So last night I took Cathi to Depeche Mode. I surprised her with the tickets earlier this summer knowing that when we were young she liked them. However, she told me many times before the concert that she wasn't that big of a fan and shouldn't have spent the money and rather I taken someone else.
So we went with our friends Duane and Jen Ralphs. We enjoyed their company on the way in and back home.
The opening band was not terrible. I previewed their music before the concert and noticed that one of their songs was loaded with the F bomb. I warned Cathi and sure enough they played it. But they only played for 30 minutes and then the stage got setup for Depeche Mode.
When they came out the first two songs were from their new album which I'm not really familiar with yet. But the third song and most of the songs after that were from previous albums. Two of my favorites they played were: In My Room, It's No Good, and Never Let Me Down Again, and Enjoy the Silence.
Behind the stage they had a huge big screen monitor. During some of the songs they had some visual trippy stuff, and sometimes a video. During Enjoy the Silence the big screen played a video of the band just standing in space suits rotating every minute to the center. Pretty boring, but added a cool touch to the song.
I was really getting into it and having a ball at this point! Great concert. Then after 90 minutes they went off stage. The crowd cheered and bellowed for a good 5 minutes and then they came out again. We really should have left at this point. Because when they came back on stage it quickly went downhill. They played Stripped, and Fly on the Windscreen which wasn't terribly bad, except for David's habitual pelvic grinding of the mic stand. Then they started to play Strange Love along with a video of some lesbian activity. As soon as I saw the screen with a woman in lingerie laying on a couch and another lady entering the room and walking over I sat down in my seat and let the tall guy to my right who was standing, block my view of the big screen. I could only see the front part of the stage where David was singing. I was afraid to look to my left where Cathi was sitting knowing she didn't have someone to block her vision, and I knew she was getting angry.
She isn't a big DM fan and this was only making her hate me for taking her. After the song she got up and left. I could only imagine what she saw and how offensive the video must have been considering the song. I followed her out and she kept telling me to go back in as I spent $70 dollars for my ticket. She was so mad at me! She wouldn't stay within 10 feet of me and wouldn't look or talk to me. She kept saying "I don't want to be with you!" There wasn't any one around us except for a few people off in the distance, but it was getting to be quite a dramatic scene so I backed off.
I was embarrassed for several reasons. We must have looked like dumb quarreling teenagers. I didn't have a clue they were going to do that. I kept reassuring her before the concert that they only have a few raunchy songs and that perhaps that they would do their homework about SLC and not play those songs. I was wrong, dead wrong. It's one thing to play those songs, but to show an R rated sex scene. That's pathetic.
So they probably only played for another 20 minutes while Cathi and I sat outside on the grass (ten feet apart again, as every attempt I made to apologize and console an angry conservative woman failed and she would move away in a huff making me look like a fool). I texted Ralphs that would meet them at their car. By the time they showed up Cathi put on her fake "I like Gordon afterall" look.
Apparently Jen Ralphs was furious as well. Hopefully Duane wasn't in trouble like me. We had a good talk about triathlons and Duane's job on the way home. It's the last time I take Cathi to a concert. It's just too risky. I'm never sure of what's going to be sung or shown on a screen. I guess I'll have to wait until the Millenium when perhaps John Denver will do another tour. Only then will I be confident that Cathi will enjoy herself at a concert.
Happy Birthday Cathi - can I come out of the doghouse now? I love you and sorry about the crappy evening.
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