Product Description

Studio: Wea-des Moines Video Release Date: 10/14/2003

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #34204 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-11-11
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 117 minutes

Amazon.com
Depeche Mode 101 is a fascinating documentary codirected by the esteemed D.A. Pennebaker (The War Room, Down from the Mountain), focusing on backstage realities of art and business during the British synthesizer band's 1988 American tour. We see managers worrying over slow ticket sales for a stand at the Rose Bowl, observe sound checks at concert sites, get a tour of the group's multiple keyboard banks, and listen with some alarm to singer David Gahane describe his steroid-based throat treatments. There are plenty of performance clips, but for music alone, disc 2 in this package contains the uninterrupted Rose Bowl show, including the plaintive "Blasphemous Rumours," the exultant drama of "Stripped," and the dreamy "Somebody." Pennebaker's promotional video "Everything Counts" is also here, but don't miss the director's recent, touching, and informative interviews with the now 40-something, individual members of Depeche Mode. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

good to have in your collection, however...
i agree with everything positive that the other reviewers have wrote about this DVD. it's definitely a keeper... the only thing you may want to know and that i will point out is that the second disc is obviously not the whole 101 concert. it's more like highlights of the Music for the Masses tour. first of all, not all the concert footage was from the Pasadena show. you can tell that some songs were performed in a venue that's smaller and even is indoors. for those of you who have the 101 cd, you will notice not all of the songs on the cd are on DVD disc 2. furthermore, the songs that appear on DVD disc 2 have been edited, so you don't hear or see the full versions. i'm not bashing this DVD in any way, but you should keep this in mind when purchasing.

Nostalgia for the Masses
My 101'st review is for 101. It was great seeing the boys again, transported back in time to perhaps the pinnacle of their bourgeoning careers. Only recently coming to DVD, 101 follows a group of 8 Depeche Mode fans across the country on bus after they won a promotional contest to participate. Ostensibly the first reality show, pre-dating MTV's insipid Real World series, we got to know a bit about the busmates against the backdrop of various shots of the band's performances as they made their way to their 101'st show at the Rose Bowl, CA in the summer of 1988. I graduated HS that year and Depeche Mode had been [and is] my favorite band since their Some Great Reward Album. It was fun nostalgia to be transported back to those days of halcyon youth. . The audio commentary from the band was entertaining, more so than the individual interviews on the second disc. I had a lot of favorites working in this movie, MftM is my favorite DM album, and we are once again reminded of the talent of Alan Wilder. It's interesting the little snippets that slip in about Alan [who declined to participate in the interviews or commentary], and about how Dave, who laughing states 'Look at Al, he's too cool for school' misses him. What would the output have been like beyond SoFAD if Alan had stayed. Ah well, at least out of the departure Recoil matured and bore fruit. Anyhow this was a feel good viewing, with lizard-like slicked back Fletch once more egging the fans on with his clapping technique. It gets added to the other DM DVDs in my collection, and I can highly recommend it for fans and newbies.

Can't Wait
I won my copy of this on VHS back in 1989. (I wasn't even old enough to legally own it, I was 14, and 101 was granted a 15 certificate in my native England)... It's one of my most treasured items as it's fully autographed by all four DM members.

But it's worn out from repeated viewing. So a DVD release is most welcome!

I don't mind the fact that the show is incomplete, the press release from it's makers even claims that they don't even know where the missing songs are. I think the inclusion of an uninterrupted version of what concert footage they have on the second disc should be regarded as a bonus, and not a given.

101 is not, and was never meant to be a concert movie. It's a documentary. It captures the band in a moment. It captures their audience (albeit a concentrated snapshop) in a moment.

And it's great.