Support acts: Difference between revisions
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#[[2013-07-23 Synot Tip Arena, Prague, Czech Republic]] | #[[2013-07-23 Synot Tip Arena, Prague, Czech Republic]] | ||
#[[2013-07-25 National Stadium, Warsaw, Poland]] | #[[2013-07-25 National Stadium, Warsaw, Poland]] | ||
||[http://www.gigwise.com/news/83103/chvrches-supporting-depeche-mode-was-a-highlight-of-our-career Martin Doherty of Chvrches later said]: "The highlight of the summer [in 2013] and my career was supporting Depeche Mode at San Siro | ||[http://www.gigwise.com/news/83103/chvrches-supporting-depeche-mode-was-a-highlight-of-our-career Martin Doherty of Chvrches later said]: "The highlight of the summer [in 2013] and my career was supporting Depeche Mode at San Siro Stadium in Milan and it blew my mind a little bit. It was crazy. It was 60,000, the biggest audience we've played to by a mile. It was 60,000 for Depeche Mode and it wasn't full when we finished, but it was getting there. The fans were lovely to us. I had heard these horror stories about Depeche Mode fans that if they don't like the support band they throw eggs, but they were really kind to us. That was the second show we've done with them, we've got a couple more next week. They've been really nice to us and that's all we can ask for." [http://c3l3stica.tumblr.com/post/49417539164 Apparently], Chvrches donated the profit to a woman shelter. | ||
|- | |- | ||
|2013||[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Castles_(band) Crystal Castles]|| | |2013||[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Castles_(band) Crystal Castles]|| |
Revision as of 11:19, 1 June 2016
Notes
This page lists all acts that have supported Depeche Mode throughout the years. As the index shows, this page does not only contain a table of all the support acts having opened for Depeche Mode, but it also lists the shows where Depeche Mode supported another act, festival line-ups, support acts for cancelled concerts, cancelled support acts, and rumours and uncertainties about acts allegedly having supported DM as well. Here is a list of concerts without support acts.
While a lot of time and research has been put into this page, it is always possible that there may be one or two errors here and there. If you notice an error, or you have more info to add, please send an email to angelinda [at] dmtvarchives [dot] com.
List of support acts for Depeche Mode
There are some uncertainties about Depeche Mode's support acts Portion Control and Matt Fretton. It seems unlikely that Matt Fretton supported DM's 5-day tour in Spain and Italy in March 1984, but there is no conclusive evidence. Matt also said in this interview that he left during the European tour in fall 1984 to edit his setlist at Hansa Studios in Berlin, which would mean that he would have been unable to support DM for one or more dates. In the same interview, he also says that he first supported DM in London in 1982, replacing Blancmange, before he became their main support act in fall 1982, which could mean that he supported DM either on 1982-02-13 Hammersmith Odeon, London, England, UK and/or on 1982-02-28 Hammersmith Odeon, London, England, UK, assuming his memory was right. Portion Control have stated on their Wikipedia that they have supported Depeche Mode "on their UK and European tour". However, there is no concrete evidence that they went on an European tour with DM.
The table is sortable according to chronological or alphabetical order, so click on the arrows in the first two columns to rearrange them.
Year | Name | Concert dates | Info |
---|---|---|---|
1981 | AK47 | ||
2001 | Angel Molina, DJ | Fad Gadget was supposed to perform on these two dates, but due to some kind of accident, he couldn't. So he got replaced by this DJ from Barcelona. | |
2009 | Angele Phase | Angele Phase: "Angele Phase is the name I gave to a music band project that went on from 2005 through to 2010. (...) The band toured to promote that album called Magnetophonband and closed their tour with a special gig after Martin Gore chose us to warm up for Depeche Mode - Tour of the Universe show in Colombia." | |
1986 | Animotion | Animotion’s Bill Wadhams says: "Playing on the bill with Depeche Mode was very intense because they were at their peak and so were we. The crowds were fanatic. It was surreal to launch into Obsession in front of that crowd and have our hair blown back with the wild response. Backstage, while watching Depeche Mode, I came upon their big reel to reel decks. While they were on stage banging on corrugated metal and other random things, these decks were playing backing tracks. I’d never seen that done before. The sound was cinematic. The crowd enthralled. The only backing we had at that point was a sequenced bass line on Obsession." | |
1994 | April's Motel Room | Californian band. | |
1994 | Babasónicos | Argentinian band. | |
2013 | Bat For Lashes |
|
Bat For Lashes covered 'Strangelove' in 2011 for a Gucci commercial, which came out on a Record Store Day single a year later. Natasha Khan said beforehand: "I think it’s going to be amazing [to open for DM] because I think, especially in the US, Depeche Mode is really loved. Whenever I speak to people in America about it they’re like, “Oh my god! That’s awesome!” I’m so excited. I think the shows are gonna be wild. I’ve heard that [Dave]’s an incredible performer. We’ve been so lucky. We’ve supported Radiohead and Coldplay on some South American and European tours. It’s always really interesting supporting big bands like that doing shows in front of thousands of people because you learn so much and there’s like an electricity in the air. I think it’s gonna be really fun and I’m really excited to finish out the album this way." |
2013 | Big Deal |
|
Alice Costelloe: People say meeting your heroes is always disappointing, but meeting Martin Gore was AMAZING." |
2013 | BBB Soundsystem | Israelian band, better known as Balkan Beat Box. | |
1985 | Blah Brothers, The | The Blah Brothers was an "emergency" band created by Daryl Bamonte & Andrew "Nobby" Marr whenever the planned support act could not perform. Daryl says that they performed 6 times in total, but only 4 dates are known. Daryl uploaded a video fragment of their Warsaw gig here. The same video segment is included on the audience DVD downloadable here. | |
1986 | Blah Brothers, The | The Blah Brothers was an "emergency" band created by Daryl Bamonte & Andrew "Nobby" Marr whenever the planned support act could not perform. Daryl says that they performed 6 times in total, but only 4 dates are known. | |
1981 | Blancmange |
|
Blancmange was also featured on Stevo Pearce's Some Bizzare album. DM first supported Blancmange on 1981-01-11 Hope 'N' Anchor, London, England, UK, but as DM became more successful, Vince Clarke asked Blancmange to support them. Neil Arthur: "When we toured with DEPECHE MODE the first time, I hadn’t long left college and I was working so I took time off work to do that. We weren’t signed at that time. On [this] tour, we knew Vince was leaving but everybody was keeping it quiet." |
1982 | Blancmange |
|
Neil Arthur: "We had a swimming competition after the last gig! A very funny thing happened… When we done those two dates in the Channel Islands with sell out audiences, we were at the entrance to the airport and there were a load of teenagers there with autograph books. DEPECHE MODE walked straight through and the teenagers didn’t bat an eyelid… They were dressed as DEPECHE MODE, they weren’t in disguise! Me and Stephen walked past, nobody battered an eyelid. My girlfriend walked past and they mobbed her! [laughs] Those kids were Swiss tourists and they knew there were these bands there but they couldn’t figure out who and she looked the most glamourous. So she had to sign all the autographs! There were many funny moments and good times." |
1982 | Bobby And Synthia | Canadian band. | |
1985 | Book Of Love |
|
According to the liner notes of their album reissue, Book Of Love met DM at a party hosted by NYC's "Rockpool Promotions", where DM offered to let them support DM. It is possible that this happened just a few days before the tour, seeing as DM were in NYC a few days before the tour to give interviews. Susan Ottaviano in 2013: "[Fellow band member] Ted [Ottaviano] was at the show in New York a couple of weeks ago. It was a great experience for us. We didn’t have very much live experience when we started to go on the tours. And we just kind of really learned from the ground up. We really learned so much about touring and I think we really would become a good live band because of it. We got to see the world. It was a really positive experience! At the time, who would have thought that they would become this super group of this type of music in general? There were a lot of bands that were more famous than them at that point, but I think Depeche Mode really stood the test of time – and they really became a super group. And they did it in such a great way – their music has always had a certain integrity and they kept up that quality." |
1986 | Book Of Love |
|
Susan Ottaviano: "It was so exciting to be 20 years old and travel through Europe, it was amazing. We were in all these crazy places all over Europe, we watched [Depeche Mode's] show every night. I don't think we even knew that we could leave if we wanted to, we were just so young, and had no place to go." You can read more quotes from Susan about this tour here. |
2006 | Booka Shade | Booka Shade DJed before Martin Gore at the Sónar festival in Spain in 2005. They also remixed Martyr in 2006. Arno: "[Remixing or supporting DM] was… bizarre. Surreal. I remember that in the beginning when we were asked I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to do it. But of course not doing it wouldn’t have been an option." Walter: "We were asked to do the remix some time prior to the request for the show. We knew that, being a part time DJ, Martin Gore knew the label and Booka Shade. Then, when the support slot for Berlin was free, we obviously were proposed by somebody from the label. We were asked if we were free one week before the show, but the actual decision was made one DAY before the show! Things became a bit hectic when we heard that we would do it….. but in the end everything went really smoothly. The production people were very nice and we even had a sound check (which we didn’t expect). We actually didn’t get the chance to talk to the band at all. They arrived shortly before the gig." Arno: "Knowing the [DM audience], you can believe me, we sh+*#’ in our pants before the gig. I’ve been to so many concerts before as a viewer and I’ve seen many acts fail. While on stage we didn’t really realize how it went, but I saw a video recording later on and I was really surprised how big the applause really was! A lot of questions in the Internet." | |
2013 | Booka Shade | Arno: "Needless to say we’re huge Depeche Mode fans, hooked since 1983. In our career, we had the privilege to remix both the band and Dave Gahan, and we had the pleasure to play as support act for them in Berlin’s Olympia Stadion and in Tel Aviv." | |
1990 | Boxcar | Australian band. | |
2001 | BrainStorm | Latvian band. | |
2005 | Bravery, The |
|
Sam Endicott: "You know before we did the tour I was like a passing fan of [DM]. I knew like the big hits and I liked that stuff, but I really didn't know them all that well and then going on tour with them I got a whole new level of respect. They have a huge body of work that is great and they've been consistently great over the years and they're a good live band - they totally kick ass! They kind of go about it the same way we do which is their live show is more organic and rock 'n' roll then their recordings. There is a lot more interplay between the band live and that's how we go about it as well." |
2006 | Bravery, The |
|
The Bravery later said regarding this leg:
|
1993 | Cane N Able | From Daryl Bamonte's Devotional Tour Diary:
| |
1994 | Caligula | Australian band. | |
2006 | Chantage | Turkish synth-pop band. You can watch a video of their performance of this day here. | |
2014 | Choir Of Young Believers | It was Trentemøller who suggested Martin on this tour to let Choir Of Young Believers support DM also. Martin Gore had also heard their song "Hollow Talk" in the TV series The Bridge. Jannis Noya Makrigiannis: “Apparently, Martin Gore likes our music and he invited us on to go on tour. We were actually just taking a break from an entire year of touring, but of course we couldn't say no to such an incredible invitation. The entire experience was unbelievably intense and nice! It is wonderful to see how such a huge band like Depeche Mode is still popular after 30 years and how they still play tremendous shows, night after night. The band members are about as old as my parents, but on stage they've got more energy than I ever will, haha.” | |
2013 | Chvrches | Martin Doherty of Chvrches later said: "The highlight of the summer [in 2013] and my career was supporting Depeche Mode at San Siro Stadium in Milan and it blew my mind a little bit. It was crazy. It was 60,000, the biggest audience we've played to by a mile. It was 60,000 for Depeche Mode and it wasn't full when we finished, but it was getting there. The fans were lovely to us. I had heard these horror stories about Depeche Mode fans that if they don't like the support band they throw eggs, but they were really kind to us. That was the second show we've done with them, we've got a couple more next week. They've been really nice to us and that's all we can ask for." Apparently, Chvrches donated the profit to a woman shelter. | |
2013 | Crystal Castles |
|
|
1982 | Cuba Dares | Irish band. | |
1981 | Darren Murphy, DJ | Member of Wasted Youth, and son of Bridge House owner Terry Murphy. | |
2013 | Diamond Version |
|
Alva Noto and Daniel Miller asked all DJers for the 2011 Short Circuit festival to send in music samples for a long mix. There, Alva Noto met Vince Clarke and Martin Gore. Noto later used Martin Gore's sample on a track called Uni Rec for his solo work. In 2012, Martin Gore and Vince Clarke asked not only Noto to remix VCMG's Single Blip, but asked Byetone as well. Byetone had also DJed at the Short Circuit Festival and Vince Clarke liked his DJ set a lot. And Martin used one of Byetone's tracks in a 2011 remix podcast. In 2012, Noto and Byetone joined forces as 'Diamond Version', signed by Mute Records. Olaf Bender: "You don't call Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode call you. With other bands, you offer yourself to play as their support act. Depeche Mode don't operate like that. They don't give it away for free. They only do what they like. We have called it our tour of humbleness. Such a crowd would never come to us. So at the same time, it's a huge opportunity. The way Martin Gore puts himself on the middle of the stage, when Dave is off stage for a while, without any lights or anything, and sings his ballads, barely accompanied by music, is amazing. That has impressed me the most, that he has kept his sensibility after 30 years of being on stage. He gets completely vulnerable." Martin Gore later remixed one of their songs. Diamond Version talk some more about opening for Depeche Mode (in German) here. |
1982 | Dizzy and the Romilars | NYC band. | |
2009 | Dolcenera | Italian singer. | |
2013 | Douglas McCarthy | Member of Nitzer Ebb. | |
1993 | Dreadzone | UK band. | |
1993 | Dub Syndicate | A dub band, formed by Adrian Sherwood, who also remixed People Are People. | |
1990 | Electribe 101 |
|
As stated on their Discogs page, "When Electribe 101 got to support Depeche Mode on their World Violation tour success was supposed to follow automatically. But everything went wrong. Watkins gave the band a hard time when they didn't follow his orders to the letter. On the tour they were occasionally booed off by Mode fans throwing bottles." Many fans as well as Martin Gore still remember how Electribe's singer refused to go on stage at 1990-10-23 Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, Paris, France, after having been bullied on stage the two previous nights. |
1990 | Electronic | Reportedly, DM first asked Jesus And Mary Chain to be the support act but the LA authorities didn't want that due to their band name, so they invited Electronic instead. This supergroup, consisting out of Bernard Sumner, Johnny Marr, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, was brand-new and so these were their first performances. Sumner says that while recording their album, DM asked them to play Shea Stadium in New York [which didn't happen]: "We only had two songs finished. We thought it would be totally mad to do it, so we said we'd do it." Bernard Sumner recalled in Uncut magazine, 2001: "I got completely and utterly fucked up [with booze and drugs] on the first night. There was a shower in the dressing room and I just filled it with puke. It was the worst fucking moment of my life." You can read more extensive reports on their performances here and here. | |
1993 | An Emotional Fish | Irish band. | |
1986 | Eyeless In Gaza | Martyn Bates and Peter Becker were only told of 1986-08-04 Arènes de Frejus, Fréjus, France the day before, and arrived 15 minutes too late, so The Blah Brothers had to support instead. According to Simon Spence's DM biography, Martin Gore warned Bates that the extremely fanatic DM fans could be hostile towards any support act. | |
2001 | Fad Gadget |
|
Depeche Mode supported Fad Gadget on 1980-11-12 Bridge House, London, England, UK, where Daniel Miller noticed them and offered a deal with DM. In April 2001, Andy Fletcher and Daniel Miller attended Fad Gadget's first concert in six years, were they probably contemplated on giving Fad a support slot on DM's tour. |
2014 | Feathers |
|
After being handpicked by Martin Gore to open for DM at SXSW, they said: "[...] We opened for them [at SXSW], which was awesome; it was one of the greatest shows that I’ve ever done. We are huge fans of theirs, but we were mostly excited because it meant we were actually able to see them. It was so hard to get tickets as it was like a lottery, so when we found out we were opening up, we were like ‘yes! we actually get to see them’. It was a really intimate setting — just over 300 people around a really small stage. So, we were just inches away from them when they played. That was amazing." Reportedly, band member Anastasia Dimou was grabbing breakfast at Whole Foods when she received an email that her band Feathers was offered the opening slot for a leg of Depeche Mode's European Tour. Her reaction? "I punched the sky, uttered a silent scream, and almost fell into a cereal aisle out of excitement." |
2009 | Feedbackers | A Peruvian audiovisual performance band. You can listen/watch what they played on stage here. | |
1981 | Film Noir | Film Noir was formed by Robert Marlow and Perry Bamonte. This was their first (and only?) performance. Robert Marlow remembered in Jonathan Miller's 'Stripped': "It was quite funny, because Vince said to just ring up this promoter, who was a real cowboy of a fellow, and he said, 'They've already got Blancmange supporting them.' I said, 'But Vince said we can play,' and he said, 'Well, you can play, but you won't get any money for it.' In the end, Vince gave me the money - 50 quid, it was. But that wasn't important; he'd asked us to play, so we went on before Blancmange, and then it was Depeche Mode. It was nice for me. I really enjoyed supporting them. I played guitar and we had a synthesizer player; Perry [Bamonte] was playing bass, and we had a tiny [Boss DR-55] 'Dr Rhythm' drum machine - one of the programmable ones. It was good; we went down well. Blancmange were excellent - I'd never seen them before; they were really, really good, and they were nice guys as well. The Modes were themselves, but Vince was quite withdrawn and not very happy. It was quite funny. Vince had a dose of diarrhoea! They'd been on tour up and down the country for a while, and so I think he was happy to be home. But I remember going around his flat during the day for a chat and he said, 'It's alright; I've been dosing myself up with syrup of figs. Silly arse." | |
2013 | F.O.X. | Apparently, Fox got the gigs after Mitzi contacted Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan. He replied and a friendship was struck up which started with some friendly advice, but led to an invitation to see Depeche Mode at the South By South West music conference in Austin, Texas. A few weeks later, they got an e-mail from the band’s management, asking them to be the sole support for five dates on Mode’s European tour. | |
2006 | Franz Ferdinand | ||
1980 | French Look | French Look featured Martin Gore, Robert Marlow, and Paul Redmond. On 1980-05-30 Paddocks Community Center, Laindon, Essex, England, UK, Depeche Mode supported French Look, but at Nicholas School, it was vice versa. Robert Marlow: "Vince was extremely angry [with Martin], because Martin would perform in both bands. But that's what Martin is like: He wants to do good for everyone. Nevertheless, Vince was expecting a clear commitment. (...) But we played our set, Martin went offstage, changed his shirt and is about to go back on again. Suddenly, Vince is going completely mad: he screams all around him, and actually claims that we have changed the settings on the synthesizers! [T]hey were on first, and we were both using the same keyboards - Fletcher was playing my Korg, well, to be honest he didn't play much - except at this gig they messed up all the settings before we went on!" Apparently, Rob Marlow had an argument with Paul Redmond and the gig collapsed because the latter refused to play his keyboards. Not surprisingly they broke up after that. | |
1987 | Front 242 |
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In 1991, Front 242 got signed by Epic Records. They then said to Melody Maker: "We've had Americans come up to us, saying, 'We love Depeche Mode, but we love you too, because you are the strong edge of electronic music that Depeche Mode draw on'. I think America is just ready for electronic music. And Epic Records might have guessed that through watching the rise of Depeche Mode. But apart from that there's no point of comparison between Front and Depeche." |
2006 | Gogo, DJ | Swiss DJ. | |
2006 | Goldfrapp | Signed by Mute Records. | |
2009 | Gomo | Portuguese pop musician. | |
1988 | Hard Corps |
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Regine from Hard Corps regularly went topless at the gigs. For 1988-01-24 Centre, Brighton, England, UK, she was forced to sign a contract that said that she could not perform topless, which she did sign, but she went topless anyway. It is said that there was talk of taking Hard Corps on DM's next leg in Europe, but Regine's undressing prevented this. |
1981 | Harlots | Apparently this band called themselves 'Fear of the Dark' afterwards but no further info can be found. | |
2006 | Hirek Wrona & Mario (DJs) | Hirek Wrona talks about DM (prior to doing the show) here. | |
2010 | Horrors, The | Ben Hillier had been the producer for The Horrors in 2007, so perhaps that's how they got the slot. | |
2013 | How To Dress Well | American singer-songwriter. | |
1986 | Hula |
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Sheffield band. |
1981 | Ian Ritchie, DJ | No info can be found. | |
1994 | Igni Ferroque | Costa Rican rock band. | |
1982 | Images In Vogue | Canadian synth-pop band. The first out of two support slots. | |
1983 | Images In Vogue | This was the second time that they opened for DM. Apparently, Images In Vogue also got signed by a record label backstage after this support gig. | |
1982 | Indochine | French electronic band. | |
1980 | Industrial Muzic | Apparently they shared a single with Wasted Youth: Wasted Youth was the band of 'Bridge House' owner Terry Murphy's son, Darren. | |
1981 | Industrial Muzic | Apparently they shared a single with Wasted Youth: Wasted Youth was the band of 'Bridge House' owner Terry Murphy's son, Darren. | |
2013 | Instrumenti | Latvian band. | |
1981 | Intensive Care | No info can be found. | |
1997 | Jason Bentley, DJ | Jason got to interview DM 16 years later at 2013-03-13 SXSW, Convention Center, Austin, TX, USA. As he says in that interview, he was friends with Tim Simenon and got to meet Dave Gahan via him in 1996. Jason also interviewed Tim Simenon in May 1996 for KCRW FM, perhaps this is how he got to know Tim, and perhaps this is also how Jason got to DJ before DM. He also DJed before Martin Gore's two shows at the Mayan Theatre in 2003. | |
1990 | Jesus And The Mary Chain | Jim Reid: "The shows with Depeche Mode came about because they seemed to be fans of the band and they asked us to play with them. The giant stadium show I thought was pretty good. We didn’t take it too seriously. Thought it might be a bit of an experience. I thought the crowd weren’t too bad either, even though they all seemed to be about 12 and female. We were meant to do 3 shows with them. We did another one and Toronto, and we were supposed to do Dodgers Stadium in LA, but the people from the stadium refused to let us play because they were offended by the band name. Only in America." | |
2013 | Jezabels, The |
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Nik Kaloper: "Well, we basically took the opportunity [to open for DM]. We wanted to tour with them and when the opportunity came up we wanted to see what would happen. They said they liked us as a band so we were able to do forces for about seven shows and they were the biggest shows we have ever played in our lives. It was really, really exciting." |
1994 | Juana La Loca | Argentinian band. | |
2013 | Katarína Knechtová | Slovakian artist. Christian Eigner had worked with her the year before, so he gave her the slot. Katarína: "Christian usually doesn't know who is supporting the gigs, it depends on the management. But he said that Martin quietly went to the sound engineer's spot and watched us." | |
1997 | Kris Needs, DJ | ||
2009 | Lavagance | Slovakian band. They also got the support slot four years later. | |
2013 | Lavagance | Slovakian band. They also got the support slot four years ago. Mark Rakovický: "It's a tremendous privilege and honour to support them again. And it is also a responsibility for us, so we play at our best. Personally, the day before the concert, as the last time, we won't fall asleep. We have barely more songs than in 2009. I think it will sound a bit better and fresher." | |
1981 | Ludus | Manchester band. On some DM fansites, it is said that 'Linder' once supported DM. Linder was the frontwoman of Ludus. | |
2009 | M83 |
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Anthony Gonzalez: "When we toured with Depeche Mode, I'd watch Dave Gahan sing perfectly every night." |
1981 | Mad Shadows | ||
1981 | Martin Besserman | Currently a comedy club owner. | |
1993 | Marxman |
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A hip-hop group. |
1982 | Matt Fretton |
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You can read an interview with Matt Fretton about supporting DM here. He seems to say that he had to fill in for Blancmange when they were supporting DM in London, and then for the next tour he was asked to be their main support act. |
1983 | Matt Fretton |
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You can read an interview with Matt Fretton about supporting DM here. |
1984 | Matt Fretton |
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You can read an interview with Matt Fretton about supporting DM here. Matt says, "In the UK they were great and really made me feel I was special, but the last tour I did with DM was a month long European tour, where my use of backing tapes was incomprehensible to the audience and I was booed and had things thrown at me every night. I hated it and thought seriously about quitting, but realized that would have been inexcusable, so I went to a studio in Germany (Hansa in fact) halfway through the tour, and edited the backing tapes down to a set of about 15 minutes. That helped, but the tour manager was really not pleased that it was such a short set." |
2013 | Matthew Dear | Matthew Dear talks about DM here: "[B]ack in 2005 we saw them play in Detroit. We didn’t have any connections then, we were just fans. We ended up sitting pretty close to the stage, and right before they started playing they had their soundtrack music come on. The first track was from Audion, one of my other projects, and we just started looking at each other. We knew then that Martin was kind of a fan. It was always hovering, this idea that one day something could happen, and then the remix kicked it off. They asked us to open for them in Düsseldorf. I think 90 percent of the people in the audience weren’t familiar with my work, but there were definitely one or two die-hard Depeche fans near the front going, “Aw yeah! I heard the remix this guy did for them”, so that’s good to hear. The way I look at it is that you shouldn’t get in the way; the fans are there to see Depeche Mode. This is their night to connect with their favorite band, and it’s my job to give them what Depeche Mode wanted me to say. By selecting me they’re telling the fans, “Check out this stuff that we like.” So we did a nice little set, played our hearts out, and hopefully got a few converts. You don’t want to offend anyone in a situation like that. I think it was one of the largest crowds we ever played for. We played in Kiev a few days ago and that was 42,000 tickets sold and that was amazing. It was an open stadium so it felt more festive, and the crowd was looser. I think the people in Germany are a bit more hardcore about Depeche Mode, whereas there I think they were just excited in general. The Germans were definitely more judgmental toward us, but in a good way. We had to earn their applause, and we fed off that." | |
2013 | Michal Matejcík | A Slovakian harpist who had already covered DM songs on his harp at DM parties. Michal: "It was really an honour to open for Depeche Mode as I am a big longtime fan. Everything came all of a sudden and clicked easily. I received an email with an offer to support DM in Vienna and then the things just happened. And I don’t remember in DM’s history that a support act would actually play their own songs! The crowd’s reaction was fantastic and they enjoyed the harp covers because people were singing to what I was playing and even waved their hands in ‘Never Let Me Down Again‘. Martin and Peter Gordeno came to watch my performance from the backstage and they laughed when the fans were singing to harp. I am really glad I got such opportunity and my dream came true." | |
1982 | Ministry | Al Jourgensen: "When we were playing in New York with Depeche Mode I literally dumpster dove behind a theather to grab popcorn to eat. A big five-pound bag would feed the whole band. We were all living in a van scrunched up with our equipment. There was us, our driver, a road, a bunch of equipment, and popcorn. That's all I remember - eight people living in a van living on popcorn. Not good." | |
1983 | Ministry | ||
1993 | Miranda Sex Garden |
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Hepzibah Sessa: "Opening for Depeche Mode in Europe was a privilege and a pleasure that would be hard to surpass. I can think of nothing more fulfilling for a musician than to play in front of 30,000 frenzied Mode fans screaming "De-peche-Mode" throughout the entire set. It filled one with a real sense of achievement trying to play the keyboard whilst dodging a variety of missiles, including, on one occasion, a bag of shit - which begs the question, do you bring it with you already prepared, or do it on site, spontaneously, as it were? It was all worthwhile though because I always had the last laugh. For a start, I amassed a great collection of lighters which the angry mob would hurl at us with alarming regularity. Of course, the joke was always on them because you knew that they'd be even more pissed off later when they realised they didn't have one to wave while Martin sang one of his weepy numbers! And of course, there was that small point about being on intimate terms with a particular Mode member [Alan Wilder] - need I say more?" Hepzibah on Shunt: "Of course I remembered DM from my youth but I'd never bought a record or knew anything about the band. [...] As an example of DM's obvious influence, when I heard the show for the first time, I found I was strangely familiar with the songs and lyrics. I first talked to Alan on the second night of our support leg which was also his birthday - I had no idea who he was or what he did - we used to wind each other up a lot after the show and he'd ask me to go out to clubs etc.. It was about 3 days into the tour that I realised he was the bloke to played the drums. We became pretty inseparable from that point." |
1988 | Mixed Pickles | East-Berlin band. | |
1981 | Modern Man | ||
2006 | Mohair | ||
2013 | Motel Connection | Italian band. Samuel Romano said after the first gig: "You quickly realise that this type of event, music being played in the outdoors, is born in England. They have a very British attitude towards live music. Personally, we were very good, their technicians treated us like they treat Depeche Mode, with the same degree of professionalism. As for the public event, we can say that this was for us an opportunity to test ourselves. We dealt with an audience that was not ours. But I must say that, after the first seconds, we found ourselves in a very warm audience which understood that we came from the same world of electronic pop that Depeche mode more or less created. We crossed paths with DM just before they came on stage. They are very polite and friendly. There was a smile, a gesture of greetings but nothing more, also because they are armoured... It is impossible to have a chat with them, even if you are in the same dressing room. And so it must be said that British productions are very strict: the artists are always isolated, left alone, to keep them quiet. The concert was really interesting. Unlike most productions, they are bringing a circus in the middle of the stadium, they arrived with a sober and elegant production, small, but they have conquered the excitement and attention of the people there. I think it's a lesson for those who want to fill the stadium with giant objects but not really focus on the music, that is the most important thing. [Tomorrow in Rome] we will continue to get more awareness. Yesterday we went up on stage trying to understand what could happen. Tomorrow will be a more contextualized event. We will know better how to use our 40 minutes. The setlist will be practically the same, we will change a few things but that will be it. We will be a little less defensive and attack a little more." | |
2009 | Motor |
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Bryan Black in Sonic Seducer magazine, May 2009: "Martin Gore was a fan of MOTOR from the beginning and had great interest in us remixing a few songs. When I found out that Depeche Mode were recording their latest album in my hometown Los Angeles, I just called him one day. He immediately invited me to dinner with the entire band - all three of them being awfully nice guys with whom I can go along perfectly. The idea that we could support them, came on its own." In 2011, Motor would release an album on which Martin Gore had sung the vocal track. Bryan: "[Man Made Machine] all came together on the Depeche Mode tour. There was no masterplan. On the second date in Athens, Dave Gahan fell ill and DM put the tour on hold. No one knew when he would return, so we flew to Berlin and found ourselves in a hotel room waiting on word from the DM camp. We decided to mess around on some new songs, set up a vocal booth in the toilet and soon had ourselves an impromptu studio setup. As an experiment, we started producing more melodic Techno Rock ideas – maybe as a reaction to seeing 60,000 people losing their minds to DM overnight. Martin Gore was the first vocalist on the LP. We gave him a CD of the track and a few days later he looked into our dressing room and said, 'Yes, I'd love to do it'." |
2006 | Muse | Matthew Bellamy: "I can understand the association [between Muse and DM], because they're a band that never really fitted in exactly with the music of their time. They had their own thing, their own style, own sound. I respect them very much." | |
2013 | Nadine Shah | Her debut album was produced by Ben Hillier in 2013, so that's probably how she got to support DM. Nadine: "Me and the band toured with Depeche Mode around Germany; that was slightly surreal but a lot of fun. Playing on stage to thousands of people, then watching Depeche perform a power set every night, usually followed by a game of table football backstage with Martin Gore. Weird." | |
1981 | Naked Lunch | Naked Lunch was also featured on Stevo Pearce's Some Bizzare album. When TV programme '20th Century Box' contacted Naked Lunch to interview them in 1981, Tony Mayo apparently suggested them to interview DM at 1981-06-27 Crocs, Rayleigh, Essex, England, UK as well, which became a very well-known interview. | |
2006 | Natural Project | Spanish band. | |
1986 | New Order | ||
1988 | Nitzer Ebb |
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Douglas McCarthy: "When Nitzer Ebb first signed to Mute Records in 1987, one of the first things Daniel Miller wanted us to do was tour with Depeche Mode on their Music For the Masses European tour. Being the obstinate, snotty little upstarts that we were, we baulked at the idea of doing something so ‘mainstream’ and popular’. We actually had a genuine fear that it would ruin our nonexistent career. Daniel insisted and got his way. Once on the tour the penny finally dropped: “Oh, that’s what being in a band is all about…” Not only were we blown away by DM’s stage performance and attention to detail, off stage they were extraordinarily kind and generous… and an awful lot of fun. Things went so well, in fact, that they decided the show must go on, and we were invited to tour the US, too. US immigration had other ideas, and our work visas were denied, citing that we “lacked musical merit”—in some ways, a point well made." |
1990 | Nitzer Ebb |
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Douglas McCarthy: "The “World Violation Tour” that took place in the US over the summer of 1990 was an incredible experience for everyone involved. There was a magical element to it, which sounds straight out of the Rock and Roll Bullshit Handbook (I always keep a copy handy in my back pocket), but it was just a very special time full of excess, tears, and laughter. Lots and lots of laughter." |
2010 | Nitzer Ebb |
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Douglas McCarthey later said: "We have always kept in touch with [DM], specifically with Martin, as we all live in Southern California. We’d asked Mart to sing backing vocals on one of the new tracks, ‘Once You Say’, and then once we knew we were going to be releasing as they were finishing up their tour in Europe it made sense to approach him about the support slot." |
2006 | Nova Generacia | Bulgarian band. | |
1988 | Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark |
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Andy McCluskey: "Depeche mode made good music that appealed to the large “alternative” and 'goth' crowd. They also make stadium synth music. The rest of us [electronic bands] never really cracked it to that level [in America]." He talks more about touring with DM in this unofficial documentary. Martin Gore: "We were looking around for a support band for quite a while. Basically, [out of] most of the bands that were suggested, we really really felt that they weren't suitable. Then OMD was suggested to us, and we felt it was quite a good package: two electronic bands playing together. And it seemed to go down well. I think the audiences liked it."
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1983 | Our Daughter's Wedding | ODW toured as the opening act for The Psychedelic Furs that year, and split up afterwards. DM also opened for The Psychedelic Furs on this date. Scott Simon: "We were proud of our musicianship, that we could play complicated parts with precision and speed, while our contemporaries relied on programming and triggers. I got a first-hand look at the difference when we played with Depeche Mode in Chicago." | |
1994 | Outsiders, The |
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South-African band. |
2006 | Pamela | Turkish singer. | |
1993 | Parallax | Alan Wilder's then-step-son, Jason Young, was part of Parallax. Alan gave them the support slot. | |
2006 | Pati Yang | Polish singer. Pati: "It's a very nice memory, a very nice thing to happen. It started to rain in the middle of the gig, so we performed with some risk involved. It was an honour to be given such chance. I was asked to send my demo and someone out there listened to it. Also the crowd was fantastic and most of all [so was] the amazing concert of the masters, whom we managed to see later, so my memories are very fond." | |
2009 | Peter Bjorn and John |
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Peter Bjorn and John also remixed 'Fragile Tension'. Peter Móren said beforehand: "we are - excited and a bit scared. I heard some nasty things about when Spiritualized opened one of their tours, the fans hated them. So I hope that's not gonna happen. But I think it's a really good fit, because this new record has, as I said, we listened to a lot of mid-'80s music, we did listen to some Depeche Mode making it. Obviously they're a really great pop band; they're seen as this depressed black music, but they have some really great pop songs. They have the melancholy but it's very danceable. I think we're pretty similar in a way. I'm not sure if they think so, but we're really excited and flattered because they did ask us - and they do pay us [laughs]." During the tour, he said: "We just played Hollywood Bowl and that was what I looked forward to most. And it was great. Bjorn is a big [Depeche Mode] fan. I like some of the songs a lot, especially the older ones like “Stripped” and “Everything Counts.” Some of the newer songs sound like Kent, a Swedish stadium rock band, but with better vocals. But I’m a bigger fan of the Beatles, that’s why I wanted to play the Bowl. They asked us to come along and we said yes! Depeche not the Beatles… [The tour is going] great! People seem to be really into it, especially the new songs! I think Depeche fans can relate to songs like “It Don’t Move Me” and “Just The Past” cause they sound Depeche-y." Then he said afterward: "We did the Depeche Mode tour this summer and that’s probably the longest tour we’ve ever done. It was great. I thought it was going to be less fun than it was because I was kind of scared of the huge arenas and the Depeche fans, if they would like us or not (laughs), but they really did. Most of the gigs they were really, really into it and it was a good experience when you get used to trying to make it intimate in an arena. [It's] true, it is a bit weird [to see people arrive while you're playing]. But at the same time when you feel that you win people over it pays off. It feels good when you have a hard start of the set and everything and then at the end you really feel that they’re into it, so it’s good." |
1981 | Philip Jap | Synth-pop artist. His name was spelled Philip Japp in the advertisements. | |
2006 | Placebo | Melody Maker reports that Placebo had hung out with a drunk, naked Martin Gore in Paris in the mid-'90s. Brian Molko asked the crowd to cheer "Get well Dave!" at 2009-05-31 Pinkpop Festival, Landgraaf, Holland. | |
2001 | Poe |
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Poe took her brother, author Mark Z. Danielewski, on stage with her for many of these dates (it is not known which ones exactly). He would read some of his work to the crowd. |
2009 | Polarkreis 18 | German pop band. | |
1984 | Portion Control |
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1981 | Positive Noise | ||
1994 | Primal Scream |
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Bobby Gillespie said in 2013: "[Supporting DM in 1994] was fucking terrible! It was awful. Awful. Well, Depeche were great and they treated us real well, but at that point the Primal Scream and Depeche Mode audiences weren’t made for each other. It wasn’t working, let me tell you. I knew it from the very first gig. Our record company and our management talked us into doing the tour, and two gigs in I was like, “This ain’t gonna work, man.” And we still had 11 more weeks of it. It just wasn’t gonna work. It wasn’t gonna work. Listen man, I know how to work an audience and we got no reaction from the Depeche fans for the whole fucking tour. It was a waste of time. It would have been better if we had done our own tour, playing clubs. We were playing a 45-minute set to a half-fucking-filled auditorium, y’know? For the teenage goth girls. It was not happening, man." You can read more details on their supporting tour here. |
1986 | Public Panic | Danish band. | |
2001 | Puracane | One of Puracane's past members is Knox Chandler, friend and collaborator of Dave Gahan. | |
1998 | Purity |
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2009 | Quiero Club | Mexican pop-indie band. | |
2005 | Raveonettes, The |
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Sune Rose Wagner said in 2012: "Just remembered we have a recording of Martin Gore singing "The Heavens" from our Pretty In Black album in Toronto when we toured with Depeche Mode, I'll dig it out and play it for you! He's an amazing crooner I must say and he wore his Elvis leather outfit on stage for that song... Touring with Depeche Mode was so much fun and definitely one of the best tours we ever did. Martin Gore's a huge Raveonettes fan and an expert on 50's and 60's music, as I was happily made aware of night after night, as he would drunkenly sing all the classics into my ear in tiny bars across the land..." Sharin also said in 2010: "[T]the first [greatest Raveonettes moment] that kind of came to my mind, I don’t know why, was we were touring with Depeche Mode and Martin Gore, he came on stage and sang a song with us." |
2006 | Raveonettes, The | The Raveonettes said in 2010: "[Touring with DM] was an incredible experience. It was flattering that Martin Gore and Dave Gahan both were fans of our band and then it was a great learning process to try and translate our music to such huge venues. I have very fond memories of the tour." | |
2009 | Raveonettes, The | The Raveonettes said in 2010: "We played with them again recently in Mexico City which was the largest venue we have ever played. We still stay in touch with Martin Gore." | |
2009 | Rizal Underground, The | Filipino band. | |
1981 | Ronny | She was Rusty Egan's protégé, and Flicks was Rusty's club, so when Rusty gave DM a chance to perform at his club, he put Ronny as the support act. | |
1981 | Rusty Egan, DJ | He was a DJ at club Blitz, where Dave Gahan also used to frequent. | |
1985 | Satöbbi | Hungarian band. | |
2006 | Scarling | Managed by Daryl Bamonte, he explained in 2006: "I asked the band and Jonathan [Kessler if Scarling could support DM on tour], and they obliged!" | |
2006 | Schiller | German DJ. This was his first gig abroad. | |
2006 | Scissor Sisters | ||
2006 | Second | Spanish band. | |
1983 | Sense |
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UK band. Martin Gore says in this interview: "Where did we pick [Sense] up? Ehm, I think it was just related, really, they were suggested to us. Originally we were looking for a band without a drummer, maybe a one solo performer or a two-piece, because they're easy to soundcheck and everything, but it's very difficult to find that sort of band. In the end, Sense was suggested to us, and we just thought they sounded okay, so we took them out on tour with us." |
1983 | Shades of Life | No more info can be found. | |
2006 | She Wants Revenge |
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Adam Bravin: “[Touring with DM] was amazing. Imagine going on the road with your favorite band… We learned a lot from being on the road with them. We learned a lot musically… I grew up listening to their music, but I never really listened to it in a live setting before, so watching them every night, and watching how they write songs, it was all very interesting. Those [Depeche Mode] songs have so many peaks and valleys, but our songs kind of just chug along, all the way through. So that tour, it led us to a new way of songwriting, because it’s nice to have those peaks and valleys — which we didn’t have on the first record. After playing those old songs for two years, on the road, we realized we missed that kind of stuff. We really got a sense of what [we] like and what [we] don’t like about the first record, and I think we just figured out that we like the darker side of what we do better. Reportedly, She Wants Revenge tweeted in 2012: "When we toured with Depeche Mode, Dave would sing the lyrics to @shewantsrevenge "Sister" over their song Photographic." |
2013 | Shout Out Louds | Swedish indie pop band. | |
2006 | Sistem | Romanian band. Zoli Toth before the show: "I heard from the organizers, Emag!c Entertainment, that they wanted something special for the opening concert so we went to them. I had finished three songs. The songs were sent to DM's staff, and they made the decision that we play the opening. As far as I know, there were other Romanian artists who wanted to play as the opening, but we were chosen. A payment for this concert did not matter at all, I accepted it as a gift. In terms of promotion, will be our most important concert ever. The audience that comes to Depeche Mode concert has a certain financial status, are middle-aged people, who can buy the album in the original way, and who will pay for the ticket. If we can impress them with this show, we gain new fans. It's a business, after all. The [disadvantage is] that the opening band does not benefit from the same conditions as the main artist: you do not have the same lights, screens, the same space on stage, mainly just because the artist wants to stand out. When I sent a technical rider, we were told "no." There will be two tracks by the band Suie Paparude and we will sing two tracks together, and the show will last half an hour. [We will play] something completely new. But we want to take advantage of this moment and show them something else. For example, we will sing a song with Grigore Lese, who is a popular singer. It will be a surprise for the audience, and for him I think. I do not know many folk singers who have sung in front of 45,000 paying spectators. In addition, the sound will be different, underground, noncommercial." Sistem covered DM's 'People Are People' in 2010. | |
1993 | Sisters Of Mercy | Andrew Eldritch said before the show: "[DM] rang me up, asked me [to support them], and I said "Yeah". I LIKE Depeche Mode. Also, it's a good way to play different faces to the band, it's a good way to play to different sets of people, it's not like preaching to the converted or something." At the end of their performance, Andrew Eldritch famously said, "Enjoy the puppet show" to the crowd, as his way of announcing DM. | |
2006 | Sisters Of Mercy | ||
1981 | Sleeping Pills | No further info can be found. | |
2014 | Soft Moon |
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Luis Vasquez: "[Touring with DM] was eye-opening, emotional and very fun! It was revelation, life-changing... For me to come from my bedroom making songs to playing with DEPECHE MODE in front of 20,000 people every night, it's crazy. I watched them perform every night we toured with them. I remain very grateful and humble about the whole thing. I just couldn't believe it. It gave me more questions like “why am I alive?” Is this really happening? When it gets this big, it doesn't make sense anymore. Martin Gore and I shared a lot of jokes. He's hilarious, in fact. One night, I was drinking quite a bit and I mentioned that I cry a lot when I watch sad films. So it became this recurring joke like when I was saying something, he'd reply “And did you cry?” (laughs)... It's great to see that he's a real person." |
1993 | Sonic Smell | Hungarian rock band consisting out of Dávid Vígh, Péter Vadász, András Réti, Cicóka, and Péter Ujvári, who all seem to have been in different bands since then. No further info can be found. | |
2009 | Soulsavers |
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Dave Gahan said afterwards (conglomerate of various quotes): "I’ve been a fan of what Rich Machin has been doing with Soulsavers for a while. And certainly, once they got Mark Lanegan on board, I got more interested. It was one of those things… I just saw myself at some point in the future doing something. So I was on the phone with Martyn LeNoble, I wanted to talk to him about something else. He said, "I’m in the studio here with Soulsavers," and I was like, "Really? I really like that band." Then he said: "You should take them on the road, they'd like to go", and I heard Rich in the background going "Yeah, take us on tour then!" So I was like: "Really? With my band? That’s not an easy opening act. Soulsavers are very cinematic. I’m not sure if it’s the right thing for the kind of gigs that my band is doing, but if he’s game for a laugh, then let’s do something, you'll be at the top of the list in my book." So I talked to Martin Gore and he said, “Yeah, cool. Let’s figure out where would be good.” I think they stayed with us a couple of months in Europe. It was cool. I would often sit on the side of the stage and watch and listen to what they were doing. We talked about doing something together. But, you know, quite often when you have those conversations, nothing happens. It was one of those backstage, hallway conversations. I think it was myself, Mark Lanegan, and Rich, and maybe they were about to go onstage or something." Mark Lanegan said afterward: "Performing with Soulsavers as the opening act of Depeche Mode was fantastic. Every night we were being applauded the loudest by the main act." Dave did with two albums with Soulsavers. |
2013 | Space Blanket | Greek band. COSMOTE's promotional campaign 'Jumping Fish' had set up a contest where bands could compete in March 2013 for the opening slot for DM's concert in Athens, and Space Blanket won. They gave Martin Gore a copy of their EP beforehand. | |
1993 | Spiritualized | Dave Gahan really likes the band so he asked them to be the support act. After being bullied by DM's fans for six shows, Spiritualized refused to continue opening for DM. | |
1994 | Stabbing Westward |
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Stabbing Westward in 2001: "[Touring with] Depeche Mode was great. We are all huge Depeche Mode fans so that was amazing. They were really great to us." With this tour, the band was able to finance a new album which would be their biggest success in sales, "Wither Blister Burn & Peel". |
1998 | Stabbing Westward |
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Christopher Hall: "For a long time the whole Chicago/Wax Trax! industrial scene made fun of Depeche Mode, (but) all these dudes were in some sort of denial because the roots of the music that they were playing came from Depeche Mode. (Ministry's) 'With Sympathy' was a very Depeche Mode-inspired record, and so was early (My Life with the) Thrill Kill Kult. It was really odd that there was a 'must be heavier/darker/more sinister' backlash, because years and years later a lot of those same bands were fighting for position on a Depeche Mode tribute album." He also said, "Martin Gore from Depeche Mode is one of the greatest guys I've ever hung out with. He's a really cool guy." According to someone on this site, he/she went to one of these concerts, and Stabbing Westward was supposed to be the opener but the lead singer got sick so they did not perform. It is not stated at which gig this occurred. |
2006 | Sugarplum Fairy | Swedish pop-rock band. Victor Norén: "It feels great [to be opening for DM], especially since it was them who chose us. When big bands come to Sweden it usually depends on the booking company who lets you play [before the big band]. This time, Depeche Mode came to us." | |
2006 | Suie Paparude | Romanian band. Mihai Dobre: "I had some songs in mind with Sistem. So I sent the Romanian organizers (Emag!c Entertainment) a presentation kit. They, in turn, sent the materials to Depeche Mode's manager, who decided that Sistem and Șuie Paparude can open the concert in Romania. It will be a performance of 30 minutes. We sing both Sistem's parts as well as those of Șuie Paparude. It will be a repertoire composed especially for this event. Of course we will try to do a complete show with special effects, but we do not know how much we are allowed to do. We used to listen to all of Depeche Mode's music and we like them, but we cannot say that we are fans in the true meaning of the word." It's a great opportunity, unique to sing in Romania's biggest stadium, as the opening act of a Western trendsetting group like Depeche Mode. We hope that on June 23 to be at least the same as then. Anyway, we're glad that we will be strong there, and we will work hard for this special show." | |
2006 | Sunshine | Czechian band. Karl Buriánek: "I do not know if we have fulfilled our dream [by opening for DM]. For me it was important that I had a chance to see Depeche Mode play live for the first time, and have a VIP zone. It was a great experience because we got quite a lot of space and we played for 20.000 people, which is a huge rush, whether you like it or not. It is wild when you see so many heads at daylight. I think we stood with honour and we were even met with a positive response in the press." | |
1982 | Talk Talk | Talk Talk had just released their first single five days before this show. In 2012, Alan Wilder confessed to being a huge Talk Talk fan by contributing to a project called Spirit Of Talk Talk. | |
1986 | Talk Talk | In 2012, Alan Wilder confessed to being a huge Talk Talk fan by contributing to a project called Spirit Of Talk Talk. Regarding hearing Talk Talk for the first time, he said: "Neither rivals nor comrades, [Talk Talk were] just one of many bands who were around during that period. It was a heady time for us, running about like headless chickens, rolling into town for endless promotional appointments, live shows, guest appearances and so on. We did encounter Mark Hollis a couple of times. A seemingly more miserable person I couldn’t really imagine as we, as young Moders, would be met with a complete blank stare whenever we tried to make conversation. We would typically bump into each other at a European TV studio – I guess they would be miming to ‘Today’ or ‘Life’s What You Make It’ while we pranced around to ‘Stripped’ or ‘People Are People’ on the next stage. One night I asked the other two why Mark never showed up to any of the clubs we would frequent after those appearances. Paul replied that he was in his room “thinking”. He said that Mark does a lot of ‘thinking’ and added that he himself also ‘thinks’ a bit, while the drummer Lee doesn’t ‘think’ at all." | |
2001 | Technique |
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Sarah Blackwood states: "In August [2001] I received a phone call from Kate Holmes asking me if I fancied joining her band, Technique, on a Depeche Mode tour, as her singer Xan had decided she wanted to try a solo career. I jumped at the chance as Dubstar had just split and I was deeply depressed, contemplating my future from the bottom of a bottle of dry white wine and it wasn't looking good. I had a week to pull my socks up and get rehearsing and learning new songs. We had such a fantastic time. The Depeche boys were so welcoming, inviting us into their dressing room before showtime for a glass or 3 of dry white wine and eventually taking us on the jet that had a specially painted black tail. It was incredibly glamourous, landing at an airfield and having a police escort into whatever city we were playing that day. We couldn't get over the devotion and dedication of the fans who would travel from gig to gig, to hell with the weather and the cost and inspired, we started writing songs together, on days off from the tour, at first for other people then, after seeing the chanting fans stood in the rain at Leipzig and the uniform of the lady guarding our dressing room, we thought it was a good omen and decided to go for it as Client and perform the songs ourselves... wearing the uniform that had started as something practical, in case anyone threw anything nasty." |
2009 | Terry Poison | Tel Aviv-based band. "Last year we opened the first concert in the Depeche Mode tour in Tel Aviv. They chose us", they say proudly. | |
1993 | The The |
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The The was also featured on Stevo Pearce's Some Bizzare album. Drummer Andy Kubiszewski later joined Stabbing Westward, who supported DM in 1994 and in 1998. In '98, he said: "[Stabbing Westward] has toured with a lot of our heroes. Especially Depeche Mode, we are all huge fans of Depeche Mode. Before I joined Stabbing Westward, I was in The The and we toured with Depeche Mode. I got to play in The The and I mean I listened to them while I was in college and then I’m in the band thinking, ‘Wow, this is great.’ We toured with Depeche Mode and New Order, bands I grew up idolizing." Vocalist Matt Johnson before a show: [When you're supporting DM], you're playing to more people, but you're not playing to your own audience, so you don't really have people's attention as much as when you are playing your own shows. There are pros and cons, really. We don't have our own production, we don't have our own lights, we only play a set of 45 minutes, we do about nine songs. So you're very limited, but the advantage is that you're reaching new people, hopefully." |
1982 | Thin Men | No more info can be found. | |
1993 | Think About Mutation | Leipzig-based band. Ralf Donis: "We were picked as the support act for Depeche Mode at a local concert, which of course greatly broadened our fanbase." | |
1998 | Tim Simenon, DJ |
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Tim Simenon was the producer for DM's 1997 album, 'Ultra'. He DJed before and after the set of the other support act, Purity. |
2006 | Timo Maas | Timo Maas remixed 'Enjoy The Silence' in 2004. Timo: "I’m not a hardcore Depeche Mode fan but I’m a child of the ’80s and as a consequence I have my own emotional experience with their music. I have only met them personally once, at the Legia Stadium in Warsaw in 2006 when I played a DJ set as the warm-up act for them. That was a massive occasion, particularly for a German playing in Poland. It was the time of the World Cup and Germany had just beaten Poland so I was concerned that there could be trouble because that stadium is the home of some of the most notorious hooligan fans in Europe. I was really nervous before going on stage but it all turned out fine. I even received applause at the end. That was one of only two sets in my life that I have prepared beforehand. I am always spontaneous and have a lot of music with me so that I go along with the situation and the mood of the set but that time I had to be prepared because I had visuals and everything. I remember I played a kind of alternative-electronic set including remixes of Placebo that I had done, one of which was “Space Monkey”. We had a special video prepared for that. It was a great moment playing to a sold out stadium of 35,000 people. I’ve played even bigger gigs than that, such as with the Smashing Pumpkins in Mexico in front of 50.000 people, but the Depeche Mode show was very special. It was one of those moments where I could sit back and realize that through my profession things that once would have seemed impossible had in fact become possible." | |
1988 | Thomas Dolby And The Lost Toy People | Thomas Dolby: "[The Rose Bowl gig] represented sort of the zenith of the conquest of California and increasingly the rest of North America by Depeche Mode. Their sound, and the tour that they did for Music For The Masses, basically followed the infection of the KROQ factor across America to all of the different radio formats and different radio stations. And I think they fed off each other. I think each new city that they got to had just sort of got the bug of the KROQ format, had hit different cities, and so it was very clear that by the time that they got to the Rose Bowl, which is the biggest gig that they had ever done and really the biggest electronic music gig that had ever happened, it was gonna be a big celebration, it was gonna be a sort of Woodstock for that kind of KROQ, electronic sound." | |
1981 | The Three Laws | ||
1993 | Toyen | Czech band. Jirka Šimeček: "[Upon hearing that we were opening for DM, f]irst we trembled and then we said Okay, let's do it. For me, it is mainly the experience [that I am looking forward to]. Depeche Mode's fan club have dug out just about all of our records, I think their fans are more likely to accept us once they learn more about our gigs in America and that we were played on MTV. But even if they won't, then at least we will taste the feeling of playing in front of so many people. Depeche Mode themselves have said that they like our music, and for me this is probably the most important aspect." | |
2013 | Trentemøller | Trentemøller remixed 'Wrong' in 2009: "One of the funnest things [to remix] was Depeche Mode, because I’m a huge fan. They were one of my favourite bands when I was a teenager, so it was really great to hear Dave and Martin’s vocals, and kind of learn how they build up a song, because you are getting every track isolated, so you can really hear all the stuff." Trentemøller said: "When I was a teen I grew up with [DM]. I feel they wrote some of the best ‘80s and ‘90s pop songs in that era. It was actually Martin Gore [who asked me to support them], writing me an email via their management. That forced us to compile the band and the new tracks for 'Lost' even sooner than planned. It was pretty crazy to be playing on the same stage in these big stadiums, such as the Berlin Olympic stadium, in front of 75,000 people. Ahead of you there is this mass, and you have to focus on making eye contact to not get lost. We could not play as loudly as them, the main act has to sound louder. And it was unfortunate that we had to perform in daylight, because that will mess up most of the light effects. But I was nevertheless quite surprised and relieved to see the fans responding so well. It was a great opportunity to test out the new songs. People didn’t know them at all and still enjoyed them which was great. Their fans are actually known for being quite, only into Depeche Mode, you know, and quite dedicated. But even if only the first rows are dancing along, that's still 15.000 people! But also hanging out with Depeche Mode with a beer, talking to them as normal people, and seeing that they were really down to earth. With many bands you’d think are in it for the money now, but it really felt see that my old heroes are still having a good time doing what they were doing. The most emphatic thing was that Martin Gore came up to me in a bar and started praising my last album, and finally said, "I'm a big fan"! That was big for me. Gore told me he had all my records and even mentioned several of my tracks and remixes. Suprisingly, the band hang out quite often, even with the crew. Add to that the fact that the tour lasts 18 months, with a meagre 3 week holiday, it's completely insane! Wherever they went, there were separate rooms for families, they had their own rehearsal and laundry rooms, a touring catering crew with five main courses per evening, which also changed daily! They have over 120 people working for the band. It was like a small village that moves from stadium to stadium." Trentemøller also recommended another support act: "Martin Gore is pretty much into a lot of new Danish indie bands, like "Chimes & Bells" or "Sleep Party People". I played for him my friends in the Danish band "Choir Of Young Believers" and now they are actually touring with Depeche Mode too so that’s really cool!" | |
1994 | Turning Keys | ||
1988 | Wire | Wire were also on Mute Records, and Gareth Jones produced Wire's albums in 1987 and 1988, so that's probably how they landed the job. Colin Newman: "[We had] never done anything like that before. We were asked to do the tour, but we found it wasn’t appropriate. But it was a kind of special gig, and they wanted us to do it very much, so we said we would. And it was a big bill, it was them, OMD, Thomas Dolby and us. I mean, we were very much the last name on the bill. Still, we managed to play to more people than we’d every played to in one time before. Although the audience was still coming in, it wasn’t exactly all the people that Depeche Mode played to. It was kind of interesting, it was a kind of test, really, to see if we could do it or not. The audience were very far away! I mean it was a bit like playing to less people than we normally play to. What happened was, the guy who promoted this gig had said that he didn’t want any of the other groups on the bill to play their own headline gigs in Los Angeles in that period. I guess that was mainly addressed to OMD, whose album [was] breaking very fast, I think, in North America. They could have taken a substantial audience with them, I guess, if they’d gone for their own show somewhere in the area. But I guess if you say it about one you have to say it about everyone. So we put in a couple of unannounced dates in L.A. because we wanted to play to – you know, there are a considerable number of Wire fans in Los Angeles, and I think they would have been ‘bout pissed off if the only chance they had to see us was in a huge stadium." Andy Fletcher appeared in their May 1989 video 'Eardrum Buzz'. | |
2006 | Vania, DJ | Vania also got Andy Fletcher to DJ at Kristal Glam Club in Romania a year later. | |
2006 | Veztax, DJ | Slovenian DJ. | |
1982 | Vivabeat | In an email exhange with Michael Muhlfriedel: "I don't remember a lot about the show except that they had 3 reel to reel tape decks on stools behind them playing along with the music tracks. Which I though was pretty cool." | |
1987 | Voice Farm |
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Glen Hammerstrom interviewed Voice Farm in 1991, and asked them about supporting DM in 1987. Myke Reilly: "The good thing about [supporting DM] was just performing before all those people, and having some confusion at times where they didn't know, are we Depeche Mode, or...? It was a good thing because it really boosted our confidence A LOT, and kept us going tremendously, because, it was fun. Every place we played on the whole tour, people really loved us. Usually if you're an opening act, you get thrown a lot of shit or somebody throws cans, you know what I mean? You're waiting to see the group you paid to pay to see. But with us it wasn't like that. It was really, totally reaffirming. People really dug it." |
1981 | Voice of Reason | No more info can be found. | |
1981 | Watch With Mother | Michael White: "I got to know Vince Clarke, who was still in Depeche Mode but left after about a year to form Erasure and Yazoo, and we became good friends. The scheming things I used to do... I thought we could ride on the coat-tails of Yazoo, which Vince had just formed." So White's band Colour Me Pop and Yazoo pressed this single. | |
1982 | X-Agenten |
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German band. |
2009 | Yeah Yeah Yeahs | ||
2006 | Yonderboi | Hungarian artist. | |
2009 | Žagar | Hungarian band. Balázs Zságer: "The choice to let Žagar open before the Depeche Mode concert in Budapest was a great honour." | |
1980 | Zeitgeist | ||
1980 | Zeitung Da! | ||
1981 | Zeitung Da! |
Dates with Depeche Mode as the support act
Depeche Mode never liked being the support act. Dave Gahan said in the November 1981 issue of Sounds, "When we used to support, we got treated so bad. Especially at certain places in London, which I won’t mention. They tread all over you, and to the PA blokes, you’re nothing. It’s always ‘Where’s the support?’ They won’t even mention your name. Now we are the headliners – they love us. We’re playing two nights at the Lyceum – so we are the big band now!"
- 1980-05-30 Paddocks Community Center, Laindon, Essex, England, UK: as Composition Of Sound, support act for French Look
- 1980-06-xx Scamps, Southend-On-Sea, Essex, England, UK: support act for The School Bullies
- 1980-08-30 Crocs, Rayleigh, Essex, England, UK: support act for Soft Cell
- 1980-09-24 Bridge House, London, England, UK: support act for The Comsat Angels
- 1980-11-12 Bridge House, London, England, UK: support act for Fad Gadget
- 1980-11-14 Technical College, Southend-On-Sea, Essex, England, UK: support act for The Regulators
- 1981-01-11 Hope 'N' Anchor, London, England, UK: support act for Blancmange
- 1981-02-14 The Rainbow, London, England, UK: support act for Ultravox, along with Shock, Metro, and Ronny
- 1981-02-26 Lyceum, London, England, UK: support act for The Passions
- 1981-04-26 Lyceum, London, England, UK: support act for Fad Gadget, along with Furious Pig and Palais Schaumberg
- 1981-05-12 The Venue, London, England, UK: DM was on a double bill with Shock, support act Furious Pig got replaced by Siam
- 1981-06-02 Hammersmith Palais, London, England, UK: (support act for The Psychedelic Furs, along with Siam
- 1981-07-25 Zuiderpark, The Hague, The Netherlands: for Tuxedomoon, along with unknown local band
- 1983-03-26 Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, IL, USA: support act for The Psychedelic Furs
Dates which definitely did not have support acts
It is possible that with some of the first concerts outside of DM's "home base" in 1980-1983 (first outside of Essex, later outside of the UK), there were no support acts, since no evidence regarding a support act for some dates in that era/region can be found. For the dates below, fans who have attended these concerts have alleged that there were no support acts. For dates surrounding the dates mentioned below, such as March 1982, March 1984, and July 1985, it is possible that those other concerts did not have support acts either, but there is no conclusive evidence for these. If you have attended an early concert of Depeche Mode and it is not listed below but you remember that there was no support act, please send an email to angelinda [at] dmtvarchives [dot] com. Moreover, there was no real support act for 2006-06-26 The Point, Dublin, Ireland but there was a DJ who played some songs. If anyone remembers the name of this DJ, please contact us.
A total of 44 concerts have had no support act.
- 1982-03-06 Rockola, Madrid, Spain
- 1984-03-08 Pacha Club, Valencia, Spain
- 1984-03-09 Studio 54, Barcelona, Spain
- 1984-03-10 University, Madrid, Spain
- 1983-04-02 Pithecantropus, Tokyo, Japan
- 1985-04-07 Koseinenkin Hall, Tokyo, Japan
- 1985-04-08 Nakano Sun Plaza, Tokyo, Japan
- 1985-04-09 Koseinenkin Hall, Osaka, Japan
- 1985-04-12 Nakano Sun Plaza, Tokyo, Japan
- 1986-07-21 Koseinenkin Hall, Osaka, Japan
- 1988-04-18 Festival Hall, Osaka, Japan
- 1988-04-19 Koseinenkin Hall, Nagoya, Japan
- 1988-04-21 NHK Hall, Tokyo, Japan
- 1988-04-22 NHK Hall, Tokyo, Japan
- 1990-09-04 Shimin Kaikan, Fukuoka, Japan
- 1990-09-06 Kobe World Kinen Hall, Kobe, Japan
- 1990-09-08 Koseinenkin Hall, Kanazawa, Japan
- 1990-09-09 Nagoya-Shi Kokaido, Nagoya, Japan
- 1990-09-11 Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, Japan
- 1990-09-12 Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, Japan
- 1993-12-02 Palacio de los Deportes, Mexico City, Mexico
- 1993-12-03 Palacio de los Deportes, Mexico City, Mexico
- 1994-04-16 Teatro Fundidora, Monterrey, Mexico
- 2001-09-19 Hartwall Arena, Helsinki, Finland
- 2003-06-05 Volkshaus, Zurich, Switzerland
- 2009-10-15 Club Hipico, Santiago, Chile
- 2013-08-30 Ovation Hall at the Revel Casino, Atlantic City, NJ, USA
- 2013-10-06 Pearl Concert Teater at Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas, NV, USA
- 2013-11-03 du Arena, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, UAE
- 1982-03-05 Rockola, Madrid, Spain
- 2006-03-03 SKK, St. Petersburg, Russia
- 1983-12-01 Draken, Stockholm, Sweden
- 1986-04-24 Skedsmohallen, Oslo, Norway
- 1986-04-26 Johanneshov Isstadion, Stockholm, Sweden
- 1986-04-25 Scandinavium, Gothenburg, Sweden
- 1986-04-28 Valbyhallen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- 1988-03-11 Sportovni Hala, Prague, Czech Republic
- 1994-03-25 Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu, HI, USA
- 1994-03-26 Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu, HI, USA
- 1998-12-09 Arco Arena, Sacramento, CA, USA
- 1987-10-22 Pabellon De Real Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- 1988-03-09 Sportcsarnok, Budapest, Hungary
- 1988-03-10 Sportcsarnok, Budapest, Hungary
- 2023-06-02 Primavera Sound Festival, Barcelona, Spain
Festivals
At festivals, it is the organisers who decide who gets to play before Depeche Mode, not Depeche Mode themselves, so acts that perform before Depeche Mode could arguably not be counted as a support act. Nevertheless, it is listed here for completion's sake. Only the acts that performed on the same day and on the same stage as Depeche Mode are mentioned below.
Festivals where Depeche Mode headlined
- 1981-08-26 Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, England, UK: The Chefs and Tarzan 5
- 1993-07-24 Belga Beach Festival, Zeebrugge, Belgium: Vaya Con Dios, Van Morrison, Bjorn Again, The Wonder Stuff, Sunscreem and Sisters Of Mercy
- 1998-12-12 KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas, Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA, USA: Billy Corgan (also on stage with DM), Garbage, Brian Setzer Orchestra, Goo Goo Dolls, Cake, Everlast, Semisonic, Soul Coughing
- 2005-12-11 KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas, Gibson Amphitheatre, Universal City, CA, USA: Coldplay, The White Stripes, Jack Johnson, The Bravery, Death Cab For Cutie, Hot Hot Heat and Nada Surf
- 2006-04-29 Coachella, Indio, CA, USA: Franz Ferdinand, Sigur Rós, Kanye West, Common, The Duke Spirit, The Walkmen, The New Amsterdams, The Section Quartet
- 2006-06-02 Rock im Park, Nuremberg, Germany: Placebo, Franz Ferdinand, Sportfreunde Stiller, Kaiser Chiefs, She Wants Revenge and Kill The Young
- 2006-06-04 Rock Am Ring, Nurburgring, Germany: Placebo, Franz Ferdinand, Sportfreunde Stiller, Kaiser Chiefs, She Wants Revenge and Kill The Young
- 2006-06-16 Heikeken Jamming Festival, Imola, Italy: Negramaro, Morrissey, Hard-Fi, Goldfrapp, Finley, and Kill The Young
- 2006-06-17 Greenfield Festival, Interlaken, Switzerland: Placebo, Sisters Of Mercy, Live, Hard-Fi, Lagwagon, Therapy?, Amplifier, The Answer
- 2006-06-25 London Wireless Festival, London, England, UK: Goldfrapp, Mystery Jets, The Dears, Thomas Dolby, The Fratelli's and OK GO
- 2009-06-20 TW Classic Festival, Werchter, Belgium: Moby, Duffy, Keane, Motor
- 2006-07-01 Eurockeennes Festival, Belfort, France: Morrissey, Enhancer
- 2006-07-02 Werchter Festival, Werchter, Belgium: Hooverphonic, Ben Harper, Robert Plant, Starsailor, Eels, Danko Jones and Nailpin
- 2006-07-06 Quart Festival, Kristiansand, Norway: Death Cab For Cutie, Infadels and Superfamily
- 2006-07-19 Paleo Festival, Nyon, Switzerland: Goldfrapp, The Dandy Warhols
- 2006-07-23 Festival Internacional de Benicassim, Castellon, Spain: Placebo, Madness, dEUS and The Rakes
- 2009-07-03 Arvika Festival, Arvika, Sweden: Lillasyster, De/Vision
- 2009-08-07 Lollapalooza, Chicago, IL, USA: Hey Champ, The Gaslight Anthem, Sound Tribe Sector 9, Thievery Corporation
- 2009-10-08 Autodromo La Guacima, San Jose, Costa Rica: El Parque, Anemonah, Sociedad Secreta, Kabuto & Koji
- 2009-10-17 Personal Fest, Buenos Aires, Argentina: Justin Robertson, Banda de Turistas, Volador G, Bicicletas
- 2013-07-11 BBK Festival, Bilbao, Spain: Two Door Cinema Club, Editors, Biffy Clyro, Alt-J, Billy talent, Toy, Little Boots, Delorean
- 2013-07-13 Optimus Alive Festival, Lisbon, Portugal: O'queStrada, Jurassic 5, Editors
- 2013-10-04 Austin City Limits Festival, Austin, TX, USA: Asleep At The Wheel, Court Yard Hounds, fun., Vampire Weekend
- 2013-10-11 Austin City Limits Festival, Austin, TX, USA: Asleep At The Wheel, Court Yard Hounds, fun., Vampire Weekend
Festivals where Depeche Mode did not headline
- 1983-05-28 Euro Festival, Vechtewiese, Schüttorf, Germany: Misty In Roots, T.C. Matic, Scrifis, Little River Band, Rod Stewart (was the closing act)
- 1984-06-02 Suedwest Stadium, Ludwigshafen, Germany: Joan Baez, Howard Jones, Gianni Nannini, Elton John (was the closing act)
- 1985-07-06 Torhout Festival, Torhout, Belgium: The Ramones, REM, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, The Style Council, Paul Young and the Royal Family, Joe Cocker, U2 (was the closing act)
- 1985-07-07 Werchter Festival, Werchter, Belgium: The Ramones, REM, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, The Style Council, Paul Young and the Royal Family, Joe Cocker, U2 (was the closing act)
- 1985-07-13 Rockscene Festival, Guehenno, France: Toots & The Maytals, Midnight Oil, The Ramones, Joan Armatrading, Spear Of Destiny, Leonard Cohen, Clash (was the closing act)
- 1985-07-26 Panathinaiko Stadium, Athens, Greece: Stranglers, Culture Club (was the closing act)
- 2013-07-07 Rock Werchter Festival, Werchter, Belgium: Twin Forks, A Day To Remember, Gogol Bordello, Band Of Horses, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Editors (was the closing act)
Acts that would have supported DM if DM had played the gigs
- 1981-02-21 Rock City, Nottingham, England (DM as support act for Altered Images): Medium Medium
- 1981-03-29 Some Bizarre Evening, Lyceum, London, England, UK (DM as support act for first two mentioned): B-Movie, Soft Cell, Blah Blah Blah, The Fast Set, Illustration, The Loved One, Jell
- 1990-09-01 Festival Hall, Melbourne, Australia: Boxcar
- 2005-11-02 Bank Atlantic Center, Ft Lauderdale, FL, USA: The Bravery
- 2006-05-02 Don Haskins Center, El Paso, TX, USA: She Wants Revenge
- 2006-05-11 Allstate Arena, Chicago, IL, USA: She Wants Revenge
- 2006-08-03 Hayarkon Park, Tel Aviv, Israel: Blonde Redhead
- 2006-07-28 Alvalade Stadium, Lisbon, Portugal: Gary Numan, The Raveonettes
- 2009-05-12 Terra Vibe Park, Athens, Greece: Motor
- 2009-05-14 Santral, Istanbul, Turkey: Kitschcraft, Vega
- 2009-05-16 Parc Izvor, Bucharest, Romania: Ladytron, Motor
- 2009-05-18 Vasil Levski Stadium - Tuborg Greenfest, Sofia, Bulgaria: Ladytron, Motor
- 2009-05-20 Usce Park - Tuborg Greenfest, Belgrade, Serbia: Ladytron, Motor
- 2009-05-21 Arena, Zagreb, Croatia: Ladytron, Motor
- 2009-05-23 Gwardia Stadium, Warsaw, Poland: Motor, Agressiva 69
- 2009-05-25 Skonto Stadium, Riga, Latvia: Motor
- 2009-05-27 Zalgirio Stadionas, Vilnius, Lithuania: Happyendless, Motor
- 2009-05-30 O2 Arena, London, UK: M83
- 2009-05-31 Pinkpop Festival, Landgraaf, Holland: Placebo, Madness, Milow, Volbeat
- 2009-06-02 HSH Nordbank Arena, Hamburg, Germany: M83
- 2009-06-04 Esprit Arena, Dusseldorf, Germany: M83
- 2009-06-05 Esprit Arena, Dusseldorf, Germany: M83
- 2009-06-07 Zentralstadion, Leipzig, Germany: Polarkreis18, M83
- 2009-07-11 Super Bock Super Rock Festival, Porto, Portugal: Nouvelle Vague, Peter Bjorn and John, Motor
- 2009-07-12 Olimpic Stadium, Sevilla, Spain: Motor
- 2009-08-12 Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountainview, San Francisco, CA, USA: Peter Bjorn and John
- 2009-08-14 Cricket Wireless Amphitheater, San Diego, CA: Peter Bjorn and John
- 2013-05-17 Kucukciftlik Park, Istanbul, Turkey: F.O.X.
- 2013-11-17 Grand Stade de Lille Metropole, Lille, France: The Jezabels
- 2014-02-26 International Exhibition Center, Kiev, Ukraine: Choir Of Young Believers
Acts that claim that DM wanted to have as support but declined
- Kaizers Orchestra: Allegedly, Dave Gahan saw them at the Norwegian Wood Festival in 2003 and then wanted to have them as a support act in 2005 but they could not make it.
- Covenant: Covenant claimed in January 2006 that DM asked them to be a support act, but then DM chose Franz Ferdinand instead.
Rumours and uncertainties about bands having supported DM
- Blue Zoo (first known as Modern Jazz) state to have supported DM at Crocs in 1980 or 1981, but no precise date is known.
- There were two occasions (1981-02-14 and 1981-05-12) where Depeche Mode were a support act alongside another band called 'Shock'. Shock had a mime duo assisting their act, which was called Tik And Tok. One of its members was Tim Dry. Tim was eventually also in another band, 'Noir', with Georg Kajanus. Georg created a band called 'DATA'. Tik and Tok as well as DATA are rumoured to have been support acts, but there is no real evidence apart from the link to Shock's appearance alongside DM.
- Sugarcubes supported New Order in 1989 (alongside PiL). New Order member Bernard Sumner formed Electronic a year later, who then supported Depeche Mode at Dodgers Stadium in 1990. There is a rumour that The Sugarcubes supported Depeche Mode but it could be that some people are just confusing NO with DM.
- Shelleyan Orphan toured with The Cure in 1989, and there is the rumour that they performed for DM as well.
- George Clinton supported Primal Scream many times in 1993, and Primal Scream supported DM in 1994, so there is a rumour that George Clinton also supported DM in Columbia in 1994, but there is no confirmation.
- Many fansites have copied a list of alleged support acts, one of them being "Tropical Deperettion" which would have performed in the Philippines. It is most likely that Filipino reggae band Tropical Depression is actually meant by this. Howover, no further evidence is found. Instead it is found that Filipino band The Rizal Underground had opened for DM, at least on the second Manila night. If Tropical Depression had performed before DM as well, Depression would probably have stated that in their official bio or Wikipedia page by now, as many small bands proudly do. As a sidenote, the sheet from the rider for these gigs show that DM did not bring a support act with them to the Philippines.
- Veruca Salt are rumoured to have supported DM on the Devotional tour in Salt Lake City. As a sidenote, Veruca Salt did contribute a cover of Somebody on the For The Masses cover album in 1998.
- On DM-related message boards, a band called "Auto De Fee" is rumoured to have supported DM. A Google search tells us that this could only be the band Auto Da Fé, an Irish New Wave band. However, there is no actual evidence for this.
Bands that have denied rumours about having supported DM
- The Monochrome Set is rumoured to have supported DM but a person who works for the band denies that they have opened for the band here.
- In Simon Spence's biography on Depeche Mode, he mentions Furniture as having supported DM but band member Jim Irvin denies it here.
List of support acts for Dave Gahan
In 2003, Dave Gahan went on an extensive tour through Europe and USA. Besides playing at many festivals, he also took several support acts with him on tour.
The table is sortable according to chronological or alphabetical order, so click on the arrows in the first two columns to rearrange them.
Festivals where Dave Gahan played
Dave Gahan was never the closing act for any of these festival dates. It is not sure if Dave Gahan shared the same stage (assuming there was more than one stage) with the headline acts at all these festivals.
- 2003-06-07 Rock am Ring Festival, Nurburgring, Germany: Audioslave, Evanescence, Placebo, Metallica
- 2003-06-08 Rock im Park Festival, Nuremburg, Germany: Audioslave, Evanescence, Placebo, Metallica
- 2003-06-12 Hultsfred Festival, Hultsfred, Sweden: Ladytron, Cato Salsa Experience, Cult of Luna, Paris, Queens of the Stone Age (closing act)
- 2003-06-13 Norwegian Wood Festival, Oslo, Norway: Kaizers Orchestra, Evanescence, Radiohead
- 2003-06-14 Heineken Jamming Festival, Imola, Italy: Iron Maiden, Metallica, Tricky, Bon Jovi (headliner)
- 2003-06-15 Provinssirock Festival, Seinäjoki, Finland: Don Johnson Big Band, Viikate, The Dandy Warhols
- 2003-06-18 Olimpiski, Moscow, Russia: [unknown local band], Runy, Deti Picasso, Massive Attack (closing act)
- 2003-06-26 Roskilde Festival, Roskilde, Denmark: Kashmir, The String Cheese Incident, Massacre, Metallica
- 2003-06-28 Werchter Festival, Werchter, Belgium: R.E.M., Metallica
- 2003-06-29 Glastonbury Festival, Pilton, Somerset, England, UK: Yes, Manic Street Preachers, Sigur,Rós
- 2003-07-06 Eurockeennes Festival, Belfort, France: Melvins, Nada Surf, Massive Attack, Underworld
- 2003-07-12 Move Festival, Manchester, England, UK: Inspiral Carpets, The Charlatans, Feeder (closing act)
List of support acts for Martin Gore
Please note that these were all DJs. It might be possible that on the non-mentioned dates (Paris, Milan, London) there were also DJs, but no evidence is found.
Name | Concert dates | Info |
---|---|---|
Gudrun Gut | Member of Einstürzende Neubauten, with whom DM would hang out while in Berlin. She also attended DM's concert on 2009-06-10 Olympiastadion, Berlin, Germany. Gudrun interviewed Martin Gore in 2012 and in 2015. She also recalled some memories with DM here. | |
Jason Bentley | Jason got to interview DM 10 years later at 2013-03-13 SXSW, Convention Center, Austin, TX, USA. As he says in that interview, he was friends with Tim Simenon and got to meet Dave Gahan via him in 1996. Jason also interviewed Tim Simenon in May 1996 for KCRW FM, perhaps this is how he got to know Tim, and perhaps how Jason got to DJ before DM on 1997-05-16 Shrine Exposition Hall, Los Angeles, CA, USA also. | |
Tilliander | Tilliander: "[DM] have meant a lot [to me]. I met Martin Gore a few years ago, he likes my music." |