On Valentine’s Day, fans of Depeche Mode from Croatia and abroad have finally experienced the concert they literally waited for decades – after the first date of the “Tour of the Universe” concert was postponed due to a difficult physical condition of singer Dave Gahan, all fans were relieved that this third gig in Croatia by the British legends, that was supposed to happen on 21st May of last year, was still on. Because of its roof, Zagreb Arena offered a perfect place to hold a concert in the middle of winter, so the second ‘try’ was announced on lovers’ day, February 14th.
People were still filling up the Arena when the opening act Nitzer Ebb came on stage and formed their 40 minute slot with songs such as “Once You Say” and “On Your Knees” from the new album “Industrial Complex”, which it promoted in Zagreb. Visual aspect of this band from the UK greatly supplements their hard industrial sound and ideology inspired with totalitarianism, evident in the sole hard ‘German’ name of the band, which reminded me at certain moments of another band soon to also perform in Croatian capital – Rammstein. By combining electro/punk/EBM elements into a compact whole, Nitzer Ebb showed on stage why they are so influential in these music circles even today and why Depeche Mode themselves think highly of them – originality in the service of hard, but nevertheless extremely melodic expression really comes to the foreground live, so it was pure enjoyment to see and hear them in the grotto of the Arena. Depeche Mode show started promptly at 20:30h, with the LED ball being ‘awakened’ by relentlessly showing the band logo, after which the whole videowall came to life, welcomed members of the band with stunning visuals and presented the first song “In Chains”. “Wrong” followed, also from the latest album “Sounds Of The Universe”, bathed in red lights from the videowall, and after it and “Hole To Feed”, what ensued was a journey through time which has been marked for the last 30 years on world music scene by precisely Depeche Mode. “Walking In My Shoes” was accompanied by a crow flying over a desert, which unusually well befitted the emotional landscapes that this song induces, and a similar relationship between trully extraordinary visual effects and monumental songs was continued with “It’s No Good”, “A Question Of Time”, “Precious” and “World In My Eyes”. Arena that was filled to the last spot, audience that not only knows each verse, but also each sigh and guitar sound from stage gave an unavoidable touch to this show, and members of the band showed that they enjoyed this concert as much as the thousands of fans in front of them. After that, Dave went smilingly off the stage, and Martin Gore, founder and one of the creative forces behind DM, took the microphone. Arena lost its proportions and suddenly we’ve all found ourselves in the middle of an intimate conversation with this living legend (“Insight”), which was continued with a second song performed by him - “Home”. Memorable return to the era of the “Ultra” album sounded at times as a note of graditude to them for gathering us here and their thanks to us for bringing them to their home – which Zagreb undoubtedly was that night. “And I thank you/ For bringing me here/ For showing me home/ For singing these tears/ Finally I’ve found that I belong here…”. Show was kicked into high gear then, climaxes ensued with songs such as “Policy Of Truth”, “In Your Room”, and chorus on “I Feel You” was a moment when most of us lost our voice screaming in the direction of frontman Dave, who ‘lost’ both his jacket and his waistcoat ages ago, moving like a cat on stage… What followed was a hypnotizing dance to the anthems “Enjoy The Silence” and “Never Let Me Down Again”, a sea of hands in the air and singing with Dave who was in an excellent mood and such a magnet for eyes and ears that the whole report could be written just on him.
I could not believe when the stage got dark and solemnly announced the beginning od the end of the show – but DM didn’t keep us in the darkness for long. Martin opened the encore with a beautiful performance of “Dressed In Black”, after that it was the phenomenal “Stripped”, “Behind The Wheel” and the real end with “Personal Jesus”, when the whole Arena became like a church in which 20000 people came to confess that night. Belly dancing of the girl on the videowall and Martin, Andrew and Dave as modern ‘crucified’ preachers made us frantically dance once more and totally surrender to the music with legendary lyrics and chorus “Reach out and touch faith”. After two hours of a fantastic show, Depeche Mode bowed to the audience and thanked Zagreb for everything, and we were left to exit the Arena and hope for the next meeting with these fantastic musicians.
On Valentine’s Day, fans of Depeche Mode from Croatia and abroad have finally experienced the concert they literally waited for decades – after the first date of the “Tour of the Universe” concert was postponed due to a difficult physical condition of singer Dave Gahan, all fans were relieved that this third gig in Croatia by the British legends, that was supposed to happen on 21st May of last year, was still on. Because of its roof, Zagreb Arena offered a perfect place to hold a concert in the middle of winter, so the second ‘try’ was announced on lovers’ day, February 14th. 
Depeche Mode show started promptly at 20:30h, with the LED ball being ‘awakened’ by relentlessly showing the band logo, after which the whole videowall came to life, welcomed members of the band with stunning visuals and presented the first song “In Chains”. “Wrong” followed, also from the latest album “Sounds Of The Universe”, bathed in red lights from the videowall, and after it and “Hole To Feed”, what ensued was a journey through time which has been marked for the last 30 years on world music scene by precisely Depeche Mode. “Walking In My Shoes” was accompanied by a crow flying over a desert, which unusually well befitted the emotional landscapes that this song induces, and a similar relationship between trully extraordinary visual effects and monumental songs was continued with “It’s No Good”, “A Question Of Time”, “Precious” and “World In My Eyes”. Arena that was filled to the last spot, audience that not only knows each verse, but also each sigh and guitar sound from stage gave an unavoidable touch to this show, and members of the band showed that they enjoyed this concert as much as the thousands of fans in front of them.
After that, Dave went smilingly off the stage, and Martin Gore, founder and one of the creative forces behind DM, took the microphone. Arena lost its proportions and suddenly we’ve all found ourselves in the middle of an intimate conversation with this living legend (“Insight”), which was continued with a second song performed by him - “Home”. Memorable return to the era of the “Ultra” album sounded at times as a note of graditude to them for gathering us here and their thanks to us for bringing them to their home – which Zagreb undoubtedly was that night. “And I thank you/ For bringing me here/ For showing me home/ For singing these tears/ Finally I’ve found that I belong here…”. 
Show was kicked into high gear then, climaxes ensued with songs such as “Policy Of Truth”, “In Your Room”, and chorus on “I Feel You” was a moment when most of us lost our voice screaming in the direction of frontman Dave, who ‘lost’ both his jacket and his waistcoat ages ago, moving like a cat on stage… What followed was a hypnotizing dance to the anthems “Enjoy The Silence” and “Never Let Me Down Again”, a sea of hands in the air and singing with Dave who was in an excellent mood and such a magnet for eyes and ears that the whole report could be written just on him. 