14 DAY TRIAL // A couple of days ago, Depeche Mode was in Peru, performing in front of a 3,000 strong audience at the Explanada del Estadio Monumental. At the end of the show, after the band performed “Never Let Me Down Again,” frontman Dave Gahan yelled in the microphone something that sounded like “Thank you very much, Chile!” which understandably upset many.
The thing is, as Daniel Barassi, the Web master of the official page of the band, explains, and thousands of fans confirm, Gahan was not in the least confused about which country he was in. As Rolling Stone magazine puts it, the quality of the video is poor so it’s only understandable why few could actually hear what he said. Either way, it sounded like either “Thank you very much, good night!” or “Thank you very much, children!” as he said before on other occasions.
“Depeche Mode were onstage earlier this week during their second of four shows south of the Equator when frontman Dave Gahan ended “Never Let Me Down Again,” grabbed his microphone and shouted, ‘Thank you very much, Chile!’ to the audience at Explanada del Estadio Monumental. One problem, though: Explanada del Estadio Monumental is not in Chile. It’s in Lima, Peru. UPDATE: While Gahan’s mumble sure sounds like ‘Chile’ to our ears (and the Hollywood Reporter’s), many of our trusted readers disagree — some have suggested he said ‘goodnight,’ some think he said ‘children.’ Mr. Gahan, if we’re wrong, we apologize.” the iconic music magazine writes in the latest issue.
However, RS goes on to say, even if Gahan did make such an offending mistake, it’s not like he doesn’t have a good excuse for it. “To Gahan’s credit, the band is playing Santiago, Chile, tonight, October 15th, so the mistake (if he made one) wasn’t totally unwarranted. Any touring band will tell you the space-time continuum becomes a blurry mess after a few nights on the tour bus.” Rolling Stone argues.
The majority of the fans is not convinced, though. While – of course – there are many who heard “Chile” and who have chosen to be insulted by it, since this was not the first time Peru got mistaken for Chile (it also happened in 2004 with pop band RBD), most DM fans believe Gahan did no wrong. Below is the video in question: listen and judge for yourselves.