The shows were a blast and almost every song was performed very powerfully and as a dance-guarantee. Only the first three songs are too slow for the show-start (‘In Chains’, ‘Wrong’ and ‘Hole to feed’ from ‘Sounds of the Universe’, of course)

Especially Martin´s intense performances touched me deeply. His almost Acapella performance of ‘Insight’ on the 26th, ‘Home’, ‘One Caress’, ‘Somebody’ and ‘Dressed in Black’ are exactly what I would like to hear from DM in the future. More classic elements, mixed with old components from all their 30 years of work-experience? Worth a thought, boys.

Anyways, I hope the gentlemen recover thorough from this heavy tour.

Here are a few impressions.

And check my Youtube-Channel for a few video-snippets and close-ups.

‘One Caress’

The file is a .pdf-document with 14 pages. You need the Adobe Reader to open and view the sheets.

Enjoy the Calendar and 2010!
Merry Christmas!

Plot

Depeche Mode don´t appear in this video for even one single moment. Instead, we see a Teenage Combo on stage, dressed in excessively colourful crazy fashion. Gender seems to be of no importance here. The frontman/woman starts to move their mouth to Dave´s singing and stares into the watching club-crowd below without any emotion. The emotionless crowd simply stares back.

With the camera moving around the location, it catches a couple that almost swallows themselves by very heavy french kissing. The man is covered in Tattoos. While the crowd watches them dumbly, more and more couples turn to each other – mindless it seems – and start to french-kiss animalistically.

The Teenage Band just watches, as if there was no brain-activity or realization of what happens around them. One Band-Member wears heavy fake eyelashes and braces. She looks like a 15-year-old girl.

We leave the club and enter the streets where hetero couples only play with each other´s tongues like animals. Their faces are covered in Spit and Food. The camera doesn´t leave out weird couples either. We only see heteros, though.
Sad Top of the scenery would be the couple by the Hot Dog stand, where the guy stuffs the woman´s mouth with a Hot Dog with lots of mustard. They keep smearing the stuff into each other´s faces.

People keep tongue-playing until the song stops. Then they simply separate and go their own ways like Zombies.
Back in the club and on stage, the Teenage Band stops playing/singing and weirdly look at each other. The crowd stares back…

Screencaps

My opinion

I can understand the band management´s immense efforts to try and fit into today´s zeitgeist: They obviously try to reach the young MTV-audience with intense colours and seemingly shocking actions. While showing the zombie-like behaviour of everyone in the video, they obviously want to mirror today´s society, where people are mainly watching things happen without any action.

For another band with another style and message (and past!!) it´d be a fitting work – but for Depeche Mode?! I´d rather have a simple video with the Band performing or no video at all to let the mind wander than a bad video-creation like this.

Why did they choose this video?

• To get attention, any attention, no matter if positive or negative?
• To extremely adjust to today´s young and flippant audience to be cool?
• To show the old fans and critics that they are in constant change?
• Not to be in the video at all and show they don´t really care anymore?
• To completely exchange the old fans with new, fresh 18- people?

I have no idea. I´m extremely disappointed and confused.

Please post away.

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