Depeche Mode - I Feel You - Unauthorised (1994) Bootleg

 (U.K 1980 - Present)

Depeche Mode is an English band and released their album debut 'Speak & Spell' in the U.S. in November, 1981. A prelude to the band's first European tour, the LP contained their first commercial single, "Dreaming Of Me," their first major U.K chart success, "New Life," and their first U.S. underground hit, "Just Can't Get Enough."

Coining a name that means "fast fashion" in French, Depeche Mode formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex, where guitarist/vocalist Andy Fletcher and Martin Gore and keyboardist Vince Clarke attended the same school. After some experimental live performances, the group dispensed with their guitars, recruited singer David Gahan and became an all-electronic band, utilising mostly keyboards to create their sound.

A series of early demo tapes generated little interest in Depeche Mode until they began playing in London, opening for such groups as Fad Gadget at the "futurist night" shows in the famed Bridge House pub. As word of Depeche Mode's unique musical approach began to spread, one of the band's early songs, "Photographic," found its way on to the influential 'Some Bizarre' compilation LP.

With the help of music entrepreneur Daniel Miller, the group was signed to England's Mute Records in late 1980. Miller co-produced Speak & Spell with Depeche Mode. 

The first single off the record, a minor U.K. hit, was "Dreaming Of Me." It was followed by "New Life," which reached No. 11 on the U.K. charts. The band then broke the British Top Ten with "Just Can't Get Enough."

Signed to Sire Records in the U.S., Depeche Mode found initial exposure for their music with club audiences. "Just can't get Enough," a major dance hit, also became a favorite on American alternative radio stations.

In addition co "Photographic," Speak & Spell featured eight other songs by Vince Clarke, with Martin Gore penning "Tora!Tora! Tora!" and "Big Muff". A substantial underground success in the U.S., Speak & Spell was a Top Ten hit in England. 

1993 Devotional Tour

The album cover on this Bootleg mistakenly says Live in Chicago USA 1992 but this live recording was actually at the Crystal Palace Sports Ground in London in July 1993.

The recording was made by Depeche Mode during their multi-leg 1993 Devotional Tour in support of their eighth studio album 'Songs Of Faith And Devotion'. It began its European leg on 19 May 1993 in Lille that concluded with the Crystal Palace concert on 31 July. Following a month-long break and a 6th September rehearsal, the tour kicked off its North American leg in Quebec City and toured across Canada, the United States, and Mexico before returning to the United Kingdom for an additional string of shows in December.

After a two month break, the tour was extended with a named second leg through which the group (minus Andrew Fletcher, who took a leave of absence and was replaced by tour manager and longtime band associate Daryl Bamonte for thirty-nine of its sixty shows) played to countries and territories they had never previously visited, including South Africa, Australia, East Asia, and South America as well as additional shows in the United States and Canada.

The Devotional Tour is the first Depeche Mode tour to utilise live female backing vocalists in Hildia Campbell and Samantha Smith, and is the only tour to feature backing vocalists who have also performed vocal duties on studio albums by Depeche Mode and Recoil.

Fourteen out of nineteen songs were broadcast on BBC Radio 1, originally on 1993-08-30. There were two different broadcasts of the concert, one of which included Walking In My Shoes which was not part of the other broadcast. Steve Lyon confirmed that he mixed the audio for the FM broadcast in Dublin, at the same time he mixed the audio for the "Devotional" video release.

Dave Gahan

According to BONG magazine issue #22, 36.131 people were at this show. You can watch a video taken from this concert, on their official site archives here. You can read some concert reports from the July 28 - August 4, 1993 issue of "Time Out" magazine here.

Dave said something like "We bought the full moon commissioned especially for you vampires tonight. Only joking, cost too much [laughs]" upon seeing the full moon; he also said "I'll need a little help with this one (Stripped). You should know the words by now", but then when nobody sang along he said "Oh, come on"; then during I Feel You he said "Now I can hear you! just takes a while sometimes, you know!" Furthermore, Dave also said "At least it's not fucking raining" after World In My Eyes as well as "Let's hear you make some fucking noise" at the beginning of Never Let Me Down Again. Dave also climbed on the front barrier during Enjoy The Silence. This was the third time that One Caress (with string quartet) was played on this tour.

Sunscreem, Dreadzone, Dub Syndicate, Marxmen and Sisters Of Mercy were the support acts. The Sisters Of Mercy famously said to the crowd "Enjoy the puppet show" at the end of their set, supposedly a dig at Depeche Mode.

The following is Daryl Bamonte's entry for the famous Devotional Tour Diary, published in Bong magazine in 1994:

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.

Overdubs

It appears that Dave's vocals for the prepared FM broadcast of this concert are overdubs from the concert filmed two nights prior at 1993-07-29 Stade Couvert Régional, Liévin, France, with some gaps filled with vocals presumed to be from Crystal Palace. Examples of such fills which presumably use Crystal Palace audio would be the vast majority of Dave's banter and shouts during and between songs, some sections from Liévin where Dave did not sing the chorus (for instance, the first chorus of Stripped where the "proper" chorus vocal is fairly obviously different sounding), and the ending of "Everything Counts" with the memorable audience singalong, to give the impression of a different concert. Whether the music and backing vocals in general were also reused from Liévin is yet to be determined.

This post consists of MP3 (320kps) ripped from my Grapefruit CD which was sourced some years ago at a flee market. The quality of the recording of this bootleg is surprisingly good and I have not had to tweak any of the audio settings. As a bonus I am also including their first hit single "Just Can't Get Enough" which first brought my attention to this 80's band. This is yet another typical Grapefruit release with its standard generic artwork and incorrect recording details on the cover. As mentioned above, the cover mistakenly says Live in Chicago USA 1992 but this live recording was actually at the Crystal Palace Sports Ground in London in July 1993. It has also been released under the title 'Europe 1993' (see above)

Tracklist

01 Higher Love 6:23
02 Policy Of Truth 4:58
03 Halo 4:37
04 Stripped 5:05
05 Condemnation 3:47
06 Judas 5:06
07 I Feel You 7:10
08 Never Let Me Down Again 4:51
09 Rush 4:40
10 In Your Room 6:36
11 Personal Jesus 5:44
12 Enjoy The Silence 6:37
13 Everything Counts 5:12
14 Just Can't Get Enough (Bonus Single) 3:44

Line up
Dave Gahan - lead vocals
Martin L. Gore - keyboards, guitar, backing vocals, occasional lead vocals
Andrew Fletcher - keyboards
Alan Wilder - keyboards, drums, backing vocals
Hildia Campbell - backing vocals
Samantha Smith - backing vocals

Depeche Mode Unauthorised Link (162Mb)  Link Fixed  06/02/2024