The Czech Republic was still struggling with the communist regime in 1988 and Depeche Mode were one of the very first bands from the western part of the World to come and perform in the country.
The interest in this concert was overwhelming and there were thousands of people coming from abroad. The capacity of the venue (Sportovni Hala) was 16,000 but there were about 90,000 plus requests for the tickets.
The people from art agency Pragokoncert were afraid that the Sportovni Hala was going to damaged by raging hordes of people, and that the concert would become regrettable. The ticket sale was enormous.
Thousands of thousands were sold, and 90,000 requests were received at the Pragokoncert agency. Overall, more than 250,000 people wanted to go to the concert.
Interesting amounts, considering that the Depeche Mode albums were not sold here and the music videos were not broadcast… However, the performance of the concert was absolutely free of trouble in the end.
A few months later, the band visited Prague again. This time, Andrew John Fletcher, Martin Lee Gore, Alan Wilder and David Gahan did not perform on stage, they came just to… visit Prague!
Their photographer Anton Corbijn shot this incredible series of pictures.
Wow Very cool! Wish I could go back in time and attend that concert.