Depeche Mode at Climate Pledge Arena

We headed to the Climate Pledge Arena to catch one of our favorite bands perform live, Depeche Mode. The famous band was in town touring their fifteenth album, Memento Mori. This would be their first without the late Andy Fletcher who passed away last year. We were still thrilled to catch Dave Gahan and Martin Gore bring their music to life, something they started back in 1980 and have reached people everywhere in the world. It’s always a great show and being able to catch them again after six years was the highlight of our Thanksgiving week.

The arena stage had a huge screen display that projected visuals and in front of that stood an outline of the letter M which became a part of the production. Gahan and Gore took the stage with their touring musicians, drummer Christian Eigner, and keyboardist/bassist Peter Gordeno and kicked off the set with new songs, “My Cosmos Is Mine,” and “Wagging Tongue.” 

Gahan is still a force of nature keeping everyone intrigued and singing along to his words. He’s moving all around the stage constantly utilizing the space around him. Gahan gave us some of his known moves including his crazy spinning around, which I get dizzy just from watching him do it. Gore changed multiple instruments and orchestrated one song after another while providing his angelic voice. Gore also stepped in the front to flawlessly perform “A Question of Lust,” and an acoustic, “Strangelove,” which had everyone singing along.

Highlights included, “”Walking in My Shoes,” “In Your Room,” “Precious,” “Black Celebration,” and “John the Revelator.” The band dedicated “World in My Eyes,” to Andy Fletcher as it was his favorite and the screens displayed a photo of him taken by the master, Anton Corbijn in Denmark from 1987.

The main set ended with one of their biggest hits, “Enjoy the Silence,” as people sat in place and visibly thought of the lyrics and all that really does matter. We even saw someone dressed as Gahan (King) from the music video which was pretty cool. The encore picked up as the band returned for hits, “Just Can’t Get Enough,” “Never Let Me Down Again,” and “Personal Jesus.” Songs that have transcended through time as if they were still being heard for the first time.

It felt like tonight was focused a lot more on their biggest hits playing only 5 new songs throughout the night. We really enjoyed their new album but we do really like singing along to tunes that bring us back to another era, perhaps another life. Just like them we’ve changed and with the decades each change is represented by a different soundtrack and it’s incredible that we can place so many of our memories in their work. I consider Gore to be one of the best songwriters of our time and it’s always incredible to listen to the songs live and let them sink in.

Photos: David Conger