Forty-two years after the release of the album, the members of Depeche Mode—that is, the survivors—had been teasing that they had grown old.
As Dave Gahan, 60, and Martin Gore, 61, played the synth-rock classic “Enjoy the Silence” Tuesday night at the Kia Forum, images of jeweled skulls spun on a wall of video screens. behind them. Later, Gahan noticed thousands of glowing smartphones in the crowd and said, “Everybody used to have a lighter. But I guess that doesn’t matter anymore.”
That Depeche Mode will still be performing on the streets in 2023. Tuesday’s concert comes just days into the lengthy world tour behind the band’s new “Memento Mori” studio record, which should come as no surprise. at all Rock nostalgia is big business. And now business is good for Depeche Mode, who three years ago was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and recently featured the late ’80s hit “Never Let Me Down Again.” evident in HBO’s hit “The Last of Us.” Echoes of the band’s signature style — sleek yet bold. Anxious yet darkly happy — can be detected in the music from young performers like The Weeknd and Halsey, who form the forum audience alongside various OGs who seem to have been at the event. Depeche Mode’s legendary Rose Bowl in 1988.
Still, there’s no guaranteeing the group will feel as important as Tuesday’s in a gritty two-hour show that doesn’t challenge age as much as the question of what age means. Think last year of keyboardist Andy Fletcher, founder of Depeche Mode. The same blend of vulnerability and determination that the group used to apply to ideas about religion, alienation and sexual obsession. The controversial result was Depeche Mode’s most vibrant-sounding album in years.
Gahan wore a suit jacket that he took off after playing two songs and revealed a shirtless vest underneath. Gahan has Michael Imperioli vibes on “The White Lotus” as he contemplates the moody philosophy of my new record “My Cosmos Is” and jacket-wearing “Wiggle” Gore. Ash color with more skull print. Switch between guitar and keyboard and takes lead vocals on “Soul With Me”, a beautiful ballad from “Memento Mori” about “Heading to the Future”.
Amid the booming bass and beautiful synths of “Ghosts Again,” one of several tracks on the album Gore co-wrote with Psychedelic Furs’ Richard Butler, Gahan spun around the stage like a peasant. Goth (-ier) Stevie Nicks — an encouraging sign. that he and Gore are finding solace in performing these heartbreaking songs.
Despite how strong “Memento Mori” is, No one comes to the Forum just to hear what’s new. Surrounded by Christian Eigner on drums and Peter Gordeno on keyboards, Depeche Mode is full of old-school melancholy, including “Walking in My Shoes,” “Precious” and “. World in My Eyes.” Meanwhile, vintage photographs of young Fletcher appear on the video screen. “I Feel You” is gloomy and fiery; “John the Revelator” is cowardly and noisy; “The pain I’m used to” flows in the disco groove that won’t let go.
Gahan and Gore begin their encore with the song “Condemnation” is an acoustic blues before accelerating to the band’s first big hit “Just Can’t Get Enough.” They then wrap it up with “Never Let Me Down Again” and ” Personal Jesus” with inevitable happiness. The fresh blood-pumping you hope for them’s sake continues as the tour circles back to Southern California in December for six (!) stadium days.
“L.A., let’s look at those hands,” Gahan tells the audience as the show reaches its emotional climax. He took a moment to admire the sea of waving arms. Then added, “It never gets old.”
