If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll already know where I was on June 27th. That’s right, I attended one of the most intimate Depeche Mode gigs ever in my life: Martin Gore’s DJ set at SOhO in Santa Barbara, which was a part of their fundraising show series!
If you read back to 2010 here on my blog, you’ll see that meeting Alan Wilder was probably one of the biggest highlights as a long time Depeche Mode fan because Alan was my favorite member while he was still with Depeche Mode (original post here). Regardless of whether or not he’s with the band, I still follow his career and meeting him was more than memorable. So seeing Martin Gore DJ in the intimate setting of a night club was the next best thing to meeting him because I was just a few feet away from him. Until then, the closest I’ve been to any current member of Depeche Mode was when I was 16, and I went with my sister and best friend at the time to the backstage entrance of the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Valley View Casino Center). We watched Depeche Mode board their bus during the Black Celebration tour (the actual picture from July 11,1986 is below, and you can see Alan Wilder approaching in the white shirt and black pants).
For this fateful trip to Santa Barbara, I went with my good friend Angi, who has attended several Depeche Mode concerts with me over the years. I believe we’ve seen the Singles Tour, the Exciter Tour and the most recent Delta Machine tour together, so it was fitting for us to take a girl’s weekend and see Martin. Once we settled into our hotel room and went out to dinner, we made the trek to SOhO and waited patiently in line, along with a night club full of true fans. Because we arrived so early and also because we are Visual Arts majors (that’s how we met in college), we started off the evening by taking random artsy pictures of the club’s interior.
The highlight, of course, was seeing Martin Gore. Martin didn’t just play random remixed club hits. His set was very eclectic, and really reminded me of Alan Wilder’s show for Recoil, without the visual effects presentation. I recognized a few songs off of his latest album and I couldn’t stop smiling for the entire show because it was just such a cool event.
I’ve captured the evening in a few pictures below, including a You Tube video of Martin’s entrance to his set, a Filpagram I posted on Instagram (with Brink as the backing song, from Martin’s recent album), and a little story of how I got an autographed flier (*squeal!*). Cheers and enjoy!
These awesome bamboo sticks were scattered throughout the club, with lights inside creating some visual interest.
The cool visuals continued outside with projections on the floor and wall of the patio.
From left to right: 1. A shot of the club as the crowd came in; 2. The DJ who played prior; 3. And the final set up for Martin’s set.
Presenting Mr. Martin Gore (along with another attempt at something more artsy)!
A picture “with” Martin…sort of?
A selfie with Angi
Angi and I with Freddie (Devotional Dave) and Brent (Counterfeit Martin) of the Depeche Mode tribute band Strangelove (my review of their concert here)!
Backstory (because I always have one): I originally asked for a blank flier from a couple of people who worked at SOhO, just as a take home souvenir. When I asked one of the ladies that worked there for one, she said “Well, I don’t have any blank ones, but I have signed ones, would you like one?” YES, PLEASE! We took home three: one for me, one for Angi, and I sent one to David (@1doudou42 on Instagram), who’s post alerted me to the show, and I would never have gone had I not seen his post!