Depeche Mode concert in Ljubljana

It was fun, I am not a great fan of live concerts but I enjoyed myself just listening to their music and avoiding the spastic Italians and Slovenians trying to dance while not moving. The crowd was lukewarm and only became more animated at the end, with the classic Enjoy the Silence (probably because it was the only song whose lyrics the audience knew). DM singer was a maniac prancing around stage, arms flailing, screaming for cooperation and twirling the microphone stand as a cheerleading baton.

I was also fascinated how lighters, which used to be a staple of concerts, are now being replaced by mobile phones dilligently recording or even broadcasting the show around. It was quite an experience seeing a tall Italian man dancing and trying to hold the mobile phone straight so he could record the show.

The blue glowing dots are mobile phone screens:


This raises the old issue, whether it is better to let go and participate fully, but risk forgetting the details later, or recording and thus remaining a detached observer, since you are watching through another eye so to speak.

My beef is with the organizers, who started to let people in an hour and a half later than first promised (luckily I was an hour late myself :), in the end around 3/4 of the stadium were filled), then made us throw all our drinks away (even those still closed), explaining that you could buy drinks inside (half a litre of water, 2 euros).

It was still an enjoyable experience, even though Placebo's songs to me seemed like one and the same replayed over and over. Oh and the seats in the stadium suck.