2009-12-13 LG Arena, Birmingham, England, UK

Notes

This concert was announced on March 24th, 2009. Insight from this date appears on DVD 2 of "Tour of the Universe: Barcelona 20/21.11.09".

Here is the diary entry for Depeche Mode's official tour blog:

I have seen Depeche Mode at this venue a lot of times through the years, I was curious to see how they had done up the venue since it was re-branded as the LG Arena.

The old system used to mean you had to wait inside what was essentially a huge warehouse - to then be let in the arena once they had checked your tickets - the new way is to relax in the elaborate hall, complete with bars, food counters, large TV's on the walls, and 2 tunnels leading to the Arena? I guess someone thought that having 15,000 people standing around brings in no money? 15,000 people standing near Food and Drink stalls might just bring in a bit of money, and I guess it did, as the place was rammed with people taking advantage of the facilities.

The Arena has been jazzed up a little, the seats are now all black, as is most of the interior, a few little VIP sections have been added, overall it's a great venue.

The Mexican waves started around 8.45pm, and the band hit the stage at around 9.10pm - and the place erupted. The performance from the band was faultless, but I must say the Birmingham Crowd were a quiet bunch for a lot of the show. Even Mr Gahan told them to "put down what you are smoking" as they were a little too relaxed - but the band won through and the last third of the show got a great reception.

I remember on the last tour thinking the Manchester Audience were alot better - so fingers crossed for Friday!!

Next stop is London for me, and the welcome return of Fellow Tour Blogger Peter!!

author: Big Pete

Soulsavers were the support act.

NOTE: This concert was officially released by Live Here Now and at one point sold on the official depechemodelive.com, which is currently defunct. Concerts with LHN releases generally do not have audience recordings widely circulating, and as such there may not be a recording available on this website for this concert.

Set list

Credit to Shaun Connon.

1. In Chains
2. Wrong
3. Hole To Feed
4. Walking In My Shoes
5. It's No Good
6. A Question Of Time
7. Precious
8. World In My Eyes
9. Insight (*)
10. Home (*)
11. Miles Away / The Truth Is
12. Policy Of Truth
13. In Your Room
14. I Feel You
15. Enjoy The Silence
16. Never Let Me Down Again
17. Dressed In Black (*)
18. Stripped
19. Behind The Wheel
20. Personal Jesus

Set list info obtained from the Home forum.

Sources

• Source 1 is motr1912's very good audience recording.
• Source 2 is AWS' good audience recording.

Ticket

Credit to Charlie W..