World Violation Tour

The World Violation Tour was a concert tour by Depeche Mode to promote their most successful album to date, "Violator", and took place in the year of 1990.

The Tour started in Pensacola, Florida on Monday, May 28, 1990, and finished the tour with the 88th show in Birmingham, England on Tuesday, November 27, 1990.

tage

The set for the World Violation Tour was very innovative for its time. Behind the set were two massive projection screens, of which video clips were playing during different songs. The most notable ones were Personal Jesus, and Waiting For the Night, showing images of Martin Gore floating upwards, whilst strapped to a pair of wings. Perhaps Martin's stage costume for Touring the Angel was inspired by this. All of the video clips were arranged and directed by Anton Corbijn.

etlist

The setlist for the tour is considered one of the bands' finest. It features all songs from "Violator", and features songs spanning back to 1983 with "Everything Counts". The set also finishes with the B-Side to Behind The Wheel, the cover of Bobby Troup's famous "Route 66".

#Kaleid (Intro)
#World in My Eyes
#Halo
#Shake the Disease
#Everything Counts
#Master and Servant
#Never Let Me Down Again
#Waiting For The Night
#I Want You Now (Acoustic, Martin vocals)
#World Full Of Nothing (Acoustic, Martin vocals)
#Blue Dress (Acoustic, Martin vocals)
#Sweetest Perfection (Acoustic, Martin vocals)
#Here is the House (Acoustic, Martin vocals)
#Little 15 (Acoustic, Martin vocals)
#Clean
#Stripped
#Policy of Truth
#Enjoy the Silence
#Strangelove
#Personal Jesus
#Black Celebration
#A Question of Time
#Behind the Wheel
#Route 66

The only setlist changes happened during Martin's set. He always sang 2 acoustic-songs ("I Want You Now" and "World Full Of Nothing" on most shows) and changed them when they played in one city for a second or third time.

Recordings and broadcasts

The World Violation tour was never released in any commercial way, although there's a live soundboard from the San Francisco show which leaked on the internet a few years ago, although its quality is mediocre to good. There has never been an official recording, of either sound or video, and it would seem a VHS/DVD release shall never see the light of day. However, the tour was voted by the fans on the official web site as the most wanted live concert footage, and 90 second clips were posted of every song. Although the footage was shot in a raw, one take shot, and features only a few visual errors, fans rejoiced as they finally had something to view back on. There are also full-length videos of some of the songs played at Frankfurt available on Youtube.