs, we had usually maybe one or two people stop and ask us where we were from, though most seemed to think we were from England at first. Nights before, we met some Germans who'd moved to England, a gal from France and even a fan from Mexico City who stopped to talk to us when they overheard our English. In Munich there was a large crew from Italy, the "Italian Spacewalkers." From reading boards, I know there were even more citizens from around the world, too. Germany: international Depeche Mode mecca!

Depeche put on another amazing show and several of us cheered when Dave came into "It's No Good" on time - even the band shared a smile. The crowd around us was warm and friendly, though not as insane as Frankfurt or Munich. One of the gals we chatted with before the show even leaned back toward me to sing the chorus of "Never Let Me Down Again," to which I responded by leaning forward with my head next to hers to sing along and dance. I think this was one of my big highlights of the show - singing and dancing along with a complete stranger, but as friends united under a common passion for the music. :)

Martin surprised us (finally!) by switching up the setlist a bit, swapping "A Question of Lust" for "Home." The song was so well received, it's no wonder he has continued to sing it for the majority of the tour thus far. "Home" is always a treat, as it's a personally special song for me, but I think I preferred the TTA version more since it was such a unique arrangement for the live setting.

The rest of the show was tight and went off well. What can I really say without repeating myself? Oh yeah, "Come Back" is still epic.. I don't think I've said that before.. ;) I managed to take some decent videos here, including this nice one of "Stripped":



After the lights went up, I tried to get the attention of the central camera man to ask for his setlist, but he couldn't hear or see me, as he was hard at work disassembling his station. I then shouted "Can I have the setlist??" to which the lead sound engineer (..? I've seen him a lot, on TTA too, always doing the mic checks and working at the board on the side) responded by tossing me his as he was coming down the catwalk. Amusingly, it fell short, landing half way between him and I, in the pit. The crowd let out a collective "Awwwwe," after which the camera man got down and handed it to me. I thanked them both and told them how I'd come out from California and it was my last gig, so it meant a lot. The camera man's body language was like "damn!" as he shook his head in amusement. After telling them goodbye and I'd see them in San Francisco, I turned around to find a gaggle of fans who all wanted pictures of my setlist! LOL. The tall guy from before took it and held it up so everyone could get pictures of it. At Tracy's suggestion, I stuck it in my passport wallet to ensure I wouldn't lose it, as I had been misplacing things left and right throughout the trip.

As we were leaving, I found myself happily punch-drunk. Four gigs, a back-to-back night, post-concert glee and the cold/infection finally took their toll - I spent most of the trip back to central Munich rambling to Alex, ogling photos and videos on my camera, and being otherwise random. Tara and Tracy were cracking up because I may as well have been drunk but I hadn't had any alcohol, and hadn't had any medication for many hours. Ah, exhaustion. We came out of the subway to find one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever had the pleasure of seeing in person, to which I exclaimed, "Holy shit! That's awesome!" and made a general big deal of it. Tracy told me I was doing a great service to my country. LOL

As we attempted to find our way around sometime past midnight, we had a rather wild-looking elderly (possibly homeless) lady stop to help us, but then she stalked us for several yards. I think Thomas managed to convince her we had our heading and were quite fine from there, to which she wandered off on her own. We had a great dinner to conclude our last night together. Though I was starved, I only managed to finish half my raviolis. My appetite was dismal the majority of the trip. I'm not sure if it was the stress or the illness or both - all I know is I felt very rude for it!

We didn't get back to the hostel until nearly 3:00am. After making some conversations with other hostel guests who liked DM and last minute trades with Alex and Thomas, I packed all my things for the flight the next morning. After all was said and done, I didn't get to bed till 4am. It was more like taking a nap rather than going to bed, though, because we had to be up at 7:30 to leave for the airport.

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Nearly two months after the gig, I'm finally posting about it. But hey! At least I'm committed to posting them, right? Frankfurt was another great gig. There were signs leading to the venue from our hotel, so we thought we could walk. This turned out to be a mistake as the signs led us into the middle of a forest then disappeared altogether. Commerzbank is nestled in a very woodsy area, obscured by tall trees. It was a nice walk, but disconcerting as we found ourselves wondering where the heck we were going. We asked a nice gentleman for directions (thank God for Tara's German skills), found the venue, but had no idea what side we needed to be on for the Front of Stage entry. Unfortunately none of the venue staff we asked knew either. We walked back and forth around what turned out to be the back of the venue, until we saw a huge poster/sign above a security person who didn't know anything, despite the sign above his head! Finally we had our heading and took a long hike around the venue and through the woods (again). We were greeted by friendly familiar faces - the hardcore German crew that was first onto the floors in Leipzig and Berlin, who had been right in front of us on the rail at each gig.

By this time I was still hopped up on Sudafed (i.e. a bit dehydrated and able to sleep in line) for the raging tempest that was my sinuses besieged by a wonderful infection. The weather was kind, if a bit erratic. Scattered clouds were drifting through the sky, leaving us baked when the sun was shining on our black pants, and chilled when clouds obscured the warm rays.

It really is too bad I suck at running. For this show, Tara got hung up by a security lady, and I was one of the first through the gates because security ignored me completely! I bolted as best I could, but my muscles were starting to feel the wear from the previous gigs and no matter how hard I tried I felt like I just couldn't pick up much speed! I got passed by quite a few people. Security here tried to create speed bumps of themselves, one even stepped right in front of me at full power. I swiveled on one foot and ducked under his outstretched arms to take the final bend around the catwalk to our usual haunt in front of Dave's mic. Frankfurt was the shortest run to rail of all four shows. Tara whizzed past me at some point, managing to secure us a spot on the rail itself, in the corner where the front meets the catwalk. Woo hoo! It was then that I realized I had pulled a muscle in my inner thigh, probably when dodging the security road block. :(

Tara and I hung out on the rail and chatted the rest of the afternoon away. The dude on the rail behind me was at his very first DM gig! Nice placement for a first gig! He was very excited and interested in talking to us about what to expect. :) DM did not disappoint, delivering another solid show, though Dave came in early during "It's No Good," as he did in Berlin. Oops! The setlist was the same as the Leipzig and Berlin shows, but still proved entertaining. "Come Back" was still a highlight for me, as were "Master and Servant" and amazingly, "Personal Jesus." I also captured a great video from "In Your Room" that reminded me of how amazing Dave has been despite the medical problems he faced only weeks prior.



We were confused when the projection for "Strangelove" flooded with red - I almost thought it was broken until it lasted for more than a few seconds. I didn't know about the censorship in Tel Aviv at this point so it came as a surprise. The rest of the show proved another night of romping good fun with good friends. Martin and Dave sounded in excellent form and "Waiting for the Night" was as breathtaking as ever.

I think the highlight of this gig was the crowd. They were LOUD! Especially in my immediate surroundings, we were dancing and hooting and chanting with fervor! Berlin had the biggest crowd, and the electric energy, but Frankfurt Front of Stage was losing its collective mind! Every silent gap was filled by someone or some people doing something - singing, screaming, anything. I found out when we showed up in Munich that the German crew that had been in front of us at each gig didn't go to that show, so Frankfurt was their last stop for a while. This could explain why they were jumping and dancing with even more gusto than the previous nights. It was a great crowd to be immediately surrounded by, though at this point my jumping beans were running out of steam. I kept dancing as much as I could, including making goofy faces at the camera guy who appeared quite amused by watching us flip out. At one point I motioned to ask for the setlist but he'd already promised it to one of the girls from the hardcore group. She also got a lot of love from Dave that night, who had probably recognized her and her friends by this point. After the show, the sound guy brought out backstage passes for her and her boyfriend. Wow, talk about a lucky night for a DM fan! I'd be lying if I said I wasn't jealous, but was great to see someone who really deserved it be rewarded. No joke, her and her friends had to have been at the venue 7am or earlier at every show because not only did they beat us, there were also people that had come after them but before us.

Another great gig behind us, we trudged out to the trains. It's amazing how horrible I felt before and after the gigs, but during that two hours when DM were on stage, I almost forgot I was sick, or didn't care. I started feeling it a bit more in Frankfurt and Munich because I would try to bounce but my body would object after just a few jumps. Try to sing, only to be thwarted by sinus drainage in my throat. But I suffered well. ;) Sometime on the way to the train, sadly, my body stopped feeling the concert high. I was losing ground. Needed food and sleep badly! I had my own hotel room that night due to some weird booking issues, so I soaked in a nice hot bath, hoping to relieve my aching muscles.

I turned on the TV when I went to bed, flipped through the channels and saw news from home on CNN and BBC.. Talking about the crap economy as usual, but also talking about Obama's trip to Germany. They showed a part of one of his speeches. This was the first time I realized I was a bit home sick - I saw the NEWS on the telly and was like "OMG, home! ;o;" Then there was the breaking news of the Iran elections and North Korea's usual shenanigans.. We were so busy and enjoying ourselves, I hadn't really had time to stop and think I hadn't been home, on the internet or read the news in nine days. Talk about living in a bubble. Doing this sort of trip makes you start to realize what it might feel like for the band on tour, albeit on a more compact scale. Eventually I managed to find sleep, somewhere around 2am. The next morning would be another early one - the gig in Munich was back-to-back with Frankfurt.

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