Fans from all over Poland are vying for a place at a convention devoted to British band Depeche Mode, which starts in Torun central Poland tomorrow.

Fan clubs are readying coaches for their members and some ardent Depeche Mode followers are prepared to pay an entry fee even though it is free.

This will be the first such conference ever in Poland.

“We have discovered how many master’s theses have been written on Depeche Mode. The band appears also in many doctor’s theses,” Marcin Jurzysta, a Polish studies expert and secretary of the conference, tells Gazeta Wyborcza.

Sociologists, musicologists, literary and culture experts will ponder on various aspects of Depeche Mode’s music and lyrics. For example: In your room: problems of experiencing space in selected Depeche Mode numbers.

The conference has generated enormous interest, says Marcin Jurzysta.

“We have about 70 seats and room for about the same number of people on the floor. This may be too few because some fan clubs are preparing coaches [for their members]. The Polish Depeche Mode Forum will record the debate to enable those who won’t be able to get in to see it on DVD […]”.

The main organizer of what promises to be a hit conference is the Faculty of Literary Anthropology and Polish Studies Education at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun. (kk)