Category:1993 Devotional Tour

Devotional Tour
Tour name	Devotional Tour
By	Depeche Mode
Personnel	Dave Gahan Alan Wilder Martin Gore Andrew Fletcher
Backing vocalists	Hildia Campbell Samantha Smith
Support acts	Spiritualized Cane N Able Miranda Sex Garden Toyen Think About Mutation Sonic Smell Parallax Sisters Of Mercy Dreadzone Dub Syndicate The The An Emotional Fish Marxman 1994 Exotic Tour (leg): The Outsiders April's Motel Room Caligula The Rizal Underground Babasónicos Juana La Loca Igni Ferroque Primal Scream Stabbing Westward Turning Keys
Tour diary	Available
Length	1993-05-19 - 1993-12-20 (7 months; 13 months 19 days including Exotic Tour leg)
Number of shows	97 (157 including Exotic Tour leg)

The 1993 Devotional Tour was a multi-leg tour undertaken by Depeche Mode in support of their eighth studio album Songs Of Faith And Devotion. It began its European leg on 19 May 1993 in Lille that concluded with the Crystal Palace concert on 31 July. Following a month-long break and a 6 September rehearsal, the tour kicked off its North American leg in Quebec City and toured across Canada, the United States, and Mexico before returning to the United Kingdom for an additional string of shows in December.

After a two month break, the tour was extended with a named second leg through which the group (minus Andrew Fletcher, who took a leave of absence and was replaced by tour manager and longtime band associate Daryl Bamonte for thirty-nine of its sixty shows) played to countries and territories they had never previously visited, including South Africa, Australia, East Asia, and South America as well as additional shows in the United States and Canada.

The Devotional Tour is frequently sensationalised in its media coverage due to its grueling length, excess, and the role internal issues played in the decision of Alan Wilder to leave Depeche Mode in 1995.

Line up and songwriting credits

• Dave Gahan - lead vocals
• Martin L. Gore - keyboards, guitar, backing vocals, occasional lead vocals (denoted by (*) in track listings)
• Andrew Fletcher - keyboards
• Alan Wilder - keyboards, drums, backing vocals
• Hildia Campbell - backing vocals
• Samantha Smith - backing vocals

All songs performed were written by Martin L. Gore.

Quotes

Wilder recalled the dynamic system used by the group to determine setlists on the fly in a Q&A on the official Recoil site:

When I was in the group, it was standard practice to change the set if we were playing one venue over 2 or more nights or if we were revisiting an area already played on the tour. We had 8 separate tapes - basically 4 different set-lists (red, green, blue and yellow I think) which were each split into two halves and broken up by an acoustic song somewhere in the middle - which allowed for the tape change. Effectively therefore, we could mix and match any combination of 1st and 2nd half tapes. Along with a few different alternatives for Martin's acoustic songs, this gave us the opportunity to perform many different running orders although all of them had the same overall shape and structure. So, for example, a quick chat beforehand might result in 'let's play the blue / red set tonight with 'Somebody' instead of 'I Want You Now' in the middle.' We could also change tapes for the encores, if necessary.

• 

  Green setlist
  Source: Depeche Mode Fan Club Singapore.

• 

  Yellow setlist
  Source: Instagram user 'recordkeepers'.

Trivia

• The two back-to-back nights at Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City, Mexico are unique in that they are the only two concerts on the Devotional tour to not feature a support act.
• The Devotional Tour is the first Depeche Mode tour to utilise live female backing vocalists in Hildia Campbell and Samantha Smith, and is the only tour to feature backing vocalists who have also performed vocal duties on studio albums by Depeche Mode and Recoil.
  • Later tours would also employ live female backing vocalists whilst expanding their performative responsibilities. These included the 1998 The Singles Tour, which featured Janet Cooke and Jordan Bailey performing synchronised dances in addition to singing back-up. Bailey would reprise her "lead" backing vocalist role for the Exciter Tour in 2001, where she was joined by Georgia Lewis.
• It was the first tour to feature traditional live drumming courtesy of Alan Wilder, who learned to play the drums in preparation for Songs Of Faith And Devotion and its subsequent tour.
  • Wilder would state that his endurance as a drummer improved over the course of the tour. As a result, and to maintain consistency with the "rockier" nature of the Exotic Tour set, several songs which had previously relegated percussion parts to tape on the "Devotional" leg of the tour were adjusted to allow Wilder an expanded role behind the drum kit. These songs included 'Policy Of Truth', 'Halo', and 'Stripped'.

Dates with downloads available

Dates without available downloads

Recommended recordings

These recordings are highly recommended as they are generally regarded as some of the best recordings from this tour. This is not an exhaustive list of very good sounding recordings.

• 1993-05-29 Globe, Stockholm, Sweden (Audience)
• 1993-06-04 Forum, Milan, Italy (Audience)
• 1993-06-30 Palais Omnisport De Paris Bercy, Paris, France (Audience)
• 1993-07-31 Crystal Palace Sports Ground, London, England, UK (Soundboard-quality rework)
• 1993-10-19 Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI, USA (Audience)