Madrid, November 7, 1990, a teenager arrived by subway at Plaza de Felipe II and was preparing for several hours in line in front of the entrances to the Palacio de los Deportes. Depeche Mode were immersed in the World Violation Tour, Violator’s world tour, their seventh studio album (eighth, if we count 101), released the same year. today it predominates as the greatest representative of the band’s talent. The afternoon was cold and there was rain, but thousands of people waiting on the street didn’t care. They were about to see Depeche Mode live, and that made up for it.

A band in those days it was still a quartet composed of Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andrew Fletcher and Alan Wilder, which emerged from Depeche Mode in 1995 and definitely formed the trio they are … that they were. And that’s because if we said goodbye to Vangelis last week, today we have to say goodbye to Andrew Fletcherwho was not only an exceptional musician, but also a man to whom we owe the fact that two people with personalities like … let’s say weird, because Gahan and Gore were able to coexist in the same space-time without blood entering the river.

Andrew Fletcher, left, at the Depeche Mode Global Spirit Tour Ticket in 2017. Dave Gahan, center, and Martin Gore, right.

If Vangelis played a key role in popularizing electronic music, Depeche Mode are responsible for both of its first major developments (along with other bands like Erasure, New Order, etc.) to the extent that they are considered the first major electronic rock band, as if its range rose like foamto become one of the most important groups in contemporary music.

To do this, they took the foundations laid by previous generations, but as happened with symphonic rock, pHis successors opted for simpler, shorter songs with extremely catchy riffs and choruses. and generally music that is easier to compose and listen to. This, remember, does not mean that the quality of the work of Depeche Mode and its contemporaries was of lower quality, that is, it was less comprehensive and therefore more accessible to the general public.

So if Vangelis made us emotionally connect with electronics (not only with music, but also with the new world that opened up before our eyes with the evolution of electronics), Depeche Mode took his proposal and honored the title of its sixth disc, found a formula for bringing electronic music to the masses. And along the way, they climbed the altar, which the world of music usually reserves only for the greatest.

As you may have guessed, the teenager standing in front of the Palacio de los Deportes in Madrid on the cold and gray on November 7, 1991 was me, and since then I have been lucky enough to see the Depeche Mode concert several times. And although some time has passed since the last one (not because I want to, but because of the nonsense that the concert ticket business has become), one memory of the last time I saw them was the immense affection that Gahan and Gore had shown in small gestures to Fletcher.

More than anyone else, they realized that the talent of both is crucial, but it does Without Andrew Fletcher, who acted as a link between them, the dream would have ended many years ago.. He was the least middle of the three, but we owe him the most people who have been vibrating with his music for more than three decades. Today, it is impossible to know what will happen to Depeche Mode, and it is too early to ask, but whatever it is, Fletcher’s mark has been, is and will be indelible on Depeche Mode, on electronic music and on the lives of those who have fed our lives with their music.

Personally, after learning of Andrew Fletcher, I feel as cold and gray on the day as November 7, 1990, so I’ll probably do it to repeat the pattern that comforted me so much on that very distant day that it left me with a memory that is still incredibly alive in my memory after almost 32 years. Yes, of course, I’m talking about seeking solace in Depeche Mode music.

Fletch, rest in peace and thank you from the bottom of my heart.