More Than A Party

There was a hugely entertaining post by Fraser P yesterday over at The Vinyl Villain, sharing memories of seeing The Clash and The Rezillos live in concert in 1978, the recklessness, mayhem and undercurrent of uncontrolled violence in the punk crowd, and of course some excellent music.

 

My first gig was a much different experience: Depeche Mode at the Bristol Hippodrome, Sunday 13th April 1986. I was 15 years old and excited to see my (then) favourite band performing live. Their fifth album, Black Celebration, had come out the month before and I thought it was their best yet (I think I still do). I went with school friends - all Mode fans - and we were pretty far back in the balcony, the steep incline and narrow footspace pretty much ruling out any attempts at standing up and dancing, even if 'security' wasn't hovering about, making sure everyone stayed seated.

 

I thought the music was great but even as a first gig, I realised pretty quickly that this wasn't the most dynamic of performances. Dave Gahan did all of the heavy lifting, making use of the stage space, interacting with the audience and generally keeping the focus on him. The other three pretty much remained static behind their keyboards: Martin Gore came forward to sing a couple of songs halfway through; Alan Wilder hammered a couple of slabs during Black Celebration and Andy Fletcher stepped in front of his synth to join in the handclaps during the encore. And that's about all I remember.

 

The music itself was great: 20 songs, with a good mix of the new album, the hits and various album tracks and B-sides. However, with each successive gig I went to, Depeche Mode slipped further down the list of "best gigs". I've never seen them live in concert since, although even by 1988's live concert/documentary 101, I could see that they had upped their game. However, by then, my gigging interests lay elsewhere.

 

Fortunately, some diligent soul has uploaded the setlist, which I have recreated here, splitting it into two parts, 10 songs apiece, the first including the intro music and ending with Martin Gore's two songs, the second including the three encores.

 

Part One (43:34)

1) Christmas Island (Single Version) (1986)

2) Black Celebration (Black Tulip Mix By Rico Conning) (1986)

3) A Question Of Time (Album Version) (1986)

4) Fly On The Windscreen (Death Mix By Gareth Jones) (1985)

5) Shake The Disease (Single Version) (1985)

6) Leave In Silence (Single Version) (1982)

7) It's Called A Heart (Single Version) (1985)

8) Everything Counts (Single Version) (1983)

9) It Doesn't Matter Two (Album Version) (1986)

10) A Question Of Lust (Remix Edit By Robert Margouleff) (1986)

Part Two (46:16)

1) Blasphemous Rumours (Single Edit) (1984)

2) New Dress (1986)

3) Stripped (Highland Mix By Flood) (1986)

4) Something To Do (Album Version) (1984)

5) Master And Servant (Single Version) (1984)

6) Photographic (ON-USound Photogenic Remix) (1987)

7) People Are People (Album Version) (1984)]

8) Boys Say Go! (Album Version) (1981)

9) Just Can't Get Enough (On-USound 12" Promo Mix) (1987)

10) More Than A Party (Album Version) (1984)

Part One (43:34) (KF) (Mega)

Part Two (46:16) (KF) (Mega)

Tracks 6 and 9 are bootlegs which appeared on the ON-USound label in the USA. Not to be confused with On-U Sound and Adrian Sherwood, who did remix Master And Servant and People Are People.