DEPECHE MODE CONCERT IN LONDON

Being a lifetime fan of Depeche Mode you can image my excitement when they announced the Spirit Tour last autumn. The first time I saw them was during secondary school, I must have been around 16 and we traveled to Budapest with my girls. The second concert I went to was 8 years ago in Bratislava and then I missed the following because of depression and panic. This time I knew I can manage, I wanted to go more than anything!

We bought the tickets for the London one, hubby was very eager to accompany me, however as it turned out there was a family wedding planned for the very same day. He couldn’t have missed that, as I couldn’t have missed seeing DM again, so after days of weighing options we decided that he goes to the wedding and I go to the concert.

The closer the day came the more excited I became – to be honest there was a good deal of anxiety as well. I was a bit afraid of the crowd – the capacity of the stadium is 80,000 people. That is a lot! Being there was not only a nostalgic must-have for me, but also a challenge that I was ready to take in order to prove that I CAN. Stepping out of my comfort zone has always been a tool for my personal development and this occasion was a huge stepping stone for me.

The concert was held in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic park, in West Ham Stadium – the crowd was navigated by hundreds of security people from the station to the location. By the time we got to the stadium the opening band had already started playing, so the atmosphere was amazing.

We took our seats sometime before 8PM, when tuning for the band had already begun. The stadium was filling up slowly – all kinds of people, all kinds of age groups – there was a 6 year old kid near us who was just as enthusiastic as we were.

As the band started to play the crowd became more and more united – imagine 80,000 people singing along “Reach out and Touch Faith”. It was unbelievable and touching. The power and energy of people was just amazing! We were one, we were the music, we were love.

As walking out from the concert my friend told me something happened at London Bridge. We called an Uber for which we waited around 20 minutes. The driver called if we are ok to wait then truly apologized for the delay upon arrival. He said during Ramadan it’s a bit tricky, there are many Muslim drivers, the sun had gone down, so they had been taking a break.
He asked if we had a nice day, if want to listen to some music. We said we’d just been to a concert, being overwhelmed, chatted about Depeche Mode a bit and then about the attack at London Bridge. He didn’t know about it. He heard of it from us. Soon his wife was calling him very worried not knowing whether or not he was safe.
Our conversation suddenly changed. We talked about terrorism, religion, politicians and governments hungry for power and money. He too was so deeply and honestly hurt by what happened. He said no God asks you to kill anybody, no religion let’s you do that. God is love.
When I left the car I wished all the best to the Muslim driver knowing that sadly he will probably face even more judgement and hate after what happened again.
We are all human beings. Might not talk to the same God, but we are all the same – made of love (and music)…

Reach Out And Touch Faith…