To this very day, Ultra remains the sole Depeche Mode studio album that wasn't followed by a tour to promote it. It's no secret that they had very good reasons to come to this decision: mentally (and possibly physically as well) the band just wasn't ready to go on the road at that point. This gives me the opportunity to come up with my own idea of what the Ultra Tour could have been.
I tried my best to keep this fantasy as close to reality as possible, so I chose the amount of songs usual for the band at the time (intro, 15 song main set with 2 songs sung by Martin in the middle, then 4 songs in the encores), and followed the guidelines they seem to follow (always open with a song from the new album, keep all new songs in the main set, take the pace down for the middle and then pick it up again gradually). Obviously there's some subjectivity in the choice of songs, but I stayed away from going too wild - there are so many reasons why this wasn't the time to bring Two Minute Warning back into the set -, and made a conscious attempt to come up with an order that's not too similar to any existing tour setlists - switching a few singles with Ultra album tracks in The Singles Tour set didn't seem like a fascinating experiment. It's worth mentioning that I concentrated on the songs only, it's safe to assume that the line-up and the production would have been something similar to what they ended up doing in 1998.
There are 2 obvious candidates for the intro, and since the band used Painkiller for the Singles Tour, I chose Uselink. It also hints at the proper opening song, Useless, followed by the song that may have seemed a more obvious opener, Barrel Of A Gun. The band actually did open with these 2 on their 2 short promotional gigs in 1997 (in reverse order), so I'm not breaking new ground so far, but the next 2 songs have never appeared in the first half of the set: I Feel You, Personal Jesus (KROQ Christmas 2005 doesn't count). I know that they are considered highlights of the set that work well at the climax of the show, but Never Let Me Down Again was played early on both the World Violation and The Singles Tour, so why not use these early on? We have one more slot for a more up-tempo song before paving the way for the quiet section, and instead of the obvious A Question Of Time or Behind The Wheel, I chose Rush (probably the most subjective choice so far). Lest we forget about the current album, this seems like a good spot for Freestate, and the last Dave song in the first part should be Clean: not only because it's a brilliant song, but I think singing these words would have helped Dave to keep his demons away.
The first Martin song is Home, of course, but the second one might need a bit more thinking. The Bottom Line is a fine song, but it did eventually appear on The Exciter Tour, so let's go with The Love Thieves instead: a bit of wishful thinking, but Martin clearly likes the song (since he ended up performing it on his solo tour in 2003), and there's not enough room in the set for Dave to sing all these slow songs.
Speaking of Dave, his return to the stage usually takes the form of a song with a slow start that builds up towards the end: perfect place for Insight. This is the point where I should mention Condemnation: it's not one of my favourites, so I skipped it entirely, but there's a very good chance the band wouldn't have done that, and if I had to place it somewhere, this would be its slot.
Anyway, it's time for the hits! Let's not keep the casual fans waiting any longer, Enjoy The Silence! A more recent one they might recognize: It's No Good. We can use the Ws to keep the momentum going: World In My Eyes, Walking In My Shoes. In the blink of an eye, we've reached the end of the main set, at this point it's quite a long tradition to go out with a bang before the encore break (since 1983: More Than A Party, Everything Counts, People Are People, Never Let Me Down Again, Personal Jesus, In Your Room, Personal Jesus), but if we take a loot at The Singles Tour, they did actually follow the 1-2 punch of Enjoy The Silence + Personal Jesus with a slightly subdued Barrel Of A Gun (and on the first leg of the Delta Machine Tour, the exact same 2 crowdpleasers gave way to Goodbye), so it's not entirely crazy to close the main set with Sister Of Night.
Dave would definitely need an extended break at his point, so the encores have to start with a Martin song. Maybe one without a full arrangement, let's say piano backing only. Somebody would be perfect, but they used it in the same spot for most shows in 1994 and then all shows in 1998, so I'd rather pick something else. A Question Of Lust could be a good idea (it would have been a rarity in this form then, and they did play a piano version in the not too distant future at the 1998 KROQ Christmas), but let's go for a song that only appeared in this version in 2003 and made an appearance on every Depeche Mode tour since: Shake The Disease.
Here we go again, after a quiet song we need something that starts softly but gets the crowd going by the end: In Your Room - you didn't think I'd skip this one, did you? If there's anything to follow that song, it has to be Never Let Me Down Again, after which we'd all need a breather before finishing the show.
I had 2 very different ideas for the last song. One would be something similar to what the band actually did in 1998, pick a very old, somewhat light-hearted hit: let's play Master And Servant. The other (which I prefer) seems more in tune with the overall feel, still a golden oldie, but one where the crowd can join the band for a brief period of rejoicing, celebrating the fact that we've seen the back of some very-very black days: Black Celebration. Goodnight, thank you! See you next time!
Ultra Tour 1997 - imaginary setlist
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