Memento - A Picture Tells A Thousand Words

More Than A Party

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Depeche Mode Live 2005
Staples Center, Los Angeles, November 21, 2005

"Precious and fragile things
Need special handling
My God what have we done to You?

We always try to share
The tenderest of care
Now look what we have put You through...
"- Depeche Mode's Latest Single "Precious"

It was just a Question of Time that I’d see them.

The band of my youth as probably the Beatles or the Rolling Stones are to some of our parents (well mine would probably be Nat King Cole or Elvis Pressley), eluded me 13 years ago. I was Walking in their Shoes and followed their many breakups from that time on and was thinking it would be Goodnight Lovers for me as one member left and most of them found problems left and right, no one was left Behind the Wheel. Praying to my Personal Jesus just to have at least one more chance to see them. For years, I Enjoyed the Silence and endured The Pain that I’m Used to.

And Then…it happened. Last night, was the night. I know He “Never Let(s) Me Down (Again)”. I had meetings in LA scheduled 3 weeks ago to discuss Pipeline issues. Realizing that whenever I fly down to LA I never really went out to see anything in the concert scene. I Feel Loved when I discovered that for 2 nights, it wouldn’t be a World Full of Nothing. DM will be in town!

I was early at 5:30 to chance upon an old friend waiting as well. Somebody who perfectly fits the bill of a great 80s lover. He who has is his own odyssey written on his palm - "to track all the 80s bands and see them live". We were thousand of miles away from home and last time we saw each other was in Hard Rock in Makati (you guessed it right, watching a concert). We reminisced the same Strange Love that we 80s kids have, not being able to afford to have P40-buck LPs, or P1,500 imported vinyls from Greenhills, we had to Dream On listening to NU107 and swapping cassette tapes instead of MP3s. Everything Counts, even the value of money then. Although he had seen them 13 years ago in Manila, tonight was different for him.

At Two-Minute Warning, we lined up, albeit in different floor levels. But Nothing’s Impossible for Damaged People like us. Precious the concert for us was, we didn’t want to not be close to our favorite band and Breathe the same air.

The concert with a variety of audience (from surly burly 30 somethings, guys in suits, to probably sisters who grew up with their big brothers' DM music) lasted for close to 140 minutes, 2 encores, and we never sat on our seats on the floor level area. Yes, my friend and I were together on the dancefloor, opposing some Policy of Truth, inviting laryngitis and everything, and sweated the whole night through. We saw real close how David Gahan held the mike stand and made pirouettes with it; Martin's eyeliner and his usual black wings and Andy in his usual somber mood.

Yes, Depeche Mode, I Feel You, you eluded me 13 years ago, you who made me chase the dream for years to See You, and to become a kid again, you escaped me once, But Not Tonight.

You guessed it right, I'll end this blog entry with, I Just Can’t Get Enough. Truly I can't. I Want It All. I want to see them again. I hope to share the feeling with my wife back Home in Toronto - soon!

Other DM-related posts from way back 2002:
- Mac Convert (January 22, 2005)
- Desert Island Discs(July 4, 2002)
- Amazon's Wish List (July 10, 2002)
- Favorite Bands (September 2, 2002)
- Plan No Damn Madonna LP (Check that, that's a palidrome) (July 1, 2002)
- I Love Vol. I (Check the title too, that's a palindrome) (April 23, 2002)

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