Searching for meaning in a city by the bay.
You’re born to suffer
Like all soul sisters
And soul brothers.
“We all come from the same crystal ball,” a drunk, free spirit of a gay man said to me last night as we waited for Depeche Mode to come on stage at Shoreline.
He said this after I randomly complemented him and his friend on their coordinated orange inmate costumes and choreographed dancing during Scissor Sisters’ pre-show performance. He looked like Jesse Ventura and he and his circle of friends were all wearing what looked like a small chip of broken glass on their foreheads.
“Would you like a glass?” he asked me.
My mind went blank. The atmosphere set by the Scissors Sisters was intoxicating and I was slow in grasping what he was saying. Before I could react, he said “We all come from the same crystal ball” and sauntered on.
As the lights went down and Depeche Mode finally came on, I stood there in my spot by the bleachers, flunked by my two sisters and surrounded by a marvelously throbbing crowd including ex-49er Steve Young and his pregnant wife, and I let it all sink in. The place was packed and it did feel like an enormous crystal ball just shattered and we were the little glass fragments off of it scattered across the dancefloor.
Then DM put on an amazing show. There’s nothing like watching seasoned performers (like U2 whom I saw last winter and now DM). These guys still got it after all these years. They opened with A Pain That I’m Used To from the latest album and closed with a mind-blowing performance of I Feel You, Personal Jesus and Enjoy the Silence somewhat consecutively. Martin Gore still wore a skirt (and he even wore wings which led Lisa and I to conclude he was “playing the angel” — if you get my drift) and sang the ballads. Dave Gahan sounded great, looked great, still got the sexy moves and that signature ass-shaking — the ultimate rock star he’ll always be, God bless him and thank God he’s still alive. Then there’s Andy Fletcher looking like a cross between Tim Robbins and that guy Jonty in BBC’s Cash in the Attic. I missed Alan Wilder though and I wish they came out for two encores instead of one and indulged us with the ever so poppy Just Can’t Get Enough. (What can I do? I’m a child of the 80’s.)
Overall, it was great fun; I’m so glad I went. The guys have aged but they were bursting with energy and everyone was shining like chips off a broken crystal ball. I don’t know what that gay man was really trying to say to me but Depeche Mode sure brought some sense to it last night.
This entry was posted on Friday, April 28th, 2006 at 11:24 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Foggy Days Chronicles is powered by
Wordpress Uberdose flavored WordPress
Entries (RSS)
and Comments (RSS).
12 queries. 0.243 seconds. You wish you would.
April 29th, 2006 at 9:30 am
Best show ever
I was in Düsseldorf twice in January! You can read my report and see the pics at my website - currently on hiatus.
April 30th, 2006 at 8:12 am
Hi Sarah! If they did more than one show in my area I probably would’ve seen them again, too. This was my first DM gig — I didn’t know what to expect. I had no idea that Dave Gahan is such a showman and they just sounded superb. I’m a fan again after all these years.
May 1st, 2006 at 3:10 pm
Tickets, $80.
Dinner, $60.
Gas, $30
Dave shaking his little booty, priceless!