If Depeche Mode’s most recent album, “Memento Mori” (2023), had already been proof of life for many fans – and for the vast majority of critics, who applauded it more than any other by the British group in decades – , the tour that presents him definitively attests to his phase of not only creative but also performative vitality. Which is almost a miracle, considering that the death of keyboardist Andy Fletcher, in 2022, shook the stability of the now duo of Dave Gahan and Martin Gore like no other event in many years.
This loss, which had a direct impact on the album’s title and atmosphere, also forced the musicians to “live each day to the fullest”, as they explained in interviews, and perhaps that’s why this tour has already had a long life: it started in March of the year last year, in the USA, it has more than 100 dates and is one of Depeche Mode’s most ambitious ever, ending in April in Germany.
It is no surprise, therefore, that the return to Lisbon (the first since the NOS Alive festival in 2017, at Passeio Marítimo de Algés) has proven such a well-oiled machine on stage. Performing in a quartet format – with Christian Eigner on drums and Peter Gordeno on keyboards – in front of 20 thousand spectators over the course of two hours and ten minutes, the band once again lived up to its legacy (one of the most iconic and influential in electronic pop) on a night that added some new additions to the enviable parade of classics and the occasional less obvious choice in the line-up.
“Memento Mori” may have been the pretext for the tour, but only four songs were heard from it (as has become the rule, in fact, in concerts in recent months). Still, the new album did the honors at the start, with the dark and atmospheric “My Cosmos Is Mine”, which is also its opening theme, and soon followed by “Wagging Tongue”, a more luminous and synth-pop accession. danceable.
Depeche Mode in Budapest, Hungary, in 2023
credits: Lusa
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It wasn’t even necessary for Depeche Mode to play trump cards right at the opening for it to become evident that the public was already more than surrendered, whether this was not a relationship of faith and devotion. But Dave Gahan’s restless and instigating stance contributed greatly to this effect. After all, the group’s master of ceremonies is one of the greatest stage animals of his generation and his vocal form remains as developed as his physical form: no matter how demanding and meticulous the instrumental alchemy is, we would hardly imagine the band’s songs without his powerful voice. of its vocalist. Except, of course, in those in which Gore, the main composer, becomes a performer.
That’s what happened in “Strangelove” and “Somebody”, when Gahan gave him the lead role in one of the most unique episodes of the night. If the first song is a practically obligatory classic in the lineup, the second, more discreet, was the only one taken from “Some Great Reward” (1984), and in a somewhat surprising way – especially because the group’s fourth album includes more popular themes, such as “People Are People” and “Master and Servant”. Presented in bare versions, with just Gore’s voice and Gordeno’s piano, they recalled that Depeche Mode have not one, but two exceptional vocalists, and offered the intimacy possible (and chilling) in the biggest concert hall in the country.
Depeche Mode in Rome, Italy in 2023
credits: Lusa
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Gahan himself recognized his colleague’s “beautiful angelic voice” in a particularly applauded moment (summoning a profusion of raised cell phones, like lighters from another era), one of the most beautiful in a concert that could have provided other surprises like these. On the other hand, that might have been too much to ask of a show to which many attended with the expectation of a succession of successes. And that was above all what they had, served with uncompromising professionalism and efficiency (or almost, but we’ll get to that).
In the first hour, just the sequence of “Walking in My Shoes”, “It’s No Good”, “Policy of Truth”, “In Your Room” and “Everything Counts” (a luxury, therefore) will have been worth the night for good part of the spectators. “Before We Drown”, an engaging decompression song with a view of the sea (on the screen at the back of the stage, next to which a giant, illuminated M stood out), diverted attention to the new album. More recognized, “Ghosts Again”, the single that preceded “Memento Mori”, established itself as Depeche Mode’s biggest anthem born in recent years – it didn’t have as effusive reactions as the “best of” material, it’s true, but it’s okay forwarded.
Depeche Mode in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2023
credits: Lusa
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Returning to the classics, “Behind the Wheel” was dedicated to Andy Fletcher, “Just Can’t Get Enough” applied for more infectious access – ending with Gahan in maestro mode, hugging and commanding the crowd – and “Never Let Me Down Again” was like itself in the human frame it awakened – that is, with thousands of arms waving in the air, an expectable but always impressive (not to mention moving) scenario.
A classic of classics, “Enjoy the Silence” only didn’t shine any brighter because it was slightly betrayed by a shot that injected newness into it. Or not so much, since it was a production similar to Skrillex’s dubstep in 2015 and – an attempt at unnecessary modernization of a theme that was born perfect and timeless. An even greater deviation from the recorded version, “A Pain That I’m Used To” appeared in an accelerated and syncopated register without exactly benefiting from the change. Equally questionable was the protagonism given to the drums in several songs, although this muscular reinforcement did not go badly with the more dynamic ones.
Better was the purification of “Waiting for the Night”, sung in two voices at the start of the encore. With the two band members in full sync (a scenario unthinkable for some in other times), he once again highlighted, after “Strangelove” and “Somebody”, that Depeche Mode’s songs are great even without synthesizers (or guitars). “Personal Jesus” did not do without the instruments to close with the bang that was expected. “Reach out, touch faith”? For sure. Nights like this give us renewed faith in what a veterans concert can be.
Alignment:
My Cosmos Is Mine
Wagging Tongue
Walking in My Shoes
It’s No Good
Politics of Truth
In Your Room
Everything Counts
Precious
Before We Drown
Strangelove
Somebody
Ghosts Again
I Feel You
A Pain That I’m Used To
Behind the Wheel
Black Celebration
Stripped
Enjoy the Silence
Encore:
Waiting for the Night
Just Can’t Get Enough
Never Let Me Down Again
Personal Jesus
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