I would like to go to their show in San Jose on Sat, but I am not finding a lot of interest (unbelievable, and I know I am ancient).

Anyone have an extra ticket that I can buy and tag along? Or want to buy tickets together? DM me. This is last minute, but I really need to see them they are on my bucket list. I'll go alone if I have to (although I usually hate doing that). Grew up listening to them on KROQ. Shake the Disease was on every other hour.

KoreAmBear said:

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I would like to go to their show in San Jose on Sat, but I am not finding a lot of interest (unbelievable, and I know I am ancient).

Anyone have an extra ticket that I can buy and tag along? DM me. This is last minute, but I really need to see them they are on my bucket list. Grew up listening to them on KROQ. Shake the Disease was on every other hour.

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They were the first concert I ever went to. Blind Melon was the second.

Yes, saw them at the Concord Pavilion about 15 years ago.

They DELIVER!

PS. They will be playing on March 23rd in Sacto on Thursday Night before they get to SJ on Saturday.
The nosebleed seats in Sacto are much cheaper.
Only $85 vs $175 in San Jose

DiabloWags said:

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Yes, saw them at the Concord Pavilion about 15 years ago.
They DELIVER!

PS. They will be playing on March 23rd in Sacto on Thursday Night before they get to SJ on Saturday.
The nosebleed seats in Sacto are much cheaper.
Only $85 vs $175 in San Jose

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Yah I don't think I can get to Sacto during the week. Thanks!

Never seen them. But this is my favorite Depeche Mode song. I don't think it's on any of their albums. It's from the movie Modern Girls.




The Cure was the first concert I ever went to: 1992 at the Rose Bowl. And in May they are playing nearby me at another iconic bowl: Hollywood Bowl for 3 nights. But I can't go, damnit.

KoreAmBear said:

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I would like to go to their show in San Jose on Sat, but I am not finding a lot of interest (unbelievable, and I know I am ancient).

Anyone have an extra ticket that I can buy and tag along? Or want to buy tickets together? DM me. This is last minute, but I really need to see them they are on my bucket list. I'll go alone if I have to (although I usually hate doing that). Grew up listening to them on KROQ. Shake the Disease was on every other hour.

---

Can't go and never seen them but I'm a closet fan
Have fun

I have been to plenty of concerts by myself. I used to go to concerts without tickets and sometimes people would give me an extra or someone on the crew would let me into the show.

One time my friends went to The Warfield to see a show and I was too broke to go. We had lunch in SF and then the plan was for them to go to the show afterwards while I went back to Berkeley. It was a show I was really tepid about: My Bloody Valentine with Buffalo Tom and Yo La Tengo. My friends really liked Yo La Tengo for some bizarre reason.

I walked from our lunch spot to The Warfield to wait with them before the show. The doors finally opened and they went in. Some dude with long hair came up to me and asked if I wanted to see the show. I said "Sure!" and he said "Follow me!" and went in.

I took a few steps and the bouncers asked me see my ticket. I told them I didn't have one. Meanwhile, the dude was almost out of sight as he had been walking quickly. I told them I was invited by "that guy" and pointed which led to them thinking I was full of crap.

"What guy? You're going to need a ticket."

Dejected, I figured no harm done and started to leave when the dude appeared out of nowhere and said "He's with me." I got that "Why didn't you say so?" look and they let me in. The dude took off into the bowels of the theater and as he left he said "Enjoy the show!" I never figured out who that was. Imagine my friends' surprise when I caught up to them.

Even when I go with other people I often end up by myself anyway because I like to push my way to the front at general admission shows. When I was younger I would crowd surf but not only do I weigh too much for that now but venues have really cracked down on that. I have only been to a few shows with assigned seats and that sucks.

I say that if you can find someone to go then great, but otherwise just go by yourself. Good things can happen. Some of the best shows I have seen were essentially alone because I was separated from my group (on accident or on purpose).

Also, something else to think about if you are single is buying two tickets and then finding a "date" online or at the office or similar with the excuse that you ended up with an extra ticket. It is less threatening that way than actually asking someone out. For Depeche Mode that won't be hard to do. Lots of women (and gay men if that's your thing) love them. You can always ditch each other later if it is not a match.

Enjoy the show!

Totally unrelated but this reminds me of another short story.

I was living in Casa Zimbabwe and my girlfriend was going to UCSC.

The people in the house knew I was a big concert goer and one time I got back from a weekend in Santa Cruz to find an envelope under my door.

Inside were two tickets with a note from a housemate I hardly knew. He said he had some extra tickets and he knew I would use them. The problem is they were for the night before, when I had been in Santa Cruz.

The band? Guns N Roses.

I never did see them and it pisses me off to this day. Would have been cool to see them in a small venue.

And, to get back to the thread, hell yes I would have gone alone if I had gotten them in time!

20yo Gahan, Gore, Fletcher and Wilde, must have been right after Vince Clarke left the band:



Good luck with the concert plan KAB, and enjoy the silence.

dimitrig said:

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Totally unrelated but this reminds me of another short story.

I was living in Casa Zimbabwe and my girlfriend was going to UCSC.

The people in the house knew I was a big concert goer and one time I got back from a weekend in Santa Cruz to find an envelope under my door.

Inside were two tickets with a note from a housemate I hardly knew. He said he had some extra tickets and he knew I would use them. The problem is they were for the night before, when I had been in Santa Cruz.

The band? Guns N Roses.

I never did see them and it pisses me off to this day. Would have been cool to see them in a small venue.

And, to get back to the thread, hell yes I would have gone alone if I had gotten them in time!

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Saw gnr in Prague in 92
Use your illusion
Axel dumped a speaker on fans and ran offstage in a tirade. Yelled at fans in middle of song. Threw the mic. What an idiot.
Slash and the bassist came and played to the crowd where it happened. Extra long jam session.
I guess they made axel comfortably numb backstage before he reappeared.

The Vocal Ranges of the Greatest Singers | ConcertHotels.com


https://www.concerthotels.com/worlds-greatest-vocal-ranges

Axl Rose Responds to List Calling Him 'World's Greatest Singer' Rolling Stone


https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/axl-rose-responds-to-list-calling-him-worlds-greatest-singer-124867/

Thanks cool.
Can you find me a website where I can sing high and sing low and have it tell me my range?

Probably…..but no.

Welcome to the Jungle
Sweet Child O' Mine
Paradise City

Three very good songs. Well written and well performed. Problem: makes for a thin Greatest Hits Album*

*I do that analysis for all bands that I like.

Looked at the tour info and Ticketmaster prices, I guess they are in accordance with the current inflationary climate and the increase in purchase power of X Gens, hehe.

https://www.ticketmaster.com/depeche-mode-memento-mori-tour-new-york-new-york-04-14-2023/event/3B005D41E99C1E71?landing=c

This is a really, really longass tour, which wanders across Europe through late Spring and Summer, then winds its way back into N. America with 7 stops in California in December, I think I might catch them this Summer in Europe or in winter in America. But you have to wonder how "fresh" they will be in December after touring for 9 months straight, with more or less the same playlist, they will probably be going through the motions.

Also, same period and vibe, Duran Duran in San Jose in May,

https://www.ticketmaster.com/duran-duran-future-past-san-jose-california-05-28-2023/event/1C005E3FE7C25B76?landing=c

Speaking of Duran Duran, I think it must've been in the late 90s when my brother called me at work in the city and said he was going to see motley Crue at the Huntington Hotel and he wanted me to join him after I got off at work.

I was definitely not a Mötley Cre fan but I decided to meet up with him as a good brother would.

As we were waiting in the lobby, a bunch of people started coming in with guitars and other equipment. I asked if they were motley Crue. The guy with an English accent said, "Motley Crue is staying here? Cool! No, we are Duran Duran."

I can't tell you if it was one of the famous musicians or not, but it definitely could have been.

Mick Mars eventually showed up and engaged in a 15 minute conversation with my brother. I met him, and he looked like death warmed over. Skinny, grey, wrinkled, and with the energy level of an old man. I later came to understand that he has long had bad health.

https://www.sfgate.com/shopping/article/depeche-mode-tickets-sacramento-17850032.php

prospeCt said:

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$48 and the founding guy is dead?
My brother saw Ted Nugent at cow palace is about 1980 for $7.50

How's that compare to inflation adjustment?

As for that Duran Duran video, they look like lip syncing idiots in front of a stage audience squished together to make look like more people were there.
I'd say Trump, re the crowd. But lip syncing, hell no, you have no idea what that clown is going to say.

concordtom said:

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$48 and the founding guy is dead?
My brother saw Ted Nugent at cow palace is about 1980 for $7.50

How's that compare to inflation adjustment?

As for that Duran Duran video, they look like lip syncing idiots in front of a stage audience squished together to make look like more people were there.
I'd say Trump, re the crowd. But lip syncing, hell no, you have no idea what that clown is going to say.

---

Duran Duran was HUGE and there would be no need to make it look like they had more fans.

Also, unlike a lot of other bands they actually did all play their instruments and are pretty talented.

Yes. I agree.
It's a result of the video producers.

Hey guys, we're going to film a video today.

concordtom said:

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$48 and the founding guy is dead?
My brother saw Ted Nugent at cow palace is about 1980 for $7.50

How's that compare to inflation adjustment?

As for that Duran Duran video, they look like lip syncing idiots in front of a stage audience squished together to make look like more people were there.
I'd say Trump, re the crowd. But lip syncing, hell no, you have no idea what that clown is going to say.

---

One of the usual knocks on Depeche Mode and other synth pop or electronic bands is that they often prerecord an electronic backing track, or just loop a keyboard riff with their midi electronic sequencers. They were derided as playing canned music, often by Boomer music critics whose reference frame was in the 70s, who didn't understand the process of using sequencers.

For a lot of the signature songs from the era and genre, like Everything Counts for DM or The Chauffeur for Duran Duran, the sound textures and layers have been carefully crafted in studio for weeks on end and couldn't be reproduced live without the basic tape template playing from a sequencer.


Since the 1980s, there were at least two periods of synth revivals, where you had 20yo who were very much into the genre, listening to a mix of older and current synth bands. One of the better bands that came out from the 2000s revival is Xeno and Oaklander, duo from Brooklyn, who are touring now and will be in California in April, at much smaller venues than Depeche Mode, like the DNA lounge in SF.

https://www.songkick.com/artists/41570-xeno-and-oaklander/calendar

If you like early DM, you will also like Xeno&Oaklander, who sound right out of 1983:

"They were derided as playing canned music, often by Boomer music critics whose reference frame was in the 70s, who didn't understand the process of using sequencers."

Leave it to Boomers to only respect musicians that put in Gladwell's 10,000 hours to hone their craft.

bearister said:

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"They were derided as playing canned music, often by Boomer music critics whose reference frame was in the 70s, who didn't understand the process of using sequencers."

Leave it to Boomers to only respect musicians that put in Gladwell's 10,000 hours to hone their craft.

---

Inspiration in pop is often more important than basic musical virtuosity, the reason a lot of the best pop ever written was done by people in their early 20s or sometimes younger. As well, since we're on the subject of Depeche Mode, members like Clarke or Wilder were far better musicians in their early 20s than say, David Crosby was at that age. Also Crosby, McGuinn, Clark and co (speaking as a big fan of the Byrds) were notoriously bad musicians when they composed or played some of the best music of their careers, well short of those 10,000 hours...

nice post, and thx for the song.
I had never heard of them.
But, yeah... Good chill.

Guys, we've gone way off course and buried the lede.

KAB - did you make it to the Depeche Mode show last night, and how was it??

Apparently not.
We here live vicariously through digital bits and bytes.

The Mercury News review of the concert at SAP Center in San Jose on Saturday states in its headline:

"Depeche Mode as powerful as ever during epic show. English electronic legends deliver in a big way in Memento Mori Tour"

This is what it looked like, earlier this week in Sacramento:



set list:
00:00 Wagging Tongue 03:02 Walking In My Shoes 09:30 Sister Of Night 15:14 Speak To Me 19:48 A Question Of Lust 24:09 Soul With Me 27:44 Stripped 32:36 Enjoy The Silence 39:40 Waiting For The Night 45:07 Just Can't Get Enough 50:33 Never Let Me Down Again 57:06 Personal Jesus

It's not bad, but still a large dropoff from their 80s peak, I wouldn't drive an hour, or pay $300-$500 for this.

This just came out, full recording of the SJ show, 2hrs, with a different (better) setlist:



Setlist
0:00 Intro 0:28 My Cosmos Is Mine 5:39 Wagging Tounge 9:15 Walking in My Shoes 15:54 It's No Good 21:00 Sister of Night 26:52 In Your Room 31:59 Everything Counts 38:35 Precious 43:46 Speak To Me 48:48 A Question of Lust 53:15 Soul With Me 57:40 Ghosts Again 1:01:55 I Feel You 1:07:00 A Pain That I'm Used To 1:11:31 World In My Eyes 1:16:45 Wrong 1:20:58 Stripped 1:26:18 John the Revelator 1:30:10 Enjoy the Silence 1:37:58 Waiting for the Night 1:44:03 Just Can't Get Enough 1:49:09 Never Let Me Down Again 1:55:39 Personal Jesus

Cal88 said:

---

This is what it looked like, earlier this week in Sacramento:



set list:
00:00 Wagging Tongue 03:02 Walking In My Shoes 09:30 Sister Of Night 15:14 Speak To Me 19:48 A Question Of Lust 24:09 Soul With Me 27:44 Stripped 32:36 Enjoy The Silence 39:40 Waiting For The Night 45:07 Just Can't Get Enough 50:33 Never Let Me Down Again 57:06 Personal Jesus

It's not bad, but still a large dropoff from their 80s peak, I wouldn't drive an hour, or pay $300-$500 for this.

This just came out, full recording of the SJ show, 2hrs, with a different (better) setlist:



Setlist
0:00 Intro 0:28 My Cosmos Is Mine 5:39 Wagging Tounge 9:15 Walking in My Shoes 15:54 It's No Good 21:00 Sister of Night 26:52 In Your Room 31:59 Everything Counts 38:35 Precious 43:46 Speak To Me 48:48 A Question of Lust 53:15 Soul With Me 57:40 Ghosts Again 1:01:55 I Feel You 1:07:00 A Pain That I'm Used To 1:11:31 World In My Eyes 1:16:45 Wrong 1:20:58 Stripped 1:26:18 John the Revelator 1:30:10 Enjoy the Silence 1:37:58 Waiting for the Night 1:44:03 Just Can't Get Enough 1:49:09 Never Let Me Down Again 1:55:39 Personal Jesus

---

That's the thing. All these concerts are easily available on YouTube. Sure, there's the experience of going there. But is it worth all that money?

I've been spending a lot of time watching concerts, specifically Guns N Roses and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

In Sydney earlier this year, the Chili Peppers played a lot of their hits, but not all of them. They left a lot of them out, including Under the Bridge, as they promoted their new album. Who the *****cares about their new stuff?

okaydo said:

---

Cal88 said:

---

This is what it looked like, earlier this week in Sacramento:



set list:
00:00 Wagging Tongue 03:02 Walking In My Shoes 09:30 Sister Of Night 15:14 Speak To Me 19:48 A Question Of Lust 24:09 Soul With Me 27:44 Stripped 32:36 Enjoy The Silence 39:40 Waiting For The Night 45:07 Just Can't Get Enough 50:33 Never Let Me Down Again 57:06 Personal Jesus

It's not bad, but still a large dropoff from their 80s peak, I wouldn't drive an hour, or pay $300-$500 for this.

This just came out, full recording of the SJ show, 2hrs, with a different (better) setlist:



Setlist
0:00 Intro 0:28 My Cosmos Is Mine 5:39 Wagging Tounge 9:15 Walking in My Shoes 15:54 It's No Good 21:00 Sister of Night 26:52 In Your Room 31:59 Everything Counts 38:35 Precious 43:46 Speak To Me 48:48 A Question of Lust 53:15 Soul With Me 57:40 Ghosts Again 1:01:55 I Feel You 1:07:00 A Pain That I'm Used To 1:11:31 World In My Eyes 1:16:45 Wrong 1:20:58 Stripped 1:26:18 John the Revelator 1:30:10 Enjoy the Silence 1:37:58 Waiting for the Night 1:44:03 Just Can't Get Enough 1:49:09 Never Let Me Down Again 1:55:39 Personal Jesus

---

That's the thing. All these concerts are easily available on YouTube. Sure, there's the experience of going there. But is it worth all that money?

I've been spending a lot of time watching concerts, specifically Guns N Roses and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

In Sydney earlier this year, the Chili Peppers played a lot of their hits, but not all of them. They left a lot of them out, including Under the Bridge, as they promoted their new album. Who the *****cares about their new stuff?

---

I love to go to concerts. I hate watching or listening to recorded concerts.

Yes, the reason to go is for the experience.

The best part of live music is the energy. It doesn't always happen. But when it does it is magic.