Personal Jesus

I had a religious experience last night. I'm not a big concert fan because most concertgoers are too cool for school, standing around and acting bored. I'm the person that wants to dance and clap and sing along, but I don't want to be the only one!

I had plenty of company at Depeche Mode's concert in the middle of Hollywood Boulevard. Dave Gahan was strutting around stage with mic stand in hand, feeding off the energy of the crowd. He's mesmerizing to watch.

They played for about 40 minutes, and the video above was their encore. Robert shot it from where we were standing. (He told me afterward it was hard to keep still during Personal Jesus!)

This song wasn't shown on Jimmy Kimmel Live! For the show, they performed their new single, Wrong, which has an insanely creative and disturbing video you can watch here. Personal Jesus ended the show and that's when the audience went wild. The energy onstage and in the crowd was different from anything I've ever seen at a concert. I want more!

FYI, the good stuff on the video starts around 4:30... :)

Everything Counts

I was the lucky one to preview the Depeche Mode concert for work. Our blogs at FOX11/Good Day LA are down, or else I'd be posting this there too. I have the best job in the world!

The stage going up for DM on Hollywood Boulevard. When I saw the little piece of tape (on whatever the gray thing is) my heart jumped!

I'm super non-stylin when we're on break, so don't judge, okay?! We're walking down the Walk of Fame looking for a bite to eat.

My photographers settled on Dos Burritos. I wouldn't jump for joy over this kind of spot, but these guys do all the work so they get first dibs.

See how happy they are? That's Bob on the left. He took all of these photos in this post, has won an incredible amount of still & film photography awards and he's my music man at work. Marco is in the middle sporting the beret. He loves fast cars and when he isn't working, he's traveling the world. Menu to the right if you want to go yourself. Serving up manly eats near Hollywood & Vine. My breakfast burrito of eggs and bacon was full of 90% bacon, 10% egg. Bob ate all of the bacon.

Next post: The concert. Yay!

Music 4 the Masses

I can't stand it! I'm going to see Depeche Mode!
So what if it's years and years after the above photo was taken. That was a great year. I was 11, listening to NKOTB and wearing neon, while my hip friend Corrine dressed in black, wore blood red lipstick and an attitude.
She introduced me to DM, The Cure & The Smiths and we eventually went vegetarian because everyone knows, Meat Is Murder.*
Depeche Mode was huge in LA when I was a kid. There was a concert at the Wherehouse - now long gone - across from the Beverly Center and there was a near riot. I think they managed to play one song.
Being 11 and awkward and with an older brother 22 years old, he had pity on me and gave me all of his old tapes. To this day, I still prefer their old stuff, which also tells me why I love modern-day electronica/dance music. Depeche Mode paved the way.

*I saw Morrissey a few years ago. He's talented but melancholy and I fell asleep. That's an impossibility with DM!