Tour by Depeche Mode | |
Associated album | Violator |
---|---|
Start date | 28 May 1990 |
End date | 27 November 1990 |
Legs | 3 |
No. of shows |
|
Depeche Mode concert chronology |
The World Violation Tour was a 1990 concert tour by English electronic group Depeche Mode in support of the act's seventh studio album, Violator . It was estimated that by the end of the tour, Depeche Mode had toured to 1.2 million fans. [1]
Depeche Mode's previous tour, the Music for the Masses Tour, had run from late 1987 to the middle of 1988, and was supported by the live video and record release of 101 in early 1989. [2] Violator was released in March 1990 [3] and had already seen two successful singles to support it, "Personal Jesus" [4] and "Enjoy the Silence" by the time the tour started. [5] In April, the band attended a record-signing event in LA at a record store, but the event drew so many fans that the band had to be escorted out, and a riot nearly ensued. [6]
The band rehearsed for the tour in Pensacola, Florida, the same city where the tour kicked off. [7] It was the first time the band has performed live in the state, and the band received some flak from locals who didn't understand their appearance; Alan Wilder was quoted to Rolling Stone saying "I've been called a faggot about twenty times today, mostly from guys leaning out of trucks. This is sort of a backward place, isn't it?" [7]
The tour kicked off with a North American leg in late May, finishing up in early August in Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium. The North American dates were met with high demand with sellouts in Dallas, Chicago, Orlando, Tampa and Miami; [7] 42,000 tickets for the concert at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey had reportedly been sold within four hours of going on sale, while the Dodger Stadium shows had sold out on the first day of sale. [8] Later in the month, the group played a sole date in Australia, in Sydney, prior to a six-date tour of Japan in September. Following the Japanese dates, the band commenced a European tour, beginning in Brussels in late September. The leg included three dates at the Palais Omnisports Bercy in Paris, where the group performed to approximately 50,000 people. [9] The leg lasted two months and concluded with the final show of the tour in Birmingham, England, in late November.
Tour projections were made by Anton Corbijn, presented on large video screens behind the band. The tour required approximately 100 stage crew and 11 trucks to transport the set and equipment. [8]
Rolling Stone called out the tour as one of the highlights of the 1990 summer music scene, saying "These British synth poppers offer post-industrial melancholy you can dance to. And their misery certainly loves company – on their last tour, they sold out the Rose Bowl." [10]
Industrial band Nitzer Ebb opened for the band in North America [10] and Europe. [11]
Depeche Mode never released any official content from the World Violation Tour for commercial purposes, the reason for which Alan Wilder stated was that there was too little time lapsed from Music for the Masses Tour to release a new live EP from this tour, as 101 had been released the previous year. [12]
Two concerts of the American leg of the tour, one in San Francisco and one in LA, were recorded by the staff of the stadium; the band issued 90-second snippets of each song from the LA show on their website in 2012. [13]
Notes:
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex in 1980. Originally formed with the lineup of Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke, the band currently consists of Gahan and Gore.
Violator is the seventh studio album by English electronic music band Depeche Mode. It was first released on 19 March 1990 by Mute Records internationally, and by Sire and Reprise Records in the United States.
Mark Ellis, known by his professional pseudonym Flood, is a British rock and synthpop record producer and audio engineer. Flood's list of work includes projects with New Order, U2, Nine Inch Nails, Marc and the Mambas, Depeche Mode, Gary Numan, Sneaker Pimps, King, Ministry, The Charlatans, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Erasure, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, PJ Harvey, Foals, a-ha, Orbital, Sigur Rós, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Killers, White Lies, Pop Will Eat Itself, Warpaint, EOB, and Interpol. His co-production collaborations have included projects with Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, Steve Lillywhite, and longtime collaborator Alan Moulder, with whom he co-founded the Assault & Battery Studios complex. In 2006, his work with U2 led to his sharing of the Grammy Award for Album of the Year for How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.
Nitzer Ebb are an English EBM group formed in 1982 by Essex school friends Vaughan "Bon" Harris, Douglas McCarthy (vocals), and David Gooday (drums). The band were originally named La Comédie De La Mort but soon discarded that and chose the name Nitzer Ebb by cutting up words and letters and arranging them randomly to create something Germanic without using actual German words.
Music for the Masses is the sixth studio album by the English electronic music band Depeche Mode, released on 28 September 1987 by Mute Records. The album was supported by the Music for the Masses Tour, which launched their fame in the US when they performed at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The tour led to the creation and filming of the documentary/live album titled 101.
Songs of Faith and Devotion is the eighth studio album by English electronic music band Depeche Mode. It was first released on 22 March 1993 in the United Kingdom by Mute Records and a day later in the United States by Sire Records and Reprise Records. The album incorporated a more aggressive, darker rock-oriented tone than its predecessor Violator (1990), largely influenced by the emerging alternative rock and grunge scenes in the United States.
Alan Charles Wilder is an English musician, composer, arranger, record producer and member of the electronic band Depeche Mode from 1982 to 1995. After his departure from the band, the musical project Recoil became his primary musical enterprise, which initially started as a side project to Depeche Mode in 1986. Wilder has also provided production and remixing services to the bands Nitzer Ebb and Curve. In 2020, Wilder was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Depeche Mode. He is a classically trained musician.
"Personal Jesus" is a song by the English electronic music band Depeche Mode. It was released as the lead single from their seventh studio album, Violator (1990), in 1989. It reached No. 13 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 28 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The single was their first to enter the US top 40 since 1984's "People Are People" and was their first gold-certified single in the US. In Germany, "Personal Jesus" is one of the band's longest-charting songs, staying on the West German Singles Chart for 23 weeks.
Touring the Angel was a 2005–06 concert tour by English electronic group Depeche Mode in support of the act's 11th studio album, Playing the Angel, which was released in October 2005.
Devotional – A Performance Filmed by Anton Corbijn is a video release by the English electronic music band Depeche Mode, featuring almost an entire concert from their 1993 Devotional Tour, filmed in Barcelona, Liévin and Frankfurt (Festhalle). It was directed by Anton Corbijn, and released in 1993. It was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video in 1995. The soundtrack was recorded in Liévin, Stade Couvert Régional, on 29 July 1993.
Showtime is the third album by the British EBM group Nitzer Ebb. It featured the singles "Lightning Man" and "Fun to Be Had", the latter of which was later remixed by George Clinton. "Getting Closer" was also released as a single. Nitzer Ebb supported the album by touring with Depeche Mode.
The Exotic Tour/Summer Tour '94 was a 1994 concert tour by English electronic group Depeche Mode in support of the act's eighth studio album, Songs of Faith and Devotion, which was released in March 1993. The tour is an extension of the Devotional Tour in 1993, which reached Europe and North America. The tour visited territories which the band had never performed in or had not toured in for some time, reaching Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America. The tour commenced in Johannesburg, South Africa in early February. As of 2016, this was the last tour the group visited Australia, Southeast Asia or South Africa. In May 1994, the group visited North America on the "Summer Tour, '94". This was the second leg of North American dates promoting Songs of Faith and Devotion and took place mostly in outdoor venues and amphitheatres.
The Devotional Tour was a 1993 concert tour by English electronic band Depeche Mode in support of the group's eighth studio album, Songs of Faith and Devotion, which was released in March 1993.
Ebbhead is the fourth album of the British EBM group Nitzer Ebb. Co-produced by Depeche Mode's Alan Wilder in collaboration with Flood, it was released by Mute Records on 30 September 1991. The album features a continuation of their industrial sound with the inclusion of metal guitars for the first time, notably featured on the single "Godhead" as well as the "Family Man" remix. According to the band, the guitar parts featured were recorded samples.
Douglas John McCarthy is an English vocalist whose work covers a range of electronic music genres.
Tour of the Universe was a 2009–10 worldwide concert tour by English electronic band Depeche Mode in support of the group's 12th studio album, Sounds of the Universe, which was released in April 2009.
As Is is an EP by Industrial / EBM group Nitzer Ebb, released prior to their fourth album Ebbhead on LP, Compact Disc, and cassette by Mute Records in the United Kingdom and Geffen/MCA Records (GEF-21658) in the United States. It features four tracks, each mixed by a different artist / producer. The first track, "Family Man" is the only one to feature on Ebbhead and appears here in a different form to that on the album. It was mixed by Jaz Coleman, vocalist and frontman of English post-punk band Killing Joke. The second track, "Lovesick" was mixed by Flood who produced the band's second and third albums, Belief and Showtime as well as the previously mentioned Ebbhead. The third track, "Come Alive" was mixed by Alan Wilder of Depeche Mode, who would eventually be drafted in to co-produce Ebbhead. The last track, "Higher" was mixed by Barry Adamson and PK. Barry Adamson was the bassist for Howard Devoto's Magazine and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and PK is an engineer/producer who has worked mainly for Mute Records on various Depeche Mode and Flood projects.
The Black Celebration Tour was a 1986 concert tour by English electronic group Depeche Mode in support of the act's fifth studio album, Black Celebration, which was released in March 1986.
The Delta Machine Tour was a 2013–14 worldwide concert tour by English electronic music band Depeche Mode in support of the group's 13th studio album, Delta Machine, released 22 March 2013. Following a warm-up show in Nice, France on 4 May 2013, the tour kicked off in Tel Aviv, Israel, and continued through Europe until late July. A North American tour followed in late August, beginning in the Detroit suburb of Clarkston, Michigan and culminating in Austin, Texas in early October. The band performed at the Austin City Limits Music Festival, which in 2013 was held across two weekends for the first time. A second leg in Europe went from 3 November Abu Dhabi to 7 March 2014 Moscow. Among the dates were Dublin, Amsterdam, Oslo and Belfast, their first shows in Northern Ireland in almost 30 years.
The Memento Mori World Tour was a worldwide concert tour by the English electronic music band Depeche Mode in support of the group's fifteenth studio album, Memento Mori. The tour began on 23 March 2023 and concluded on 8 April 2024. This marked the first concert tour to not feature keyboardist Andy Fletcher, who died in 2022.