Finally, Depeche Mode

The Ball Arena was a bundle of energy. As I took the stairs up then back down to the floor level, I felt accomplished just for arriving. The journey up from south metro Denver had been more of an odyssey than I anticipated (see previous post). I wandered the concourse of Ball Arena, then descended to a rather expensive floor seat. 

Depeche Mode was in the house. Once their rubbish opener left the stage (not really sure who they were, but they were definitely not DIIV as it had been earlier on the tour), it would be only a few minutes before the synth-rock giants brought their stadium-ready sound to bear. 

Bring it, they did. Even as they have become a duo with the death of founding Andy Fletcher, Martin Gore and Dave Gahan surrounded themselves with a band. 

Gore, now silver-haired and dressed formally in a vest and a tie, cut a contrast to Gore, composer of their music, toiling behind a synthesizer most of the night. Gahan took a bigger role in Memento Mori, their latest album, but most of the electronic beats originated with Gore. 

While they eased into the night with My Cosmos is Mine, it didn’t take long for the band to sprinkle in its four-decade history. The deep reaches into the Depeche Mode catalogue produced several hits from the 80s, first Everything Counts from Construction Time Again (1983) and Just Can’t Get Enough from their 1981 debut Speak and Spell. 

The setlists had not varied much through the Memento Mori tour. But then came a swerve – I didn’t expect much from Music for the Masses, my favorite record, but then came the unmistakable notes of Strangelove. (I was gone by the time Never Let Me Down Again arrived in the encore). Gore played the song on acoustic guitar and took the lead vocal. 

That’s as much of a swerve as I expected. Had they thrown in Behind the Wheel, Little 15 or one of those amazing Violator-era B-sides, my jaw would have hit the floor. 

Aside from an odd remix of a big hit, Depeche Mode is not a deep-cut band that would dust off some forgotten song from the late 1980s. 

But that didn’t come as a surprise. Not when Violator and Songs of Faith and Devotion run so richly with fan favorites. Depeche Mode had not toured on this scale in more than a decade, and skipping past I Feel You or Personal Jesus would have felt like a slight. 

That’s fine – that’s not who they are. Give us the hits and a few top tracks from the latest album, then deliver it with the intensity I saw at the Ball Arena. Remind us of 12-inch LP singles and worn-out cassette tapes with a few old tracks. No one will go home disappointed. 

They didn’t touch Spirit, their 2017 long-player, but Memento Mori drove the tour and got plenty of attention. The songs mixed pretty well with the old and the popular. Even as a new release, Memento Mori couldn’t beat out Depeche Mode classic Violator, which got five songs, none of which drew complaints. 

 The only album I recognized from the 2000s other than the new ones was 2005’s Playing the Angel, which got three tracks – Precious, A Pain That I’m Used To, and their how-did-that-happen take on blues track John the Revelator. Ultra might have saved their career in the late 1990s when drug use nearly pushed Depeche Mode off the rails, but this night they only had room for It’s No Good. 

I had to skip the encore due to the transportation issues. I didn’t want to. 

Still, sharing the room with Depeche Mode for a few hours was reward enough. Maybe we would catch up with each other again sometime, when Gore and Gahan get the itch to tour. Those old tracks will still burn like they always have.