This was the first time that Daniel Miller saw Depeche Mode live. Daniel Miller had already seen Vince and Dave before: the two of them went to Rough Trade's office with their demo cassette, but got forwarded to Daniel Miller's little Mute office within the same building, but Daniel basically ignored them. Daniel in Uncut magazine, May 2001: "It wasn't that I wasn't impressed, I didn't actually listen. I was in the middle of something else, they wanted to play me stuff, and I said I can't listen to it now. I just thought they looked like dodgy New Romantics. I didn't even hear the music at that point. The first time I heard the music was at [1980-1 1-12, Bridge House]. I didn't even associate them as being the same group." Miller says in 1997 : "They've continued to remind me of this [mistake] ever since!"
Miller explains it better in 201 1 (translated):
"On the day that Fad Gadget's first album was released [1] I was in a terribly bad mood, because the pressing plant had messed up the album cover . Suddenly I was standing at my desk in [the building of] record label "Rough Trade", which I was allowed to use, because I couldn't afford a place of my own, with [Rough Trade] colleague Scott and some weird guys [Vince and Dave]. He said: "Listen to this band, you might like it." He didn't mention their names. With the misprinted album cover in mind, I had other stuff on my mind and walked way without saying a word. The next time I saw Depeche Mode was not much later at the Bridge House, run by T erry Murphy , a pretty shady ex-boxer , who booked quite good bands. Fad Gadget was going to play there, and he had hooked up these guys from Basildon as the support act. I was occupied by Fad Gadget's sound, and normally I would have missed out on Depeche Mode, because I usually would go out to eat during the soundcheck, just to return right in time for the show. I can't remember why I didn't do so that night. But anyway , I didn't mind it when suddenly these four guys started playing. The guy from Naked Lunch was standing next to me. We listened to the first song and both thought: "Wow, that's good." And so it continued. Even more interesting was the crowd's reaction: it clicked immediately . The people were dancing and didn't even look at the band. Dave was still very shy . He stood very still, sang the lyrics and didn't move and inch, and yet, the spark flew over . After the show, I introduced myself to the band and said how much I had liked their performance. But of course I had no idea that they were still pissed off about me. Vince and the others had not forgotten about our meeting at Rough Trade and so they reacted really cool. I tried to have some small talk with Fletch and asked him what music he liked. His reply: "Anything that’s fashionable." Someone else replied to that: "No, Fletch, you listen to ELO." Before I went home I asked them where they would play next time. Dave gave me his parents' phone number . When I called the next day , his mother was on the phone. She then put Dave on the phone, whose bad mood was not to be missed. He only mumbled: "Okay , fair enough. Y ou can come to our next gig.""
Dave Gahan said in the documentary for the Speak & Spell remaster DVD from 2006:
We knew [Daniel Miller] was there, because, I think, he was mixing Fad's sound. It was a big crowd, it was full up, and Daniel came up afterwards and came up to me, thinking at the time that I was writing the songs or something. And I said, 'No, that's the guy over in the corner there.' He sat down with Vince, he was talking to him for a while, but I kinda gave him the cold shoulder , I think I told him to fuck off, actually , at the time. But he came back again and again.
Daniel Miller also recalled in 2013 :
"I first saw Depeche Mode play live when they were supporting another band on Mute, Fad Gadget, at a pub in the East End of London called The Bridge House in Canning T own, roughly October 1980. I thought they were amazing. It was one of those moments when you can’t quite believe what you’re hearing or seeing. It was just three kids, really—two of them were 18, Dave was 17, and Vince was 19. They had these kind of New Romantic clothes and dodgy haircuts. And they had three simple, monophonic synthesizers teetering on the edge of beer crates. Dave had a little uplight thing to make him look gothic or spooky or something. They had a little drum machine to do the rhythms, and Dave just stood completely still throughout the whole concert. I can’t remember which song they played first; I thought, “This is amazing, but they probably just played their best song first and the rest is going to be not very good,” but it just got better and better . They were great pop songs. They were really well structured and really well arranged, based on just a drum machine and three monophonic synthesizers. The melodies, the counter-melodies to the vocals were great. It was kind of perfect, almost. Perfect in my head for what I wanted. So, afterwards, I went backstage and said, “When are you playing again, I’d love to see you again.” They were playing The Bridge House following week supporting somebody else, so I went back to see them."