Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Song of the Day: 'Everything Counts' by Depeche Mode


Damian and I had a hoot at the Depeche Mode concert on Monday night at Madison Square Garden. The boys were in fine form -- Dave Gahan ran and spun around the stage like a 20-year-old -- and only performed four songs off their new LP, all of which were quite good. They even tinkered with the set list so that people who had gone Saturday would get a few surprises.


Boys say go!

Broken-record alert: Ironically, the band performed the lion's share of material from "Music From the Masses" and "Violator" -- both of which are decades old -- yet I still came up short in "Kenny" songs, as they only performed one from their first four LPs. (They only played one from Damian's favorite as well, 2005's "Playing the Angel," but it happened to be "A Pain That I'm Used To," one of his faves!) It didn't cramp my style much -- you don't have to be an early '80s purist to know and appreciate "Policy of Truth" (its tour debut), "World in My Eyes," "Enjoy the Silence," "Never Let Me Down Again," an acoustic "Strangelove" (sung by Martin Gore,  who normally does "A Question of Lust") and "Personal Jesus." 


I took copious notes all night only to find this online when I got home!

But am I allowed to say "told you so" by pointing out the one song they did from my "era" -- "Everything Counts" -- was the song that brought the house down and led to a 10-minute singalong? I completely understand that artists like to mix things up. And I also understand the desire to look forward. But if "Everything Counts" got the reaction it did, it's not hard to imagine what throwing in "Just Can't Get Enough," "New Life," "Dreaming of Me," "See You" or "Get the Balance Right" would have done to the crowd's spirits. Sometimes I wonder if my favorite artists are afraid of killing us with joy ...



More photos HERE.

4 comments:

JimmyD said...

I really like the new album :)

Blake said...

I think you might be a bit out of touch or only in tune to your own tastes. None of the singles you mentioned even charted in the US save for a couple on the dance chart. Sure, Just Can't Get Enough is now widely known and I'm sure it was blaring out of speakers in clubs in the 80s. I highly doubt any of the others would have gotten the reaction you think.

Kenneth M. Walsh said...

@Blake: "Everything Counts" wasn't exactly a big hit in the U.S.!

Master&Servant said...

While I don't agree that older necessarily means better, KW is right that the majority of people there definitely have "Catching Up With DM" or "People Are People," which is why all of their fans know and get nostlagic about the old singles.