Depeche Mode - Devotional DVD

Philip_T · 09-24-2004, 12:28 PM

I just saw this new DVD concert release listed on amazon. Its from their 93-94 Devotional tour. Anyone pick this up yet?

AricB · 09-24-2004, 12:41 PM

no, but not for lack of trying, both CC and BB didnt have it this week when i went. going to another one tonight. If you havent' seen this performance on another format, it's the best live performance in my opinion. i own it on vhs and LD. if i remember the vocals sounded better on devotional than one night in paris, possibly daves age? or all the drugs and alcohol back then? but the stage show was outstanding, saw itt live 4 times on that tour.

Andrew Bunk · 09-24-2004, 01:53 PM

I picked this up last Friday at a small DVD store in my area. Thought it sounded pretty good in 5.1, but there seems to be a slight sync issue between the audio and video for both the PCM and 5.1 tracks. Were the VHS and LD like this as well?

AricB · 09-24-2004, 02:21 PM

which store? I'm not too far from you, your in Joliet, is that right? or are you closer to where I work in LaGrange? I cant remember where you said before.

Not that I recall, but my LD players been down for a bit, so its been a while since i watched it. I heard it was NOT anamorphic, is that right? how did the picture look?

Andrew Bunk · 09-24-2004, 02:52 PM

Aric,

The store I go to is in Westmont. I live in Lisle actually. The store is in a strip mall on Ogden Ave. They're really good about getting catalog titles and concerts in for release day. To my knowledge they don't deal in hirez audio. Also, their standard deal is 20% off list, so they're a little more expensive than going to Best Buy, but I find their service worth it. I bought one of two copies they had on the shelf at the time, so I don't know if that was all they had or not. PM me if you want more info on the store.

As far as the disc, it is non-anamorphic. It almost looks like it's 1.66:1. I watched it on my 4x3 set, but it looked pretty clear to me. I never thought to myself "this looks 11 years old".

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Philip_T · 09-24-2004, 03:05 PM

If you havent' seen this performance on another format, it's the best live performance in my opinion.

Havent had the change to see this one on vhs of ld before, so, based on that comment I may have to get it for the performance alone. I did however get to see them on the tour that brought us the one night in paris dvd and actually thought they sounded better live than on the dvd performance.

AricB · 09-24-2004, 03:59 PM

Philip, I agree, live was better than the dvd, his voice didnt sound that great on ONIP. The overall stage production was just much bigger and more elaborate, and they just rocked a little more on devotional(again probably all the alcohol and drugs back then). This was the first tour I think that featured a live drummer and a little more guitar, than previous tours/albums. I also saw the singles tour 98ish and exciter maybe 01-2? I think I've seen them 7 times, Devotional is my favorite.

AricB · 09-27-2004, 10:20 AM

I picked this up over the weekend. Aside from not being anamorphic, I think this is a well done dvd. I'm glad its finally out, as it is my favorite. I wish they would have included the 2 extra songs as part of the actual concert, as Halo is one of my favorites. But the show looks good(good video quality, bright vibrant colors), i did notice some slight audio sync issues, but they are minor, and you really need to watch the singers mouth to pick up on it. I havent got to the extras disc, but I rarely watch all that stuff anyways.

Andrew Bunk · 09-27-2004, 11:50 AM

Glad to hear you got your hands on it. I've been a fan of DM for about 7 years. Believe it or not, Ultra got me interested in them. I then got MftM, Violator and SOFAD, and loved all of them. The funny thing is, I always thought of SOFAD as a "lesser" album compared to MftM and Violator. I generally considered Violator my favorite. But watching this DVD, I realized I loved just about every song on it, and then I realized 8 of the 10 songs were from SOFAD (felt like a duh! moment). I've now been listening to SOFAD profusely. So nice to rediscover an album you already have. "Rush" and "In Your Room" are easily two of my all-time favorite DM songs.

On a related topic, did David Gahan actually leave DM? I was looking up his solo record on CDUniverse's website, and it said "former DM vocalist". I know Exciter is a few years old, but I thought there was still the possibility of another record.

AricB · 09-27-2004, 12:23 PM

As far as I know, he didnt leave. He did a solo album, and Martin Gore did a solo album too. As far as I know there is still a possibility of future albums. I got into them before SOFAD, but a while after Violator had died down. SOFAD is not one of my favorites by them, but I loved the show so much that I really like it, due to the outstanding performance. Violator, MftM, Ultra, and even exciter is pretty good. I dont find the really old material to hold up to repeat listenings as much, but I do listen to it hear and there. 101 is a solid set if you like the older material, I havent yet picked up the dvd, but I got the sacd of it. I've heard good things about Martin Gore's solo disc, i think its called counterfeit?

AricB · 09-27-2004, 12:52 PM

March 5th, 2004 - DAVE COMMENTS ON THE FUTURE OF DM

In video featured on Dave's solo web site, Dave makes comments on the band's future:
*
"I'm writing right now. I know Martin is writing as well. Hopefully we'll get together later in the year, to talk about what we're gonna do next. Hopefully that will be a Depeche thing. We'll have to wait and see what happens, so we'll keep you posted."