Do you go to rock/pop concerts?

So as these things appear to happen, it is concert booking season. Sometimes nothing worthwhile happens for a while and then a whole lot of concerts appear on the horizon.



The first biggie for me was the Tour of The Universe by Depeche Mode. I'm a Depeche Mode junkie and their Songs of Faith and Devotion concert in Cape Town in 1996 remains the best I have ever been to. So their new album Sounds of The Universe is being released on the 20th April 2009. The first track off the new album is Wrong, the video of which is already live in HD on YouTube. See below.



DM have been going since around 1980 and still have a cult following. They basically invented techno-pop with Vince Clark (later of Yazoo and Eurasia) when he was part of their line-up.

I blogged when they released Exciter and sadly missed that tour - I have the DVD and it is awesome.



South Africa has not been on their tour schedule again and so I decided that I'm going to see them come hell or high water. Hence I am going to Madison Square Garden for their New York concert on the 3rd of August. Tickets go on sale tomorrow and the pre-sales have gone fast. Other big dates like London sold out in no time. I intend to get the best seats possible.

The next big concert is the Coke Zero Fest in Johannesburg on the 10th April. The line up is awesome:

International artists: OASIS,Snow Patrol,Panic at the Disco, Bullet For My Valentine
Local artists: Zebra and Giraffe, The Dirty Skirts, aKing, Cassette, and Foto Na Dans,One Day Remains



I bought tickets yesterday and it is sure to be unbelievable. Either Oasis or Snow Patrol would have done it for me. Having Bullet for My Valentine and Panic at the Disco on the bill is just cream.

After missing the last Coke Fest with Kaiser Chiefs and 30 Seconds to Mars (would have gone just for them), I'm not missing this year.

As these things go, U2 have a new album, No Line On The Horizon, and are touring this year too. I thought of trying to catch them in the US, but the dates between them and DM are not close enough.



However, they are playing Wembley in London on the 14th of August....