In a move straight out of the Spinal Tap playbook for how to alienate your loyal fans, Depeche Mode stuffed up royally at a recent arena show in Peru, or more correctly frontman Dave Gahan made the blunder when he addressed the crowd at the end of the gig by saying “thank you very much, Chile!” Dude.

According to the NME, the faux pas went down just this week in the Peruvian capital of Lima, much to the dismay of the 30,000 fans in attendance. What makes it even worse is the longstanding rivalry between Peru and Chile, dating back to the 19th Century.

Whilst it is an unfortunate slip from Gahan, you can kind of forgive him for it as Depeche Mode’s tour schedule probably reads like the Bible. And besides, it’s not quite as bad as the snafu laid down by a certain Fuzzy official at the Sydney leg of the Parklife festivals, who got on the mic after Little Boots’ set to implore the crowd to ‘give it up for La Roux’. Confusing Little Boots for La Roux is facepalm-worthy enough without taking into account the reported bitterness between the two acts. Oh dear.

But back to Depeche Mode, it’s just struck us that perhaps that’s what has kept the band from touring Australia all this time. Who knows, maybe they’ve been playing shows in Estonia and thanking their loyal Aussie fans?