Depeche Mode: The Archives

The Exciter Tour - Tour Blog

Phoenix
author: Daniel Barassi (Webmaster)
date posted: Friday, August 10, 2001

When I was planning what shows I would work for the site, Phoenix was on my "no way in hell" list, due to the thought of driving for 4.5 hours through the heat on Interstate 10 from L.A. to Phoenix. While the drive was horrifying dull (the only highlight - the "Speed Limit 75" sign at the Arizona border...I was already doing 100 anyway), the show was great. Hope the car rental place doesn't mind the layers of bug guts embedded all over the front of the car (ewww). I guess high speed, and an interstate, are not friends of little flying insects.

An indoor show - aaah. No more unwanted tanning (I am a webmaster ya know - we don't get tans much, except from our computer monitors). One of the first things I saw when me and my "plus one" (Alex) entered the venue was two guys getting kicked out for wearing "Bong tags" (laminates made by people on the Bong internet mailing list so they could spot each other). During the soundcheck, we were treated to a rather different version of "In Your Room" (very "happy" - maybe one day I can beg to put a snippet on the site). As with most of the other shows on the tour that I've seen, the crowd was loud (read: nearly shattering the mic on my camcorder). A nice highlight was during "When The Body Speaks", when Dave turned to Martin halfway through the song and said "It's a beautiful song you wrote, Martin". Another one was letting a fan sing the chorus of "I Feel Loved". A special thanks to the girl who gifted upon me the Hello Kitty watch (did I look like I needed one?). :) Martin's acoustic number of the night was "Sister of Night".

After the show, I hit the backstage aftershow party for the obligatory free soft drink and nacho chips. Included in the Video / Exclusives area is a small Quicktime of Martin and Phillpott playing table football against Peter and Christian - enjoy. Then, I left Phoenix...by car...for a 5 hour drive. Sleep is overrated.

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