Depeche Mode - Devotional Tour Diary | dmremix.pro

Depeche Mode Devotional Tour Diary

demoderus

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Devotional Tour Diary

The first diary, for the Devotional/Exotic tour, was released through DM's Bong magazine. The Singles tour saw both a diary (by Jez Webb) for Bong magazine as well as a tour diary for Depechemode.com. The Exciter Tour and Tour Of The Universe also had tour diaries published on the official site. The Delta Machine tour saw eight tour reports posted in the news section. Dave Gahan's solo tour in 2003 also had its tour diary, written by its live band members. All other tours by Depeche Mode (or solo) did not have tour diaries.

Daryl Bamonte, first roadie then tour manager then also keyboard player for Depeche Mode, wrote a tour diary for the Devotional and Exotic tour, which revealed some bizarre (though undoubtedly definitely not all bizarre) events throughout this mammoth tour. His diary was spread across Bong magazine issues #22 till #25, which were published between September 1994 and June 1995.

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demoderus

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May 19th, LILLE:

"First gig in Lille tonight. Strange feeling, being on tour again. Funny place to start."

May 24th, BRUSSELS:

"Just spent four days in ZURICH. There’s only so many cuckoo clocks you can look at in four days."

May 27th, COPENHAGEN:

"Good show tonight. Good party afterwards. The tour is starting to hot up, as the band settle into it. Spirit of camaraderie starting to appear."

May 28th, GOTHENBURG:

"Spiritualized have left. They didn’t like us. We went to the hotel disco after the show to think about a new support band. The resident band were playing, a dodgy Swedish ska band. Kessler asked them to support us in Stockholm the next night. The drummer came round first, and agreed on behalf of his band."

May 29th, STOCKHOLM:

"Ska band were superb. Of all the support bands we’ve ever had, they are the most recent."

June 1st, ROTTERDAM:

"Al’s birthday. I’m proud to say I (Dis-)Organized the most boring birthday party ever. Never mind. He’s got another birthday to come before this tour’s over."

June 6th, MILAN:

"Day off in MILAN. We just did two shows, which were great. I got refused entry to the cathedral in the city centre today. I didn’t have any sleeves. I argued that if I didn’t have any arms I wouldn’t have any sleeves, and they’d have to let me in then, but my Italian is surprisingly bad and when the polizia started shoving me, I thought I’d better hop it. Went to a bar instead. Much better."

June 8th, FLORENCE:

"A nightclub, a piano, a microphone, alcohol, Alan Wilder, Martin Gore – I THANK YOU!"

June 10th, NANCY:

"Didn’t speak all day today. Refuse to speak in a place called NANCY."

June 12th, MANNHEIM:

"Went to a disco in an airport at 7am. Yes. It’s getting that bad."

June 14th, DORTMUND:

"After a great show (Westfalenhalle), we went over the road to the park hotel for a quiet drink. (The crew were staying there.) Woke up the next morning in a twin room in the park hotel. Apparently, Martin and I checked in."

June 18th, PRAGUE:

"We had ANOTHER support band tonight. Local lads. Their name was “Sonic Smell”. Yes, you heard it right: “Sonic Smell”. I’m sorry, but not even 70 years of communism can excuse a band from taking a name that basically means “Humungous stench”. PHEW!"

June 21st, MUNICH:

"Marxman joined the tour tonight. They’re pretty good. Der wickid actually, yernart amin?"

June 30th, PARIS:

"We’ve just done two excellent sold-out shows at the Bercy. Hildia asked me “Are we doing The Bercy tonight?” and I replied “No, we’re doing Get Right With Me instead” and she just smiled. I think she’s got a cold."
 

demoderus

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July 3rd, BREST:

"Can you imagine living somewhere called BREST?"

July 7th, TOULON:

"Most of us are on the plane flying after-show from TOULON to LISBON, except for Fletch, who flew home to be with his family on his birthday, which is tomorrow. How long do you think he has at home? “29 hours, 29 hours…”"

July 10th, OPORTO:

"Dave Bracey had to do the sound tonight (did a great job). Jon Lemon couldn’t make it. Had too much to dream last night, apparently. Must be “mixing” in the wrong company."

July 15th, MADRID:

"“One of the most incredible Depeche Mode shows ever” – JD Fanger."

July 21st, FRANKFURT:

"It was 1978, and he was a young punk who had sneaked onto the stage and was dancing around in his bondage trousers, next to Joe Strummer. As the roadies rushed to get him, he ran full speed and as he flew into the crowd, he floated for a second, half hero, half angel. When he landed he realised it wasn’t 1978, it was 1993, and he was the singer of Depeche Mode and 12,000 Germans were trying to rip his trousers off."

July 23rd, OSTEND:

"Martin Gore’s birthday today, and guess what? We had a day off in OSTEND. A day-off-in-Ostend… I once wrote a script for a soap opera set in a pub in OSTEND. It was called “OSTENDERS”. It could have worked, but Anita Dobson sounded ridiculous with a Flemish accent. A day off in Ostend should have bee as bad as it sounds, but we had a hotel on the beach, and looking across the North Sea you could almost smell the fish and chips. Three months away from Blighty; and now so close to home. We’ve got a gig in ZEEBRUGGE tomorrow and then a 2000 mile journey across the whole of Europe for a show in BUDAPEST. So near and yet so far…"

July 24th, ZEEBRUGGE:

"Headlined the huge Belga Beach festival today. The festival IS actually on the beach but Belga isn’t a coastal suburb of ZEEBRUGGE, it’s actually a brand of horrible cigarettes. The band were excellent tonight, even though the man upstairs decided to turn the shower on. The crowd stayed in good spirits all the same, and to show solidarity, Dave went right to the front of the stage, and dancing in bare feet, got absolutely soaked. He seemed to have an aversion to anything metal for some reason. We had a huge power-cut backstage tonight (about the same time Dave plugged his hairdryer in…)."

July 26th, BUDAPEST:

"It was a long trek from Belgium yesterday, and we had to drive out into the Hungarian countryside today for Anton to shoot the “CONDEMNATION” video. Dave seemed to spend most of the day being dragged around by Sam and Hildia. He wasn’t complaining though. It could have been the other way round…"

July 29th, LIEVIN:

"Yet another support band today. A band called “Paralax”, whose kudos is bolstered by the fact that they were recommended by Alan Wilder (and they’re on Mute.) Most of the band entourage have gone to LONDON already to “prepare” for the Crystal Palace show. It’s amazing how calm and smooth today was…"

July 31st, LONDON:

"Crystal Palace. Finally home after 3 months. 36,000+ people at this show, 1,000 with passes, and I know all of them, so backstage was chaos. My son had a good day. He definitely preferred DUB SYNDICATE to THE SISTERS OF MERCY. I used to think that ANDREW ELDRITCH was really cool. A god-like quasi-Darth Vader figure. He’s actually like RIGSBY."

September 6th, QUEBEC:

"Did a rehearsal tonight and we have the opening night of the North American tour tomorrow night. The hotel sent us a memo today (in French). Kessler translated it. It basically said that all power in the hotel would be cut between midnight and 5am due to works being carried out. Couldn’t they have let us know when we booked the rooms three weeks ago? The memo also said that extra “staff” would be provided to “assist” guests to their rooms in the darkness. What this should have said was: “Several large, fat, ugly, stupid off-duty policemen will shine industrial-strength flashlights in your face while hurling obscenities at you in French, therefore implying that you have no right to be in the hotel and so giving them every right to deny you access to the rooms that you have paid a lot of money for.” Signed The Management. As you can imagine, a melee ensured, and Dave bumped into one of them. I’m sitting writing this in the waiting room of the local nick as Kessler tries to get Dave and Darrell Ives (Head of Security) out on bail. One of the band is in jail and we haven’t even done a gig yet!"

September 7th, QUEBEC:

"Went to court with Dave today. All charges were dropped. We were so happy we bought ice lollies on the way out of the courthouse and appeared on the front cover of the local newspaper eating them. You’ve gotta laugh, ain’t ya? Dave did a very good show tonight, considering he had done some bird bang to rights."

September 8th, MONTREAL:

"Me, Alan and Joel (security) went to a bar to see England play Poland in a World Cup qualifier. England were superb and we easily won 3-0. Looks like we’re on our way to USA 94! We couldn’t drink too much as there’s a show tonight, but we’ll more than make up for it afterwards."

September 10th, BOSTON:

"Did a show in a strange little town called WORCESTER, then drove back to BOSTON, home town of Tom Wilson, our drum technician. He was our “guide” for the night. Why do people, when on their home turf, keep apologising, and putting their arm around you, and asking if you are having a good time?"

September 13th, WASHINGTON D.C.:

"Saw an amazing sight today. Me, Martin and Darrell Ives were in a cab on our way back to the hotel from the video shop when we were held up at a stop sign for a full five minutes as a convoy of about fifty limos, police cars, armed jeeps and other vehicles, flanked by police motorcycle out-riders, rushed by, sirens blaring. The reason? Yasser Arafat, PLO leader was in town and on his way to The White House for his historic meet’n’greet with Clinton and Rabin. We tried to get a glimpse as his car went past, but saw nothing, except a red and white tea-towel…"

September 17th, PITTSBURGH:

"Don’t like it here. Decided to liven up the club we were in by taking off my clothes and putting on a girl’s dress. Martin, not to be outdone, did the same but missed out the bit about the girl’s dress. Mr. Gahan was on hand with his camera, but the film has mysteriously disappeared. Said a prayer to God tonight: “Please don’t make me come here again.”"

September 26th, NEW YORK CITY:

"Feel a bit rough today. We’ve had a few late nights recently. I was sitting in Alan’s room earlier waiting for him to have his hair cut before we went to the cinema. A Woody Allen film, “Manhattan Murder Mystery”, funnily enough. I was staring out of the window at the “Manhattan skyline”, trying to recount how many songs had that title, when I saw another of those “amazing sights”. A motorcade of black sedans stretching the whole length of Madison Avenue. Alan thought I was exaggerating, until 15 minutes later as we tried to cross the road to enter the cinema as the motorcade drove past at high speed. A full 15 minutes we stood on the kerb-side and missed the start of the film. Who was in town? The President? Almost. Hilary was giving a lecture. (Probably on how to run the country without being president.)"

September 27th, HAMPTON:

"Left New York after 8 days. Everybody seems to love it there. Flew to a place called HAMPTON, Virginia and had to land in a hurricane. This is not something that I recommend. It is not funny. It is not big and it is not clever. Our little 16-seat airplane was tossed round like a crouton in a Caesar salad. We couldn’t land in Virginia or North Carolina because of the hurricane and we didn’t have enough fuel to get to Atlanta. Martin and I initially tried to keep spirits up by singing Buddy Holly and Patsy Cline songs, but then something scary happened – the co-pilot and the stewardess started WHISPERING. What did they know that we didn’t? The thunder and lightning intensified as the engines roared louder and the jokes stopped. Then it got really scary. All of a sudden, as we passed through a cloud, everything went QUIET. The thunder stopped, the engines purred and we just seemed to drift through the air as the clouds turned into a pink mist, and for the first time in my life I really thought I was going to perish. Then BANG! The turbulence re-started, the prayers re-started (Dave clutching a crucifix!) and our pilots somehow managed to get us down in one piece. However, after spending a night in a hotel in HAMPTON, we decided that the plane had crashed, we had all died and were now in hell."

September 28th, CHAPEL HILL:

"I keep seeing this strange name at the top of the rooming list. Grant Abramson… mmm…Grant… Abramson… No sorry, you’ve got me there."

September 30th, ATLANTA:

"Had lunch with Grant Abramson today. I was telling him how today was the anniversary of James Dean’s death and would have been Marc Bolan’s birthday had he still been alive. He then launched into this long, complex monologue about my obvious obsession with death, coupled with a fascination with calendar dates, therefore indicating a deep-rooted childhood desire to die on my birthday. I’d still like to know what he’s actually doing on this tour."
 

demoderus

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October 6th, NEW ORLEANS:

"Three weeks to go to my thirtieth birthday, I hope Grant Abramson was lying. Discovered a new drink in NEW ORLEANS tonight. It’s called a hurricane: a plastic 1 litre beaker filled with pink rocket fuel. I managed to break “the cat’s meow” house record by drinking seven, but I wasn’t capable of walking the three yards to collect my free T-shirt so I was disqualified. Fletch actually drank 8 hurricanes, but was also disqualified for doing it in less than an hour. “But I like to get home early,” he protested."

October 14th, DALLAS:

"Depeche Mode do not have a manager, therefore we have a group of people on this tour called “the Committee”, who have meetings to discuss various points of the tour. “The Committee” comprises of Kessler (the manager, if you ask me), JD, Franksy, Tour Manager Ivan Kushlick, Tour accountant Derek Rauchenberger and Myself. A committee meeting occurred today in Dallas, and guess who was there? That man, Grant Abramson! I was going to tell him that this is the city where JFK was shot, but I wasn’t in the mood for his response. (It’s my birthday in THIRTEEN days remember…)."

October 15th, AUSTIN:

"We went to a good club tonight, and I witnessed two things I never thought I’d see. A man picked a fight with Darrell Ives (ouch!), and Fletch had to be carried home. Every day my eyes are opened a little wider."

October 21st, DETROIT:

"Went to see the Detroit Red Wings beat someone else at ice hockey. A fantastic atmosphere. It’s amazing how the Americans can have a sport where the players beat the shit out of each other, and yet the crowd remain jovial and even bring their kids along. THAT’S how you maintain sell-out crowds. Premiership clubs take note."

October 23rd, DETROIT:

"A Saturday night in Detroit, just did two great shows here (Friday and Saturday) and it’s our security company’s home town so we’ve been to the best clubs and been very well looked after etc. Then during a room party afterwards, David Gahan, the most accident-prone man in the world, did something that a bizillion people do every day – he opened a bottle of beer. Except Dave somehow managed to cut his finger off as well."

October 26th, CLEVELAND:

"Good evening Cleveland! Travelled aftershow to Chicago. Travelled to the airport in Alan’s car and he gave me the ultimate gift – a Manchester United away shirt. On the plane at midnight I was given a huge cake, champagne etc. and Dave gave me a gift that matched Alan’s for ultimateness – The Barry Manilow box set collection! I’m in heaven. I got to my room and Ivan had decorated it with streamers and put in ANOTHER cake (and he put me in a huge suite – God bless him). Me, Martin and Denise (Kessler’s assistant) are now on our way out for a quiet drink, as a build up for the big day tomorrow."

October 28th, CHICAGO:

"I’m gutted. I missed my birthday. Most people get presents. I get punishment. Locked up in my room for 36 hours with only “Mad Marty” as company. As usual, I made the most of it, but by the time I surfaced, it was already the 28th, and I had missed the whole day. Never mind, at least Grant Abramson got it wrong and I didn’t die (apparently I had a good go, if Flood is to be believed). Anyway, I’ve got my surprise party tonight. (Oops!)"

October 31st, MINNEAPOLIS:

"Was that our wardrobe girls on those brooms?"

November 1st, CHICAGO:

"The band is shooting a video on location, starting promptly this morning. Or in the immortal words of JD Fanger, “You will be taken into the woods at 11:00am and shot immediately!”"

November 2nd, DENVER:

"Poor old Martin L. Gore. I’ve just seen him dragged out of his room dressed in nothing but a pair of silk boxer shorts and a pair of huge handcuffs. Two huge female police officers burst into his room and arrested him for “making too much noise”. The funny thing was, we had turned his stereo off, after a few complaints. The source of offending volume? Martin’s infamous loud voice. “Can I just say one more thing!?!…”"

November 4th, SALT LAKE CITY:

"The Osmonds’ home town. Need I say more?"

November 6th, VANCOUVER:

"Showed my diaries to leading critic (well, mine at least) Mr Andrew Fletcher. He says the diary in America has become too serious, and needs more humour, like the European one. I’d better think of some jokes."

November 7th, SEATTLE:

"There was this band from Basildon…”"

November 12th, SAN JOSE:

"THE THE have asked me to do a song on stage with them in Las Vegas. It’s my version of “Slow Emotion Replay”. A sort of Mike Reid meets Matt Johnson kind of affair. I can’t wait."

November 19th, LOS ANGELES:

"Tonight I met up with Anton Corbijn, a gentleman and a scholar. The four of us had drinks and then went out to dinner."

November 20th, LOS ANGELES:

"We start a run of five shows at The Forum tonight and everybody is excited. Alan is scratching himself at the moment. He claims he’s got an itchy kravitz."

November 21st, LOS ANGELES:

"Backstage was chaos last night. Worse than Crystal Palace. Backstage co-ordinator Carol Graham and I were pulling our hair out (as opposed to each other’s, which has happened in the past)."

November 25th, LOS ANGELES:

"We had a superb party at Trader Vic’s last night, courtesy of Bamonte / Kessler Productions. It was a bigger success than our sight-seeing tour of Lisbon (or sound-hearing tour, in Jon Lemon’s case). Experienced a true American Thanksgiving tonight, courtesy of Dave and Theresa. Loads of turkey and beer and people wishing each other well. All it needed was a Bond film and I could have believed it was Christmas."

November 26th, LOS ANGELES:

"We’ve finished our five-night run at The Forum. I’m exhausted. We should get an early-ish night tonight. Las Vegas tomorrow!"

November 27th, LAS VEGAS:

"Kessler phoned and told me the Vegas show is cancelled. Dave’s voice is shot to bits, and he’s got flu to boot. Bummer. I’ve never been there, and I was supposed to do my gig with THE THE. Life seems like one disappointment after another at the moment. Fletch just rang. He says the plane is still going to Vegas and do I want to jump in with him and Grainne. Oh superb! A night off in Vegas with a pocketful of greenbacks!"

November 28th, LOS ANGELES:

"“Oh what a night!” I forgot to go to bed last night. Las Vegas IS superb. 24 hours of sheer heaven (and I’m 400 bucks up). I’m going to buy a crucifix in Mexico with the money."

December 3rd, MEXICO CITY:

"We have just done two amazing shows here. “The crowd were amazing, up there with the best. The shows were stunning,” so says JD Fanger. It’s a shame then that Mexico City is about a thousand miles above sea level and has the worst traffic pollution in the world. I was out of breath walking across the room, Dave had to run around on stage for two hours…"

December 11th, DUBLIN:

"Four months of sheer madness touring North American and now I’m sitting in a hotel room in Dublin with my girlfriend, Alison, blowing up balloons for our son’s 1st Birthday party. She keeps asking me what planet I’m on, and I keep asking HER what planet I’m on."

December 14th, BIRMINGHAM:

"Back in England again. How strange."

December 20th, LONDON:

"Played Wembley tonight. A very good show, but you guessed it – backstage was chaos. We had a good party at The Regent afterwards. So what now – a long rest… NOT! I move house tomorrow, then it’s Christmas, then it’s time to start all over again…"
 
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