Depeche Mode played the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki to 12,000 fans who traveled all across the surrounding region - from Estonia to Sweden.

On this particular evening, we had a smaller but more intimate meet and greet with a few wonderful Finnish fans. Dressed in dark colors, the competition winners assembled in the hallways near to the dressing rooms. When the boys walked in to say hello and take a photo with the lucky group, they were given one of the most thoughtful gifts we had ever seen by one of the group members - hand-made gloves with a perfectly-placed DM logo in grey. Needless to say, the Mode made some use for them as they wrapped up their Scandinavian winter tour before heading out to icy Russia!

Check out the images and enjoy!

Additional images by Chris Bashall.

See you in St. Petersburg!
MM

Stockholm, Sweden was one of the lovelier stops on the tour. A few of the band's family and close friends flew out to join us on the road so it turned into a wonderful reunion. Despite the weather - which is taking some getting used to - a long line of eager fans started to form outside of the venue doors at 5pm. As the guys drove by on our way into the venue, they waved to the crowd and anticipated another amazing Scandinavian gig!

Stockholm's Globe Arena was by far one of the coolest architectural gigs we've seen on tour; it's the largest hemispherical building in the world. It's essentially the Epcot Center of rock and roll. For the Swedes, it's a solar representation of the sun. The guys loved the forward-thinking concept.

Fun fact: Depeche Mode played the venue less than 2 days before it became officially known as the Ericcson Globe arena so in many ways, it our boys were a last 'hurrah' for the venue's former self.

Photos for the blog were contributed by two dear friends of the tour - Steve Burton and Dusty. Check them out for some behind-the-scenes action.

See you in Helsinki!
MM

Bergen is one of Europe's cultural capitals and one of the largest cities in Norway. The weather hasn't been very accommodating - a lot of us caught a nasty virus - and on our particular show night, the snow and ice seemed like a real challenge to concert goers heading into town for the 8:30pm gig at the Vestlandshallen. Despite it all, close to 10,000 people packed the venue for Depeche Mode's long-awaited Norwegian visit.

Our boys were excited to be back in Scandinavia and to be able to play this re-scheduled date in Bergen. When they got off stage, they were all smiles and relieved to see that the positivity and intensity from the crowd hasn't weaned since Bergen's original gig date last year!

No photos due to the aforementioned nasty bug, to which I seem to have fallen victim.

See you in Stockholm!
MM

Had a call from my mum this morning. Being essentially a home-town gig for me last night some of my family had come down for the show - some of them for their first Mode show ever. It's nice to hear what people who haven't seen the show before thinks of it. Fresh perspectives are always interesting. They all noticed different things, and each had their own highlights, but all of them really enjoyed it. And it's always nice to have a little bit of home-life come and join for a day, and break the day-to-day routines of life on the road.

Anyway, we left Malmö after the aforementioned breakfast and made our way to Göteborg. I love this part of Sweden - especially this time of year. Snow covered landscapes and varied terrain.

Rather than going straight to the venue as we usually do, we went and checked in to the hotel and walked from there to the venue, getting a little bit lost on the way. Freezing cold, but a bit of fresh air did us good after the long drive. When we got to the venue everything was already set up, and the pre-show calm had settled on the place. Antony (the front of house sound engineer) treated those assembled to a selection of Richard Cheese tracks. Having an über-cheesy lounge-crooner style cover of Metallica's Enter Sandman blasting over the PA in the virtually empty arena spawned a few confused/bemused looks from the local crew. Funny stuff.

Shortly after 6pm doors opened and you could tell almost instantly that the crowd was gonna be good tonight. Nitzer Ebb went down an absolute storm, and they later told me that this had been the best crowd for them so far on this tour. They did put on one helluva show, I must say.

As Depeche took the stage the place errupted, and the atmosphere was simply brilliant. About half way through the gig, I went to front of house to watch it from there, and get a better sense of the crowd further back. Everywhere people were out of their seats, dancing and clapping along. I loved it. Can't say I was surprised though. I've seen Mode at Scandinavium quite a few times, and it's always been a highlight of the tour - this time it was no different.

Next stop on Tour Of The Universe is Bergen - on the way there the crew is stopping for a couple of days of skiing and r'n'r. Me, I'm heading home for a bit - the weather permitting (a snow storm as settled over southern Sweden, making the drive back to Copenhagen increasingly perilous).

This was Depeche Mode's first ever show in Malmö, and their first in the southern part of Sweden in well over 20 years. Malmö Arena is a state of the art, brand-spanking-new arena that opened it's doors for the first time in late 2008. It's nice, neat with good facilities and more of McDonald's McSnack stands than you can shake a stick at. It's all very efficient, clean and impersonal.

To kill a bit of time during the day, myself and Big Pete went with Nitzer Ebb to a signing session in a local record store. The turn out was good, and the store managed to sell each and every copy of the new album, "Industrial Complex".

Later on, back at the arena, Depeche Mode put on an excellent show. The band had fun on stage, and about two thirds in, actually managed to have so much fun, that they made a complete mess of things during Policy Of Truth, and had to start all over again. Dave laughingly announced that he blamed Peter for it, but I get the feeling that call was perhaps a little rushed. ;)

The after show party was little more than a dozen people for pizzas, beers and a very exciting round of foosball, which saw Team Band (consisting of Gore and Gordeno) against Team Crew (consisting of head-of-security Michael and Big Pete). In an astonishing come back, Team Band, after trailing by two, ended up winning the game 7 to 3. I'd give you the blow-by-blow but I had my attention momentarily distracted... I blame the pizza.

Another exciting stop on Depeche Mode's Tour of the Universe. Aside from the fact that it is the diamond capital of Europe and that very much appeals all of us, Antwerp's 17,000-strong crowd was incredible!

The Sportspaleis was voted by Billboard magazine as one of the top 10 best venues in the world in 2007. Considering how exciting the show was, I don't think much has happened to challenge that standing.

Enjoy the shots!
MM

The Bercy in Paris has seen a lot of Depeche Mode over the years - the 2001 Tour DVD was filmed there, and the audience has always been considered as one of the best.

I arrived at 1pm, and there were already a lot of Depeche Mode fans around - some of them taking shelter in a tent, it really was cold - however it was a lot warmer than my last show in Berlin.

Inside things weren't going too well - there were problems with cables and chains and general riggings issues, and things were some 2 hours behind schedule, but it was all done in the end.

The doors opened shortly after 6pm and the fans ran into the hall and as close to the stage as possible. Just as the background music started building up the "in house" music kicked in to offer a few advertisements - which was funny as you could hear Hawaiian music over the electronic set that is normally played - this caused a few eyebrows to be raised in the mixing desk, as they struggled to find out how to stop it happening again. It all got sorted out and Nitzer Ebb got things started nicely - they seem to be going down a storm.

At 9pm Depeche Mode took to the stage. I watched the show totally from the side tonight, and I enjoyed it more than any other show so far - to watch Christian drumming is breathtaking, I watched him for the duration of "Stripped" and it blew me away - he gives so much with each performance, and the energy from Dave was amazing, he really is on fire, he simply couldn't have given anymore tonight, he was clearly loving it - I hope the pictures capture some of the shows magic.

The crowd lived up to expectations, they were awesome - and the "Home" jam was a classic. Martin even played the riff from "Just can't get enough" on his guitar tonight as the crowd were yelling for it during the encores.

It's a shame that we are on the last leg of the tour now, because the band's performance is getting better each night, and I am again having to change my favourite shows list around again to slot a Paris show in there - tonight really was that good!

All in all it would be hard to top this show - it was pure perfection.
Big Pete

The guys were enormously happy with their gig in Lieven, an old mining city in northern France. To the Mode's surprise, the city offered 12,000 people who were prepared to rock out at the Stade Couvert venue in the city center. Slowly but surely, as Martin, Peter, Andy and Christian were embroiled in a bitter and, ultimately, devastating, game of foosball, thousands of supporters trickled in through the entrance of the venue, which is one of largest in France.

By 9pm, the our boys were performing the usual pre-stage round-up and hand-slap with everyone around them. I've been known to give a fist bump or two....for good luck.

The Mode were an even happier bunch post-show than they were were pre-show. As Andy and Christian explained to me in the van on the way back to our hotel, "They were just a damn good crowd!"

Check out the images to the right for some stage shots - black and white.

See you in Antwerp!
MM

Prague is one of my favorite cities. The last time we were here in June 2009, we played the Slavia Stadium. On Thursday, we returned to this beautiful city and 17,000 people came to the 02 Arena to welcome Depeche Mode back to the Czech Republic.

The city possesses the same beauty I remember, only this time it's landscape is covered in thick snow and everyone is bundled up in layers of clothing, trying to retain as much warmth as possible while walking the streets of Old Town. The Mode brought the heat, however, to the 02 Arena and I hope you feel it emanating through these backstage and live shots!

See you in Lievin!

Here we are, our second gig of the tour and it feels like we've never left Budapest. The ambiance and crowd was familiar; energy, enthusiasm and excitement filled the air. Close to 15,000 people helped the Mode ring in the last leg of the Tour of the Universe at the Sports Arena and our boys could not have been more happy.

The ride to the airport in Budapest was particularly memorable; I don't know how it happened, but a small guitar ended up in Martin's hands and we found ourselves singing along to a few of our favorite tunes. I wish all airport rides were that fun!

Hope you enjoy the backstage and stage shots. Until next time....

See you in Prague!

Mexican waves were waved, chants were chanted and the enthusiasm on display was thoroughly enthusiastic. And that was before the band were even on stage. From the minute the doors opened it was quite clear that the atmosphere at Depeche Mode's show at O2 World in Berlin was gonna be quite special.

Nitzer Ebb put on a really good show, even if they faced a couple of first-night technical issues. Dave and Martin were spotted on the side of the stage watching their old friends and label mates support them again, more than two decades after Ebb joined them the first time. To call it a historic night might be stretching the term a bit, but it was certainly nice to see those two bands on the same stage once again.

Depeche rocked it as usual. They seemed to have a lot of fun on stage, and the crowd was one of the best I've seen this tour.

A couple of celebrity sightings... Ron Mael of Sparks was watching the gig from the side of the stage (looking stern, but approving), Gareth Jones was spotted taking loads of pictures, and some of the Rammstein guys were backstage after the gig.

Special thanks to Lee Roe for supplying some of the pictures from tonights gig.