An immortal dance for a departed friend

This spring and summer, Europe will be conquered by two big concert names. Icons of modern sound, blues, rock and roll, synthpop. Dipesh Maud and Bruce Springsteen. Tickets for their performances on the Old Continent have been sold out for a long time, in some cities even in just half an hour.

Compared to Bruce Springsteen, who gathers mostly profiled 40+ audiences at his performances, Dipesh Moda's concerts can be noticed by those who normally don't listen to them, but came because they know what Dave Gayen and Martin Gore represent in the world of music, and that's why they want to be part of the spectacle themselves, at least from the stands.

The current "Memento mori" tour, which promotes the 15th album of the same name, is the first without one of the founders and pillars of Dipesh Mod, the deceased Andy Fletcher. For many, it attracted a lot of attention precisely because of this - it is known that big groups are said to be "not the old ones" if they lose one of their original members.

There were many cities on offer for the Dipesh Moda concert, but not even tickets for the medicine. Unless you want to spend serious money on some forums and sites for buying and selling, where there is a ticket, but for 150-200 euros and that's standing. I chose Bern, Switzerland, where my acquaintances made it easier for me to get to the ticket, which I bought even below the price, which was exactly 107 Swiss francs for standing.

How was the concert in Bern compared to Usce 2012?

It is impossible and a bit illogical to compare the two periods of their career, the one from 11 years ago and now, because every great band changes slowly but surely with age, style and view of music. Gayen and Gore in Belgrade with Fletcher were in the phase of exploring blues with a touch of synthpop and dark, so the audience felt that they were witnessing something great and big, but they didn't get the then recommended dose of mega hits that Dipesh Mod was remembered for. I can only say that the criticism of them after Ušće, that their set list was not adapted to Belgrade, was not appropriate.

Both Dipesh Mod and other greats of the modern scene try to create a solid combination of old and new with each new album on tour, and that was the case in Bern. The concert opened with two or three new songs, rather slow and psychedelic, only after about twenty minutes the 25.000 spectators heard something familiar for choral singing.

In Switzerland, there are different, stricter rules of life compared to the rest of Europe, so the time for the start of the concert at the Wankdorf stadium was directly related to the peace and tranquility of the residents in the neighborhood: the concert started a little before 20 pm in order to end at the latest at 22.30:XNUMX p.m. so that the residents of Bern could rest without noise. Otherwise, city leaders would be overwhelmed with letters for violating the rules of organizing concerts.

Why am I writing this? Because for a group with such a name and musical opus as Dipesh Mod, the wrong timing of the start of the concert can be a serious handicap. Not for the members, but for the audience. For the general feeling of the concert, for the atmosphere.

While everyone was getting used to hits like "It's no good", "Everything counts" and "In your room", the sun was still shining behind the band. There was nothing to indicate that it was the moment to let the brain idle and to provide the necessary space for emotions, memory and happiness. The band didn't deliver that kind of energy either, so only in the middle of their performance did the first stronger eruption of enthusiasm follow, and that, believe it or not, with the new song "Ghosts again".

That's where you felt the first big difference in where you watch one of your favorite groups. It's no secret that we in the Balkans follow less and less the new releases of the greats of modern music, remaining trapped in old works for years. Here the audience was very well trained and it was obvious that they knew everything from the new album "Memento mori", especially the first and most successful single "Ghosts again".

The mentioned new hit was followed by "I feel you", with the famous gut-wrenching guitar riff and only then, in the twilight, could one say that one was witnessing something big.

Martin Gore cried there, which was seen on the video-beam, because Andy Fletcher was being chanted, so an emotional rollercoaster followed with "World in my eyes", a tribute to the deceased member of the group. While his character illuminated the stadium with two video beams, and Dave Gayen sang the lyrics as if in a trance, memories of the group's beginnings and their first world conquest at the end of the eighties, it could begin.

Gayen and Gore surprisingly cut the phenomenal mood with "Wrong", but "Stripped" caused real delirium in the stadium, and the conditions were met for the final duet with which Dipesh Mod always ends the first part of the concert in 2023.

The audience sang as one "John the revelator" and of course the iconic "Enjoy the silence", during which probably everyone in the stadium had their mobile phone turned on with the "record" option.

Next to me was an extremely nice woman in her sixth decade who worked as a security guard and was listening to Dipesh Maud for the first time. On "Enjoy the silence" even she took out her phone and recorded telling me that this is a "very cool group" and that she had never listened to them before. Only later did I discover that the daughter was by her side and she was actually the "culprit" that mom accepted the job of usher at the concert, in order to experience musical enlightenment.

There were many families in the stands. That's how it always goes when it comes to big music names. Tastes are passed down from generation to generation, and Dipesh Mod are obviously such a band that both parents and children have the most subtle emotions and transmit incredible energy to them.

The encore was almost the same in every city up to Bern. Instead of the ballad "Condemnation", Gejen and Gore sang the beautiful "Waiting for the night", after which there was a riot with the biggest dance hit "Just can't get enough", which made everyone move, after which they sang "Never let me down again” so powerful that the whole country could hear it from Vankdorf. At the end, the song that has been covered the most times in the history of the group - "Personal Jesus" was left.

More than two hours of spectacle for the heart and soul. And the verdict that was expected - Dave Gayen and Martin Gore did perform because of Fletch with a lump in their throat, but that didn't stop them from connecting with the audience. The concert was fantastic and it's no wonder that all the tickets for Europe were sold out by September.

Before the start of the European tour, Gor stated that the work on the album "Memento mori" began at the beginning of the pandemic, when no one had a chance to live, let alone concerts. It was even worse for him when Fletcher passed away, but Gayen and he continued to work because the member who left the group "would have wanted it that way".

"Fletch would be delighted with the album. We look forward to sharing it with you soon and can't wait to present it to you at the shows", said Martin Gore at the beginning of this year.

Among the surrounding cities, Dipesh Mod will perform in Zagreb on July 23, then three days later in Bucharest, and then on July 28 in Budapest. The "Memento Mori" tour is the 19th in a row for Dipesh Mod and the first in five years.

The previous one called "Global spirit" was their longest tour with more than 130 performances all over the world. To date, Dipesh Mod has sold more than 100 million albums and played to more than 35 million fans.