Martin L Gore, Nalen, Stockholm, Sweden - April 22

By: Johan Carlsson

I didn’t know what to expect from Martin Gore’s first ever solo concert. I had a feeling it would be good though, and boy was I correct! The venue Nalen was packed with people, and the tickets had sold out in about 20 minutes! There was a kind of hushed suspense before the show, while a DJ played various clicks’n’cuts records, including a nod to Martin by playing Lassigue Bendthaus glorious hyperelectronic cover of Rolling Stone’s “Angie”.
Martin came on stage to roaring applause, and starting moving through the first three tracks from “Counterfeit 2”. At first I thought he was playing the new album track by track, but after an astonishingly brilliant version of “I Cast a Lonesome Shadow” he switched direction and played “Sweetest Perfection” from the monumental album “Violator”. The crowd was ecstatic, and so was I. During the evening, a whole bunch of Depeche tracks were played, many with only Martin’s voice and a piano. The scaled down versions of “In Your Room”, “A Question of Lust” and “Walking in My Shoes” really accentuate how strong the source material is. I enjoyed the new material too though, it sounded very good live, and Martin’s singing really is outstanding.
While he is still very reserved on stage, it doesn’t matter much because the audience managed to entertain themselves anyway. Everyone sang along to the DM tracks, and clapped hands even to the slower solo numbers. After ending a triumphant “Shake the Disease” with singing into a lucky persons mobile phone, Martin went off stage and we hustled home very satisfied indeed.