It became a regular occurrence that anytime Depeche Mode was in Los Angeles we would get together. Southern California quickly became their biggest fan base and they would usually wrap up their North American tour in LA with multiple sold out shows, including in the summer of 1986 with two concerts at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre followed by a sold out show at the Fabulous Forum, playing to a total of more than 50,000 fans in three nights. It was that success that set the scene for their next tour, Music for the Masses, and their most memorable gig ever.
TV interview with Depeche Mode
In late March, 1988, Howie Klein from Mute Records arranged a meeting with me at Warner Brothers in Burbank. He and Seymour Stein had been working on an idea for a concert the likes of which had never been done before. They wanted to put a new wave band, a KROQ group, into the legendary Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Only two bands had ever played there before, Big Brother and the Holding Company in 1968 and Journey in 1982. Now the idea was to have these four young guys from Basildon, in the suburbs outside of London, try to fill this cavernous stadium.
Three weeks later we had it all set up. I was broadcasting my show live on the radio from the centerfield of the Rose Bowl when Depeche Mode drove into the stadium in a classic Cadillac convertible. Tuesday, April 26 brought a damp, foggy morning to the Rose Bowl and the seats that filled the sides of the stadium stretched up to the sky, disappearing in the mist. It seemed an impossible task to fill this massive space.
I sensed the nervousness in the band as they piled out of the car and made their way over to me. They were staring up at the endless rows of seats and in their minds running the numbers, - “Just how many tickets do we have to sell to make this place look even half full?”
I went live with Depeche Mode on the radio and talked about the show. I had been told by the record company to expect cameras as the whole event was being filmed for an upcoming documentary.
This was to be the final date of their ongoing Music for the Masses tour. I called Alan Wilder to the microphone because Alan had elected to be the spokesperson for the band.
Alan was a little hesitant at first knowing he was live all across Southern California but quickly settled into his rhythm.
“Good morning to all of our fans listening,” Alan said. “We’d like to announce as a special final concert of our world tour that on Saturday, June 18, we’ll be playing a concert for the masses here at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. This will be a very important occasion for us, not only being the largest show we’ve ever done but also the most prestigious concert we’ve ever played.”
After Alan’s official announcement I jumped in to give out the ticket on sale details to the listeners.
“Tickets go on sale this Saturday morning, April 30 at 8am at all Ticketmaster outlets, and it’s reserved seating, not festival seating, so get there early for the best tickets.”
With the official announcement done we started an impromptu interview on the air which, as always with Depeche Mode, was a lot more fun than work.
After we finished the broadcast we hung out for a while and talked as everyone looked around the Rose Bowl and realized just how huge it was.
“We’re going to need the masses to come and fill this place,” joked Dave.
Fletch explained it was to be the hundred and first show of their Music for the Masses tour.
“We started last October in…” Fletch looked around for help.
“I think it was Spain,” chimed in Alan.
“Yes, Spain. And we were here in December; you were there with us at The Forum, right?” asked Fletch.
“Yeah, great show,” I said.
“Well in a few days we go back on the road again here in the US. We have our first gig on Friday in Santa Clara then it’s non-stop until we finish the tour here in Los Angeles,” said Fletch.
“Kind of a cool setting for the final show of the tour…”
Dave jumped in with a laugh, cutting me off, “The final show of our career if we don’t sell this place out!”
I smiled at Dave. “You’ll sell this out.”
Dave gave me a “we’d better!” look.
I turned to the rest of the band, “When I get back to the studio and talk on the radio about you finishing the tour here at the Rose Bowl,” I thought for a second, - ‘the hundred and first show’ didn’t sound cool, “do you have any surprises I should tell the listeners about for concert one oh one?”
Alan looked at me and smiled. “1-0-1? I like it. 101 will be our biggest concert ever so tell them that we don’t know about surprises but we promise we’ll give everybody the best show we can.”
The live broadcast with Depeche Mode January 1988 Rose Bowl
Dave grinned “Tell them to buy tickets and come to our show otherwise it’ll just be me and you and the band playing football here.”
“101” became a buzz word in Southern California. We knew that Depeche Mode would sell at least 20,000 tickets but in a stadium that holds more than 65,000 people after the stage, screens and sound gear are set up, that number would make the Rose Bowl look empty.
We left Pasadena and I went back to Warner Brothers with the band.
There we met with Howie Klein and we discussed contingency plans such as dividing the stadium in half with temporary fabric walls. That way only 40,000 tickets would have to be sold.
“Only 40,000?” said Dave sarcastically, “That makes me feel a lot better. I just hope 101 isn’t the number of people who show up!”
The band left to get ready for the start of the second leg of their US tour and as we only had four days before the tickets went on sale I worked with Howie and Brian Murphy, a very intelligent, hands-on concert promoter with Avalon Attractions, in getting the word out about the concert and the three opening acts.
Everyone on the bill would come from the KROQ playlist. First it would be Wire, a band from England who had a lot of fans in the industry including Robert Smith of The Cure, Paul Weller from The Jam and Depeche Mode themselves. We were playing Wire’s latest album A Bell Is A Cup and a track from it “Kidney Bingos” was getting a lot of calls, especially at night on Dusty’s show.
Next to hit the stage would be Thomas Dolby who is a good friend, a keyboard maestro and a musician who had multiple hits on KROQ with “Europa and the Pirate Twins,” “Windpower,” “Hyperactive” and, of course, “She Blinded Me With Science.”
The last act scheduled to come on before Depeche Mode was Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark – OMD. They were a fan favorite, had a wealth of hits and if anyone could be counted on to get the crowd going it was Paul and Andy.
The top 40 and rock stations in LA like KIIS and KLOS openly mocked KROQ on the air for attempting to put on a stadium show with a “synthesizer band” like Depeche Mode. Giant arenas were reserved for their acts, the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Michael Jackson. The word on the street was that the “little station” from Pasadena was going to have a major flop on their hands. Depeche Mode had never even had a top-ten hit in America; their highest chart position was number thirteen on the Billboard top forty and that was back in August of 1985 with “People Are People.” Their latest single, “Never Let Me Down” had barely scraped into the top 100 before disappearing.
As far as our on-air competitors were concerned, we were bringing a one-hit wonder to town and hoping against hope that we could fill the Rose Bowl. To them it was a costly mistake of colossal proportions. To us it just showed how out of touch with the kids on the street those corporate-driven stations were. They underestimated KROQ, Depeche Mode and their legion of devotees.
When the tickets went on sale that Saturday morning we all waited nervously for the box office report. By the end of the day Brian Murphy called me and said they had sold more than 42,000! Things were suddenly looking good.
Realizing their mistake, the other radio stations immediately stopped their on-air negativity about 101. Instead, on KROQ, we turned the tables and made fun of them saying that their DJs were t
rying to call in to win tickets from us.
We had exactly seven weeks from the ticket on-sale to the actual concert itself so we did everything we could to hype the show. On my TV show, Video One, I put together “Depeche Mode Week” which featured interviews with the band every day. At KROQ we did on-air giveaways and every morning I’d do DMode trivia to win tickets. Now, more than ever, Depeche Mode was locked in as “our band.”
Saturday June 18, 1988 was a hot day. It was tropical and humid; very unusual for Southern California. It felt more like Hawaii than Pasadena. The whole day KROQ broadcast live from a booth set up high above the stands in the Rose Bowl. The ticket count was at 62,000 sold, we just needed another 3,000 gone and it would be a sellout.
Thousands of cars poured into the parking lot and waited, with KROQ blaring out of their radios, for the doors to open at 3pm.
We had a last minute meeting with all of the DJs. We would take it in turns going on stage to introduce the bands and then go back on after their sets to thank them for playing. Right before OMD was scheduled to start the entire air staff would get onstage together to take a shot for the year-end calendar. And finally, after OMD finished, I would be the last on stage to thank everyone for coming and let them know that Depeche Mode would be up in less than fifteen minutes. That would also conclude our live radio broadcast and a tape would roll until DMode started “Pimpf,” their intro music. There would be no jock on stage to introduce Depeche Mode; their recorded track would set the scene.
We received word from the box office that all the tickets were gone, 101 was officially sold out and the legendary stadium was jam packed. Everything went perfectly, the bands rocked the crowd and everytime one of our DJs went on stage, - Freddy, Ramondo, Rodney, Jed, Dusty, Poorman, Egil, Spacin’ Mason, - the roar could be heard across the Rose Bowl.
At around eight o’clock OMD wrapped their set and it was my turn to go onto that massive stage and address the crowd. The sun had gone down and the lights had just been turned on in the stadium and it was a trip to walk out to center stage in front of that number of people.
I kept my words short; I was as excited to see Depeche Mode as the rest of the crowd and didn’t want to waste time. I thanked everybody on behalf of KROQ and told them the greatest band in the world was up next. That got a huge cheer and with a wave I walked off the stage.
I went into the locker rooms below the stage which had been converted into the bands’ dressing rooms for the show and told Dave and the guys that the audience was pumped and wished them a fantastic set. I headed back upstairs and towards security, planning to go to my seat.
But something was different. The crowd noise had changed. Instead of the excited buzz that had reverberated for the last few hours there was now yelling and shouting and crashing
While I had been with the band something had happened to alter the mood in the stadium.
A hand grabbed my shoulder from behind and spun me around. It was Brian Murphy.
“Jesus, man, I’ve been looking for you all over!”
I had never seen Brian like this. He was always so composed, so together. He knew the answer to every question before you even asked it. But now his eyes were wide and his breathing shallow and rapid. I knew there was big trouble going down here at the Rose Bowl.
“The cops are going to close us down, the whole thing,” Brian yelled, “They think someone’s going to get hurt or killed. You’ve got to stop it.”
“Stop what? How?” I had no clue what Brian was talking about.
“It started up in the stands. Someone threw some popcorn or something. Now everyone is throwing everything. We’ve got bottles coming down. And there shouldn’t be any glass in here at all but somehow there is. The police department are scared that someone is going to get hit with something from up in the stands and get killed. That’s over a hundred feet up. A bottle or a can from up there could do a lot of damage.”
“Well what can I do?”
“Get on stage now. Tell them to stop throwing shit. I’ll send a runner to bring the band up. As soon as the crowd quiets down I’ll give you the signal and they’ll come straight out. It’s the only way we can save the show.”
He gave me a push towards the stage. “Go on!”
A little stunned, confused and definitely unprepared, I ran out across the enormous stage to Dave’s waiting center microphone. A single spotlight flashed on and lit me up as I stood behind the mic stand. My mind was racing. If I told everyone to stop throwing food I knew what would happen, they would treat me like an annoying school teacher and hurl everything at me. With the stage littered with food, drink and broken glass the concert would be over for sure. But I had to do something.
I took the mic from the stand and walked with it to the front of the stage.
“Are you ready for Depeche Mode?” I shouted into the mic.
The crowd roared back that they were.
“Good, because they are ready for you.” There were still some people throwing food; it hadn’t stopped but at least I had their attention now.
I had to do something big, I had to bring the show.
I walked the length of the massive stage as I talked. “See all the cameras on stage and out there in the audience?” I pointed to the seven camera crews and boom arms. “They are shooting this concert for a film. And when it comes out everyone will know what you already know, that Depeche Mode are the greatest band in the world!”
A huge cheer came up from the masses.
“In some places in America they don’t even know who Depeche Mode are but after tonight they will and you were here and YOU KNEW IT FIRST!”
Now the yells coming from the crowd were deafening. I covered my face with my arm to shield my eyes from the blinding spotlight. I could see the huge audience now. The food fight had stopped and now they were focused on me. I looked to my left, to the wing of the stage. Brian Murphy was there giving me the sign to stretch. The band wasn’t there yet, I had to keep going.
“When you drove here today who was listening to the live broadcast on KROQ?”
I already knew the answer but the screams from 65,000 people affirmed it for me.
“To everyone listening at home right now I have a message for you.” I was bluffing, our broadcast had concluded already fifteen minutes before, and I just hoped that the crowd in the stadium didn’t know that.
“And that message is you should have been here with all these people for a concert that will go down in music history. And this might cost me my FCC license and I might be taken off the radio for saying this live on the air but all of you here tonight,” and I gestured to the audience in as big a move as I could so as not to be dwarfed by the gigantic stage, “you knew about Depeche Mode before anybody else because you are so FUCKING HIP!”
The crowd shrieked their approval back to me.
“So everybody here at the Rose Bowl who loves K-ROCK and Depeche Mode make some noise so the listeners stuck in their cars and in their homes can hear what they are missing.”
I stretched out my arm and held the mic to the audience as shouts and yells filled the air and shook the Rose Bowl. I glanced over to Brian Murphy. He was standing with the band and gave me the thumbs up. I pulled the mic back and held it to my mouth.
“But that’s enough from me. I think we are all ready for some live music on this stage. I’ll talk to you on Monday on K-ROCK. I’m Richard Blade and this, ladies and gentlemen is DEPECHE MODE!”
The lights went down and as I ran off the stage past the band Dave hugged me. Brian had me wait in the wings while the instrumental “Pimpf” played just in case the food fight started back up. I sat on one of four chairs there.
A guy dressed in black sitting in one of the other chairs turned to me and said in a broad Irish accent, “That was a good job you did out there.”
“Thanks,” I replied to one of my favorite guitarists in the world, the Edge.
The concert got off to a rocking start, the band went straight into
“Behind The Wheel” followed by “Strangelove” a combination which had everyone on their feet, dancing. Depeche Mode was there to make a statement and that’s what they did. But it was during their third song that something happened that no one at the show would ever forget.
The beautiful, sunny day had turned into a warm, clear night. The stars were shining bright over the Rose Bowl and created the perfect atmosphere for an amazing concert, but as Depeche Mode started into ‘Sacred’ and Dave sang the words “Sacred, Holy,” clouds suddenly rolled in from nowhere and the skies darkened. The atmosphere felt heavy, the feeling became ominous and it was almost as if someone or something were saying “be careful what you’re singing about.”
Depeche Mode continued with ‘Sacred’ and as Dave belted out “walking on hallowed ground, but it’s my duty, I’m a missionary” a light rain started to fall. Now the crowd was looking up at the threatening sky instead of the stage. As the group segued into “Something to Do” a flash of lightning crackled across the sky above the stadium. The crowd roared in acknowledgement of nature’s light show and the following rumble of thunder exacted another cheer.
The band went into their fifth song, “Blasphemous Rumours” and halfway through the lightning abated and the clouds parted and before the song had finished and Dave had sung “God’s got a sick sense of humour” the stars were back out and twinkling as if nothing had happened. But for 65,000 people who experienced that amazing moment it was an eight-minute mystical weather event that will live with them forever.
I said goodbye to Depeche Mode after the show and headed out through the crowded parking lot to find my car. It was crazy outside the Rose Bowl. People were standing everywhere in huge groups, talking; no one wanted to go home. They wanted that night to never end. It was hard to even get through the crowd never mind find your car. That’s where I ran into a little kid by himself, a young actor whom I knew from the radio.
World in My Eyes: The Autobiography Page 36
