Depeche Mode Exotic Tour Diary

[demoderus]

Exotic 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]

January 31st, CAPE TOWN:

"Monday morning, but I don’t have that Monday-morning-feeling. The sun is shining and Fletch and I have just flown down to glorious South Africa (or should I say Siff Ifrica). Franksy’s just taken Fletch off in an air-conditioned stretch limo, and left me to do the baggage. Still, it’s nice to have a soft comfortable suitcase to lie on after a GRUELLING TWELVE-HOUR FLIGHT."

February 1st, CAPE TOWN:

"A day off today, so I’ve got time to think. I went and sat on a rock at the end of The Cape Of Good Hope (appropriate for this tour), and worked out that The Falklands are over there somewhere, Antarctica’s down there and Australia’s that way. If anyone wants the feeling of being at the end of the world, they should come here. (Geographically, not spiritually…)"

February 2nd, PLUMSTEAD:

"Band rehearsals. I cannot believe that somebody would have come all this way last century, and not had the initiative to name their homeland after a nicer part of south-east London. “New Greenwich” perhaps? So what if they were from Plumstead? The Zulus wouldn’t have known any different."

February 4th, PLUMSTEAD:

"Rehearsals are going very well. “Rush” is a really powerful opener. On the way here yesterday, Alan and I saw something strange. There was this huge great stretch of motorway with no cars on it. The motorway stretches for a few miles then suddenly stops. There’s a 100 yard gap and then the motorway continues again. In the gap is a roundabout with a small pink shack on it, a roadside café. Alan and I were debating the reasons for the non-completion of a multi-million Rand motorway. I said “I bet the little man who owns the café wouldn’t give up his land.” We laughed at this preposterous idea and thought nothing more of it. On the way back to Cape Town, we decided to find out the real reason. We asked our driver what had happened and he replied: “You see that little pink shack over there…”."

February 6th, JOHANNESBURG:

"Cape Town was beautiful. Constant sunshine, pretty scenery and a high feel-good factor. Rather like Los Angeles without the earthquakes, riots, etc. Johannesburg is none of these things. It’s rather like New York without the excitement and character."

February 9th, JO’BURG:

"The first show of the “Exotic” leg of the tour tonight, and everybody’s a bit nervous. Not just because it’s the first show of a new leg, but it’s our first gig ever on the African continent, and not many have played in South Africa. (They weren’t going to play S-S-S-Sun City, Whoa No…)"

February 10th, THE BUSH, GENERAL TOWNSHIPS, LOTS OF TIME SPENT DRIVING (etc):

"Anton “I dink it’s just dree more miles” Corbijn and one of THOSE photo-shoots."

February 11th, JO’BURG:

"Alan has told me that a friend of a friend is pissed off for playing in South Africa. “Don’t they know that there’s apartheid there?”… He’s obviously done his homework then. A bachelor of political analysis from the university of life. What the stupid twat forgot to learn was that the dismantling of apartheid began in 1991, and if the people of SA are moving toward peace, staying away will not assist their cause. (I’ll come down off my soap-box now)"

February 12th, JO’BURG:

"God, I love South Africa. Saturday afternoon, and they have live Premiership football on television, something we do NOT have in Blighty."

February 14th, JO’BURG:

"I’ve got that horrible feeling that I forgot to do something today…"

February 15th, JO’BURG (still):

"Praise the Lord. I managed to get to the Interflora shop just before it closed last night."

February 17th, CAPE TOWN:

"It’s great to be back in Cape Town. Everybody has election fever here. You can feel the anticipation in the air. If the ANC get in (as they will), some of the delightful extreme right-wingers are threatening to re-locate (uninvited) to New Zealand. I bet the Maoris are pleased about that…"

February 18th, CAPE TOWN:

"I’ve just been reading “A South African Political Brief”, given to me by the record company. Under the heading of “Major Social Problems” they list “extremely high levels of crime and violence, illiteracy and a high divorce rate”. Coming from Basildon, I hardly thought them worth mentioning…"

February 20th, CAPE TOWN:

"Oh dear, oh dear. Maybe this tour is jinxed. Alan, myself and Jerry Meltzer (security) went for a nice Italian dinner tonight. We had to leave the restaurant early as Alan was complaining of abdominal pains. Back at the hotel, he went to his room but refused to see a doctor as it was “only overeating”. I went to my room to get him some Alka-Seltzer and on exiting the lift on the way back, I could hear a screaming, coming from Alan’s room 30 yards away, that sounded like a dog being neutered, without anaesthetic. I dragged him out of his room and into a waiting car and by the time we reached the hospital he was foaming at the mouth and screaming phrases that sounded like out-takes from “Bohemian Rhapsody”. The doctors have examined him and confirmed that he has a kidney stone, definitely not caused by “overeating”. Alan insists that he can pass the stone naturally, through his water, (like passing a hedgehog according to Kessler) but unfortunately the doctors have insisted on inserting a laser down the eye of his manhood… (ouch!)"

February 22nd, DURBAN:

"The operation went well yesterday, but as heroic as Alan tried to be, there was no way that he was going to do a show tonight. The first show here is cancelled, not a very common thing for DM. I wish I could have got to Durban earlier. Dave and Martin spent the day swimming with dolphins, which sounds very groovy. Kessler’s gone back to America for a couple of weeks."

February 25th, JO’BURG (again):

"Dave and I have just worked out that we’ve now been in South Africa for more days than we’ve been in England since May 13th last year. It’s starting to feel like we live here."

February 27th, TRAVEL:

"We finally bid farewell to South Africa. It was an enjoyable stay, but after four weeks of hard work, we’re looking forward to an interesting visit to the Far East."

February 28th, SINGAPORE:

"I don’t know if anybody’s listening, but it’s actually physically impossible for one man to move 7 baggage trolleys, full of bags, from one place to another, all at once. Especially when it’s 7am, he’s just flown for 11 hours and feels like he’s wrapped in hot cling-film. Thank the Lord for those self-less troupers otherwise known as “The Crew”. (Especially Jeremy Scott Webb)"

 

[demoderus]

March 2nd, SINGAPORE:

"We’ve been here for three days now. It’s nice to feel safe when walking the streets, but when you gain safety you lose a certain buzz. It was quite a bizarre sight to see Martin Gore DJ’ing in a reggae bar tonight, an event that was both “safe” and “buzzin’”."

March 5th, PERTH:

"There is something strange going on. People are starting to act weird. Too much time spent at the airports, I reckon."

March 8th, MELBOURNE:

"I managed to blag a pair of jeans, a pair of shorts, two T-shirts and a pair of sunglasses from Stussy and Massimo today, thus doubling the size of my wardrobe in an instant. The gig tonight is in “Batman Avenue”. Nice to see the Aussies have a sense of humour."

March 13th, SYDNEY:

"I had lunch with my aunt Terri today, and she said I look just like my dad did when she left England to emigrate. Now, I don’t know what my dad got up to in Dagenham in the Fifties, but he would have to go some way to look like THIS…"

March 16th, HONG KONG:

"Read all about it! Martin Gore drinks too much peach schnapps and has conversation with broom! I swear it happened. Just ask Alan."

March 18th, MANILA:

"The traffic here is worse than Mexico City and the Blackwall Tunnel put together. On the way to the show, Fletch, Martin and I were told that we had a police motorcycle escort, but I don’t think that anybody actually told him that he was a police motorcycle escort, and he promptly disappeared into the night. I finally had to resort to lying down in front of an Austin Seven, so its driver would stop and let us drive on the pavement. Still, we got to the gig just in time to see Kessler chasing the promoter out of the building, clutching a pair of scissors. The promoter’s crime? He put up posters around the gig advertising “Smoky Joes Crisps”, against our wishes. The scissors? To cut down the posters of course!"

March 19th, MANILA:

"Just when I thought that things could not get any weirder, that we were at a point when nothing would seem odd, then this. Fletcher will not be completing the tour after Hawaii, and the other three want me to stand in for him (?!?). Time for a stiff drink, methinks."

March 20th, MANILA:

"I had lunch with Fletch today and I feel much better. Reality has sunk in a bit, and Fletch has told me he’s glad it’s me and not “any old session guy”. Phew! That’s the hard part out of the way, I’ve just got to learn to play keyboards now…"

March 21st, TRAVEL:

"Bangkok was cancelled, so we fly to Hawaii early. We leave the Philippines, fly overnight and arrive in Hawaii before we took off. Probably."

March 21st, HONOLULU:

"Finally get to Hawaii after a lifetime of trying. Alison arrives soon and there’s a couple of things I have to remember… It’s her birthday on Friday so get her a present… and… Oh yeh, learn to play keyboards."

March 22nd, HONOLULU:

"Wob and Tom (super-techs) drop off the equipment to my room, and now it’s starting to feel real. Me and Alan sort of did a run through."

March 23rd, HONOLULU:

"Everyone’s gone to the beach today. I can’t go, I’ve got to rehearse, I’m pretending to smile, but I really don’t want to."

March 24th, HONOLULU:

"Apparently, I jumped out of bed in the middle of the night and viciously assaulted a pile of clothes. Oh dear…"

March 25th, HONOLULU:

"Apparently, I did a complete run-through of the set in my sleep last night. I gave Alison her watch and sang “Happy Birthday”, so I was able to forget about “it” for a full fifteen seconds. Tried to go down to the beach with the others but couldn’t stand the jovial moods they were all in. You know, being on a beach in Hawaii. The Band are doing a show tonight, so I’ll be playing along with them, behind the curtain, to get the “feel”. The audience won’t hear it, thank God."

March 26th, HONOLULU:

"It went okay last night, but the strain is killing me. After pulling my hair out all week, I’ve now started punching myself in the head. Stress presents itself in funny ways."

March 27th, HONOLULU:

"The backstage run-through was better last night. The crew are being very encouraging. Anzac (Monitor Engineer) has told me that I CAN do it, so maybe I just might be able to pull this thing off."

March 30th, HONOLULU:

"Alan and I have finished rehearsals and things have worked out okay, apart from the fact that I have no hair left and a very sore head."

March 31st, LOS ANGELES:

"We flew in from Hawaii today, had a Japanese meal and then decided to go to Martin’s room for a drink. As we got out of the lift, Martin invited a stranger and his girlfriend to the room. “Hi,” I said, “What’s your name?” “Nile,” was his reply. “Oh yeh? Like Nile Rodgers?” we all said in unison. “Yeh, that’s me,” and he promptly pulled out his gold Amex card to prove it! We were jammin’ those Chic songs all night!"

 

[demoderus]

April 1st, LOS ANGELES:

"Alan and I went out shopping and bought some stage clothes. We’re just boarding the plane to Brazil. Now the fun’s going to start."

April 3rd, SAO PAULO:

"We just did our first run through as a “band”, which I thought went very well but in the “only perfection will do” world of these fascists, it obviously never. Just because I took too long fading the bass out on “Stripped” – Martin’s looking at me as if it’s all been a big mistake but fortunately Dave laughed and Alan remained quietly confident."

April 4th, SAO PAULO:

"This is just SO not funny. There’s loads of people screaming and they’re all going to be looking at me, waiting for a mistake so they can laugh and cheer and point and hold up banners saying “Bamonte’s a Wanker” in Portugese but I’ll understand it anyway… I wish I’d never agreed to this and I wish I could stand still."

April 5th, SAO PAULO:

"So what’s up people? Call me Ricco Suave. Hip keyboard session man. Yeh, sure, we did a show last night. It was great… The best bit was walking off after “Personal Jesus” and waiting to do the encores and Martin shouting at me “You did it, you pulled it off, it doesn’t matter about the encores ’cause you did it!” So you think I’d be more relaxed tonight, right? Wrong. Alan the Bastard has decided to change the set tonight and throw in three different songs. At least Dave and Martin look as worried as I do…"

April 8th, BUENOS AIRES:

"I think we’re witnessing “Beatlemania” down here. These people are crazy about DM and crazy in general. They are all such nice people though. “Kill an Argie, win a Metro” seems like a lifetime away now… Somebody decided to mention something in passing today. There’s going to be 40,000 in there tonight. Thanks for dropping that into the conversation…"

April 10th, SANTIAGO:

"I had visions of Argentina and Chile being full of fascist juntas and military coups and dissidents with false looking moustaches having electrodes attached to their testicles. Well, they’re not. People don’t go missing in the middle of the night and they don’t hate us Angleterras. Anyway, I’ve done four shows now and I think I’ve got a bit of a routine going."

April 12th, SANTIAGO:

"I cannot believe it. We’ve cancelled Columbia. (I mean we’ve cancelled the show.) I really wanted to go there. Great coffee, apparently. It’s probably fortunate that the two places we cancelled were Bogota and Bangkok…"

April 14th, SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA:

"Help me God… This place is freaking me, and everybody else, out. Alan says he’s never seen me look so freaked out as when we were walking onstage. (And the tap didn’t work in the dressing room…)."

April 16th, MONTERREY:

"Well, that’s South America out of the way. Six shows under my belt and confidence has crept up. I’ll just pop home for a week to see the nipper and then face the next big test – USA ’94!"

May 11th, SACRAMENTO:

"We did a good run-through today. Outdoor venue, sun was shining and everyone in shorts and shades. Life is good."

May 12th, SACRAMENTO:

"I felt a bit nervous tonight. It’s worse when there’s people you know watching. There seemed to be a lot of our ex-crew members lurking round, waiting to witness this “novelty”. After the show, Theresa’s grandmother gave me a kiss, took my hand and said: “You did a very good show”, which made a refreshing change from some industry wanker saying to me: “Uhh, great show Fletch!”, when you know they spent the entire show in the dressing room because they’re drunk and they have guacamole all down the front of their shirt…"

May 13th, SAN FRANCISCO:

"We left England to begin this tour exactly 1 year ago today, May 13th 1993. I actually feel about 11 years older. Only 20,000 people tomorrow night. A mere club gig compared to Argentina…"

May 17th, LAS VEGAS:

"I love this place. Gambled and drank and gambled all night. Good show tonight. I think I almost got on nodding terms with one of Primal Scream tonight, unless he was just twitching…"

May 20th, IRVINE MEADOWS:

"I have a special affection for this gig. I remember Dave coming round my council flat in Basildon in early 1985 and being very excited because The Hollywood Palladium had sold out in minutes and the promoter had added another show – “Somewhere near Orange County, holds over 12,000 people!” and that’s when it started getting mental. We celebrated with four cans of Fosters and sat down to enjoy another gripping episode of “The Bill” – Ahh, the good old days…"

May 21st, SAN BERNARDINO:

"We had to stop the car on the way back to San Fran. because MLG wanted to pee. He walked towards the grass as me and John Sampson (security) formed a human shield and as we looked back we were greeted with the sight of just a pair of creepers pointing skywards and strange whimpering. “Shomeone should have shaid shomething” he cried as we pulled him out of the hole…"

May 26th, PARK CITY:

"Kessler just phoned. The show in Denver is cancelled. That’s a shame. I really like Denver. Myself and another crew member (Andrew “Nobby” Marr) formed a band on the Black Celebration tour called “The Blah Brothers” and we played support to DM here at Park City and also at the famous Red Rocks in Denver. There was no blood red sky though, just a barrage of beer cans…"

May 31, SAN ANTONIO:

"Getting to know the Primals a bit more now. They’re a good bunch. Six of them were arrested last night for swimming in a river. Charges of disturbing the peace were dropped but the D.A. is pushing a charge of “polluting a public waterway”…"

 

[demoderus]

June 1st, HOUSTON:

"A security man walked onstage just before the encores with the biggest birthday cake I’ve ever seen. Of course, as I said in Rotterdam, Alan would have another birthday before this tour was out. A monster of confectionery and they STILL had trouble fitting all those candles on… (This year’s party was a little better though…)."

June 4th, DALLAS:

"I like having Saturday off. I like all day off, actually. This pop-star lark is much better than working. I hate work. As I’ve always said: “Work is the scourge of the drinking classes…”"

June 6th, NEW ORLEANS:

"Duffy from Primal Scream drinks a lot and managed to upset Dave somehow. Did The Scream and The Mode square up to each other? No way. The Primals meted out their own form of justice – they dragged Duffy off and kicked the shit out of him…"

June 9th, ATLANTA:

"What an excellent show tonight. It was boiling hot on stage and during the encores I almost broke into a sweat. Me and Alan have developed a bit of a rock’n’roll ending to “Stripped” which is good but I wish they would all stop laughing during “Enjoy The Silence” when I play “Move it”…"

June 12th, CLEVELAND:

"I’m sorry, but I couldn’t resist “tapping” a pair of Alan’s drumsticks on an air conditioning pipe on the way to the stage before pretending to get lost, and when Dave grabbed the mike and screamed “Good evening, Cleveland!”, you couldn’t do a thing with me. We really are Primal Tap, sorry, I mean Spinal Tap…"

June 14th, COLUMBIA:

"The Primals’ camp is a bit tense tonight. I think the tour manager’s upset Throb, and he’s refusing to go on. I reasoned with him that if they went on late, then we would go on late and we would run over time and the union would pull the plug on us. Lo and behold, he got up and went on stage. It shows what a bit of gentle coaxing can do (and a case of red wine…)"

June 17th, NEW YORK CITY:

"Another night at Jones Beach tonight. Looking out of the dressing room door I’m sure that I recognise those haircuts being mobbed by Stabbing Westward – Sure enough, my brother and Robert Smith decided to “hop over” on Concorde and surprise / heckle / applaud me. In fact, I think they only came because we’ve got a private box at Giants Stadium tomorrow for the Italy / Ireland game…"

June 18th, NEW YORK CITY:

"A short trip down to New Jersey to Giants Stadium, sporting the T-shirt that Perry had made with a bedsheet and some vegetable dye. In our private box, there are 30 people – 27 supporting Ireland and 3 supporting Italy: the two Bamontes (obviously) and Mr. Smith… Italy’s flag is Red, White & Green and Ireland’s flag is Orange, White & Green, and if you look into the crowd they all look the same. I suspect that our merchandisers have printed up some flags that were Deep Tangerine, White & Green and sold them to both sets of punters: Yeh yeh, Paolo, the red’s faded a bit, Nah nah Paddy, orange always prints dark…"

June 19th, NEW YORK CITY:

"We went to an excellent restaurant last night, Café Tabak. We were given a table in the exclusive upstairs area, and looking around at all the beautiful people, I thought, “Yes, I’m playing in the world’s greatest band, I’m in Manhattan in a noted restaurant and I’m sure that Naomi Campbell is looking across from the next table and thinking ‘Wow, look at that cool rock-star, at the zenith of his career, the way he conducts himself…’ – at which point Robert announces that he’s fed up with that skinny woman staring at HIM…"

June 21st, MONTREAL:

"The inevitable finally happened tonight. I played a bum note in the intro to “Behind The Wheel”. I’m sure that everybody WAS laughing and pointing but the “Wanker” banners were in French, not Portuguese. I was devastated. And the “only perfection will do” fascists? Dave told me to “stop being so f***ing precious” (!)"

June 23rd, BOSTON:

"Throb from Primal Scream missed their gig tonight. He claims that it was due to bad traffic. I think it was probably because he was too busy watching the Italy / Norway game. The funny thing was that the Scream didn’t sound any different. I wonder… Brazil are playing tomorrow… taxi… wrong turning… bad traffic… lost me pass… lost me watch… etc."

June 26th, NEW YORK CITY:

"I think I’ve got to slow down a bit. I was in a club with Martin last night and felt unwell so I decided to leave. As I walked across the dance floor people were looking at me and going “Whooh!” and I realised that my body was shaking so much that they thought I was DANCING…"

June 28th, PHILADELPHIA:

"Dave’s just come back from a club looking a little shaken. Apparently the doormen wouldn’t let some guy in so he went to his jeep, took out a machine gun and shot the place up. I should have done that to Racquels a few times in the Eighties…"

June 30th, PITTSBURGH:

"Martin and I went for a walk and went into a burger bar. I was feeling a bit mad anyway, but suddenly I felt like I’d walked onto the set of the snuff version of “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest”… I said last September that I didn’t want to come here again…"

July 3rd, DETROIT:

"Tried to have an early night last night. It was 3AM and I’d just pulled the covers back when the phone rang. “Just another hour, c’mon”... Okay, Martin wants a drink. I got some cold beers ready, some cigarettes and, to hell with it, I’d push the boat out, I even laid some biscuits out to make it a “real” party. Martin turned up in just his pants, and three fans in tow – “I told them if they had a light, they could come to a party” he explained, puffing away. There goes my early night…"

July 4th, DETROIT:

"The three fans, Stymie, his girlfriend and their best friend Jesus thought it would be fun to stand in the front row last night and hold up red cards (they’ve just discovered football over here). Found out that Jesus’ real name was Dave, which seemed like a funny name for The Messiah – until I REALLY thought about it… We had our end-of-tour party last night. Andy Franks spent an hour chatting up a gorgeous blonde called Brandy. No-one had the heart to tell him it was Martin in drag. The highlight of the night was “Torture Man”, who, well, tortures himself…"

July 5th, DETROIT:

"I was so tired last night that I had to sit down onstage, and when I looked round I noticed that the others were doing the same, even Alan. (He was playing the drums though…)."

July 8th, CHICAGO:

"Well, that’s it then. 14 months, or 612,000 minutes, of our lives completely absorbed with a tour and now it’s over. We played a show in Indianapolis tonight which was apparently good fun, but I don’t remember a thing. I missed Jez climbing out of the piano, Franksy and Primal Scream doing backing vocals, Dave diving in the audience. I do remember one thing though – it was the last night of a gruelling world tour and some clever bastards from the crew replaced my “Personal Jesus” samples with the appropriate message “You love it and you know it…”.

Until the next time…

Daryl Bamonte"