devotional

May 19th, LILLE:
"First gig in Lille tonight. Strange feeling, being on tour again. Funny place to start."
May 24th, BRUSSELS:
"Just spent four days in ZURICH. There’s only so many cuckoo clocks you can look at in four days."
May 27th, COPENHAGEN:
"Good show tonight. Good party afterwards. The tour is starting to hot up, as the band settle into it. Spirit of camaraderie starting to appear."
June 8th, FLORENCE:"A nightclub, a piano, a microphone, alcohol, Alan Wilder, Martin Gore – I THANK YOU!"
June 12th, MANNHEIM:
"Went to a disco in an airport at 7am. Yes. It’s getting that bad."
July 3rd, BREST:
"Can you imagine living somewhere called BREST?"
July 21st, FRANKFURT:
"It was 1978, and he was a young punk who had sneaked onto the stage and was dancing around in his bondage trousers, next to Joe Strummer. As the roadies rushed to get him, he ran full speed and as he flew into the crowd, he floated for a second, half hero, half angel. When he landed he realised it wasn’t 1978, it was 1993, and he was the singer of Depeche Mode and 12,000 Germans were trying to rip his trousers off."
July 31st, LONDON:
"Crystal Palace. Finally home after 3 months. 36,000+ people at this show, 1,000 with passes, and I know all of them, so backstage was chaos. My son had a good day. He definitely preferred DUB SYNDICATE to THE SISTERS OF MERCY. I used to think that ANDREW ELDRITCH was really cool. A god-like quasi-Darth Vader figure. He’s actually like RIGSBY."
September 10th, BOSTON:
"Did a show in a strange little town called WORCESTER, then drove back to BOSTON, home town of Tom Wilson, our drum technician. He was our “guide” for the night. Why do people, when on their home turf, keep apologising, and putting their arm around you, and asking if you are having a good time?"
September 13th, WASHINGTON D.C.:
"Saw an amazing sight today. Me, Martin and Darrell Ives were in a cab on our way back to the hotel from the video shop when we were held up at a stop sign for a full five minutes as a convoy of about fifty limos, police cars, armed jeeps and other vehicles, flanked by police motorcycle out-riders, rushed by, sirens blaring. The reason? Yasser Arafat, PLO leader was in town and on his way to The White House for his historic meet’n’greet with Clinton and Rabin. We tried to get a glimpse as his car went past, but saw nothing, except a red and white tea-towel…"
October 23rd, DETROIT:
"A Saturday night in Detroit, just did two great shows here (Friday and Saturday) and it’s our security company’s home town so we’ve been to the best clubs and been very well looked after etc. Then during a room party afterwards, David Gahan, the most accident-prone man in the world, did something that a bizillion people do every day – he opened a bottle of beer. Except Dave somehow managed to cut his finger off as well."
October 31st, MINNEAPOLIS:
"Was that our wardrobe girls on those brooms?"
November 1st, CHICAGO:
"The band is shooting a video on location, starting promptly this morning. Or in the immortal words of JD Fanger, “You will be taken into the woods at 11:00am and shot immediately!”"
November 2nd, DENVER:
"Poor old Martin L. Gore. I’ve just seen him dragged out of his room dressed in nothing but a pair of silk boxer shorts and a pair of huge handcuffs. Two huge female police officers burst into his room and arrested him for “making too much noise”. The funny thing was, we had turned his stereo off, after a few complaints. The source of offending volume? Martin’s infamous loud voice. “Can I just say one more thing!?!…”"
November 20th, LOS ANGELES:
"We start a run of five shows at The Forum tonight and everybody is excited. Alan is scratching himself at the moment. He claims he’s got an itchy kravitz."
November 27th, LAS VEGAS:
"Kessler phoned and told me the Vegas show is cancelled. Dave’s voice is shot to bits, and he’s got flu to boot. Bummer. I’ve never been there, and I was supposed to do my gig with THE THE. Life seems like one disappointment after another at the moment. Fletch just rang. He says the plane is still going to Vegas and do I want to jump in with him and Grainne. Oh superb! A night off in Vegas with a pocketful of greenbacks!"
November 28th, LOS ANGELES:
"“Oh what a night!” I forgot to go to bed last night. Las Vegas IS superb. 24 hours of sheer heaven (and I’m 400 bucks up). I’m going to buy a crucifix in Mexico with the money."
December 14th, BIRMINGHAM:
"Back in England again. How strange."
December 20th, LONDON:
"Played Wembley tonight. A very good show, but you guessed it – backstage was chaos. We had a good party at The Regent afterwards. So what now – a long rest… NOT! I move house tomorrow, then it’s Christmas, then it’s time to start all over again…"