HONG KONG Stadium management cracked the security whip last night for the performance of rock band Depeche Mode. Forty Gurkha soldiers, extra steel fences and stewards were brought in for the show after crowds scrambled towards the stage at the Peter Gabriel concert on Monday. Police decided to delay last night's concert for an hour to avoid people and traffic leaving both the stadium and Happy Valley racecourse at the same time. The 30-minute gap allowed the 22,000-strong racecourse crowd to disperse before the 12,000 fans from the stadium left the So Kong Po area by about 10.45 pm. When the show got under way at 9 pm, the added security managed to keep crowds in their own areas but could not stop people within the sealed off sections of the first two dozens rows from surging to the stage to dance. Tim Singleton, 28, said: ''Why force people to sit in seats for a concert from a dance band when there should be dancing? It's ludicrous as we are not attending a poem recital.'' The band's lead singer, David Gahan, sent the crowd wild with his Messiah-like stage presence. The noise police were also out in force to count the decibels. Five officers from the Environmental Protection Department were stationed near the stadium to record the decibel count after noise from Monday's Peter Gabriel concert reached what was considered an unacceptable level. The results of the operation will be known today. The department served an abatement notice on the stadium after officers recorded noise levels of almost 80 decibels during the Gabriel concert. The permitted level is 65 decibels.
