Last night was the first time I DJed the Depeche Mode room at Underground’s Depeche Mode Nite. By the end of my first set, I realized that playing nothing but Depeche Mode-related songs (Yaz counts, it’s Vince Clarke) is really easy to do when you’ve been a big ol’ fan since you were 10 years old.
I got in my favorite Alan Wilder cut, “Fools (Bigger),” which is a B-side for “Love in Itself.” I have a whole story about that, which involves tracking down a sample I heard, accidentally finding it in a used record bin, playing it at a club and making a friend with whom we became the Alan Wilder Appreciation Association, but we’ll save that for another day.
Mixed in some synth pop that wasn’t made by members of Depeche Mode in the second set, plus a mini Vince Clarke tribute right after “Send Me an Angel,” and then went all DM again for my third set, which closed out the night upstairs at the Grand Star. Anyhow, the set list is below. Thanks for sticking through the sets. I hope you got to hear a Depeche Mode song that you hadn’t heard in a long time, or maybe one that’s new to you.
Set One:
Depeche Mode – My Secret Garden
Depeche Mode- Happiest Girl
Depeche Mode – Strangelove
Depeche Mode – Leave in Silence
Martin Gore – Compulsion
Depeche Mode – Lilian (Chab Vocal Remix)
Yaz – Don’t Go
Depeche Mode – Nodisco
Depeche Mode – Master and Servant
Depeche Mode- Sea of Sin
Depeche Mode – Fools (Bigger)
Depeche Mode – Get the Balance Right
Set Two:
Bronski Beat – Smalltown Boy
Depeche Mode – Photographic (Rex the Dog Faithful Mix)
New Order – Blue Monday
Depeche Mode – Route 66 (The Nile Rodgers Mix)
Boy Harsher – Pain
Depeche Mode – Pleasure, Little Treasure
Yaz – Goodby Seventies
Real Life – Send Me an Angel ’89
Depeche Mode – I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead
Erasure – Oh L’amour
Yaz – Situation
Depeche Mode – People Are People
Book of Love – Boy
Human League – Don’t You Want Me (Purple Disco Machine Remix)
Depeche Mode – Tora Tora Tora
Set Three:
Depeche Mode – Dangerous
Depeche Mode – It’s No Good
Depeche Mode – Love in Itself
Depeche Mode – Blasphemous Rumors
Depeche Mode – Somebody
Liz O. is an L.A.-based writer and DJ. Read her recently published work and check out her upcoming gigs.
The Playlist:
A WORD ON “BLUE MONDAY” REQUESTS + MY SETLIST FROM UNDERGROUND ON AUGUST 9, 2024