Concert Reviews

The o2, Dublin, December 10th 2009 Music for the masses - Depeche Mode The support act didn’t bother mentioning their name so I won’t bother commenting on them. It is a fair bet to say that any band looks pale in comparison to the one and only Depeche Mode. Depeche was never pigeon holed as an “80’s band” and in almost thirty years they grew and grew and are still growing. After all, their latest album “Sounds of the Universe” is a Top 10 success in many countries. Mode were in top notch form and despite some slight sound problems they delivered the goods. The playlist included gems like “Stripped”, “In your room”, “Enjoy the silence” as well as a few brilliantly performed songs from their 1997 album Ultra , the first album after keyboarder Alan Wilder had left the band. Indeed, “It’s no good” and “home” sounded bombastic. The show ended with “Personal Jesus” and left the audience wanting more. What a great band *** Martin Gore and Dava Gahan rocked the o2 in Dublin

DM is touring and most of their gigis have been re-scheduled. We will see them in December 2009 in Dublin and in February 2010 in Duesseldorf and you'll find reviews in due course right here!!!

Depeche's "Tour of the Universe" is in jeopardy as the band was forced to cancel quite a number of gigs. Frontman Dave Gahan is suffering from a malignant tumor, which has been operated on in New York recently. The concert in Duesseldorf/Germany scheduled for June 5th has had to be cancelled.

SECC Glasgow/Scotland, April 11th 2009 ULTRAVOX 2009 RETURN TO EDEN tour 2009 Midge Ure and co. are back in full force ULTRAVOX taking a bow in their native Scotland Dark yet melodic - ULTRAVOX! Midge Ure and his companions from ULTRAVOX gave it their all and they delivered beautifully. From "Vienna" to "Hymn" and "Perfect Stranger" they played many great classics without sounding dated or 80's. With three synths on stage, bass and e-guitar and even electro violin and both acoustic and e-drums on stage, there was enough variety in their performance to never get bored. The venue was very nice and calm and orderly yet wild. The evening didn't pass without technical problems here and there but ULTRAVOX are real pros. Their material sounded actually much better live than on record and sounded partially Gothik and dark-electro. It was a very energetic performance and well thought out - brilliant!

Just a few days and we will cover the ULTRAVOX homecoming gig in Glasgow for this very blog. In the meantime you can sit back and enjoy listening to a few interviews: Robert Goerl (DAF ) - German Sparks - English Paul Humphreys of OMD and One Two fame - English Deborah Rees from Safeconcerts.com

Shontelle from Barbados, whose song "T-Shirt" is currently at nr.77 in the UK charts, together with an excellent DJ warmed up the crowd for the New Kids ... Her voice was really good and her set was lively although a little long for my own taste. Both Shontelle and NKOTB mentioned the thrill of having a new president and the Dublin crowd cheered along. Barack Obama indeed could be the bringer of hope. NKOTB was supported by live musicians and a good looking stage production. They were certainly entertaining and good at what they were doing but I couldn't help but notice that the vocal ranges of the band has changed in the last 15 years since their break up back then and some songs just didn't sound good or fitted their current look as grown men. The dance routines were geared towards their mostly female audience and quite well executed. Songs from their new album "The Block" were more to my taste than their old stuff. All in all it wasn't as bad as I ha...

A new group called "Konzertberichte" has been found by concert-reviews.blogspot.com host Thomas Janak on the German social nerworking page WKW