1980-10-29 Ronnie Scott's, London, England, UK

Notes

This concert is said by authors to have been the first gig under the "Depeche Mode" moniker: this is false, because an ad shows that this first happened a month prior at the Bridge House.

Dee Dye, who also studied at Southend College Of Technology like Dave and was an acquaintance of him, said in Jonathan Miller's 'Stripped' biography:

"We travelled to the gig in the back of the van with [Depeche Mode's] equipment. The mood [at Ronnie Scott's] before the gig was quite tense - Dave getting anxious because he knew that there were record company people about; Vince being cool and more concerned with his 'electrickery' as he called it. There seemed to be plenty of pacing about, beers flowing. From what I remember, the gig itself was as good as it should have been. We dance our jerky dances, whooped and cheered at the songs, and encouraged a few others in the audience to sway and tap their feet. Looking moody was the order of the day. After they did their set, Dave was pretty hyped up - he had a good feeling about that night, he said."

Another friend of Dave, Tracy Rivers, attended this concert, and said in Simon Spence's 2011 DM biography:

"I went with Boy George. I said to George: you've got to come and see my mate Dave play. It was a tiny little room at the top of Ronnie Scott's and there weren't many people there. I remember Dave coming over afterward and saying: what do you think, Trace? And I said: oh brilliant, you're going to be stars. And the next minute they were..."

Dave Gahan remembers in a 1981 issue of the NME that the lights went out during this gig.

Attendee Adam Spector says that Marc Almond of Soft Cell was also in attendance.