Thousands of fans who had paid through the nose to see Depeche Mode had to wait for hours outside the Terra Vibe entrance and were only let in when the band went on stage

Depeche Mode frontman Dave Gahan (AMNA) Thousands of Depeche Mode fans had to wait patiently outside the Terra Vibe gates for more than two hours before being finally let in the moment the British band went on stage on Friday night.

Music lovers had paid 30 to 50 euros for their admission to the much anticipated gig (excluding a 125-euro VIP package), but that didn't stop organisers Didi Music from keeping several thousands of them locked outside due to a technical failure of the barcode readers.

The live started on time despite the fact that thousands of people who had bought their tickets months ago and arrived at Terra Vibe hours earlier had not been let in, missing both support bands and the first few songs of the main gig.

The Terra Vibe gates in Malakasa, outside Athens, were expected to open at 6.30 pm, a good two and a half hours before Depeche Mode went on stage, but one of the two gates remained locked until a few minutes past 9pm, when Depeche Mode went on stage and organisers decided to let the crowd in although the technical problem hadn't been fixed.

Thousands of fans wait outside the Terra Vibe gates Luckily, heavy crowding in front of the gate bars did not result in any serious injuries, but a few first-aid teams were seen pushing through the crowd as some could not handle the long wait and the pushing.

When Gate D finally opened, thousands of fans started running frantically towards the stage as they had already missed Depeche Mode's opening "Welcome to my world", confused as to where each ticket zone was.

The organisers' inadequacy became even more apparent after the gig ended, as many had to wait for another couple of hours trapped inside their cars before managing to exit the Terra Vibe premises.

Despite the hassle, fans were overall satisfied with Depeche Mode's performance, although a good few older fans complained that the setlist did not include several of the band's classic fan favourites such as "Strangelove", "Photographic" and "It's no good", to name a few.

Back in 2009 a Depeche Mode concert organised by Didi Music was cancelled at the last minute because the band's frontman Dave Gahan fell ill and 30,000 fans who had flocked to Terra Vibe in Malakasa were sent home after several hours of waiting in vain for the gig to start.