Despite the fact that it sometimes thinks so (or would like to believe,) Israel is not a country in Europe. One of the consequences of being, er, geographically out of the way of a lot of Western culture is that touring bands don’t come here a lot. (Often you’ll see posters that say COLDPLAY or U2 on them, only to discover that it’s cover night at the Yellow Submarine again.) When Roger Waters was here recently you’d think that The Wall had just come out, for all the fuss.

And now Depeche Mode is coming–in the middle of a war, no less–and the media is having a complete freak-out. There’s something like three nights worth of concert footage on one of the TV channels, they’re all over the event listings, etc. I’ve seen them live before–it was really fun when I was a little teenybopper fangirl with combat boots and black lipstick. I really loved their goth-lite stuff when I was about fourteen. Had the 101 documentary thing and everything. That was probably the last time. But, you know, they haven’t done much of any cultural relevance since “Enjoy the Silence,” which was quite a while back, now. I find it somewhat amusing that this is supposed to be the new Israeli soundtrack. Shall we all start the chorus to “Blasphemous Rumors,” now?