Review: Depeche Mode as powerful as ever during epic Bay Area show
It had been more than five years since Depeche Mode last performed in the Bay Area.
And judging by the sizable pre-show buzz going on inside the SAP Center in San Jose on Saturday (March 25), fans may just have been counting down the days since the English electronic act had rolled through the same venue — as well as Oakland Arena — with its blockbuster Global Spirit Tour in October 2017.
Fans were absolutely buzzing with excitement — like they weren’t just about to see a regular ol’ concert, but rather a “true event” — as they stood in long lines for band merchandise and joyfully greeted old high school and college friends in the concourse while they waited, for just a few moments more, to see Depeche Mode finally take the stage on its epic Memento Mori Tour.
The sold-out San Jose date was just the second stop on the band’s 19th concert tour, which opened two days earlier at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, and the group used the occasion to nicely showcase 23 cuts from 10 of its 15 studio albums in just around two hours of stage time.
With more than 40 years in the game, and all of its best-selling albums having been released decades prior, the band — which now consists of vocalist Dave Gahan and the multi-talented Martin Gore — certainly qualifies as a legacy act. Yet, don’t try and tell that to Depeche Mode, which operates in very un-legacy-like fashion by showcasing new material in concert instead of focusing primarily on the hits.
Gahan and Gore opened the darkly mesmerizing evening of music with two relatively subdued cuts — “My Cosmos Is Mine” and “Wagging Tongue” — which also happen to be the first two numbers from the recently released “Memento Mori.” In all, the group performed five selections from its 15th studio album, which is its first release since keyboardist and founding member Andy Fletcher died in 2022. That number turned out to be more than from any other album, with the band’s best-selling outing — 1990’s “Violator” — coming in second with four selections on the setlist.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band, which was enshrined as part of the awesome 2020 class with Roxy Music and others, sounded terrific as it continued through “Walking In My Shoes” from 1993’s “Songs of Faith and Devotion,” as well as “It’s No Good” and “Sister of Night,” both hailing from 1997’s “Ultra.”
Gahan was charismatic and flamboyant as ever, playing the Jagger-meets-Gumby role of frontman as he pranced about the stage, shook his posterior for the crowd and flailed his arms about wildly when he wasn’t working the mic stand. His voice was canyon deep, naturally moving from gloom to something approaching glee, as he crooned through such standouts as “Everything Counts” and “Wrong,” the sole cuts performed from 1983’s “Construction Time Again” and 2009’s “Sounds of the Universe,” respectiviely.
Gore, the band’s main songwriter, split his time between playing guitar and keyboards, with the former receiving the lion’s share. He also took his usual spin on lead vocals, nicely handling “A Question of Lust” (from 1986’s “Black Celebration”) and the new album’s “Soul With Me” while Gahan was offstage.
Gahan benefitted from the rest — and perhaps from guzzling a Red Bull or two — as he returned to the microphone in a fit of energy and charged through “Ghosts Again,” which turned out to the most powerful new album offering of the night, and followed up with an equally spirited rendition of “I Feel You” from “Songs of Faith and Devotion.”
The band closed its main set with one of its best-known numbers — the “Violator” single “Enjoy the Silence” — and then returned with even more hits during the four-song encore, highlighted by the bouncy new wave of “Just Can’t Get Enough” and the unyielding force of “Never Let Me Down Again.”
Depeche Mode — which features two accompanying musicians, drummer Christian Eigner and keyboardist Peter Gordeno, on this tour — next performs March 28 at the Kia Forum in Inglewood. The band returns to the Bay Area on Dec. 3 for a show at the Chase Center in San Francisco. Visit depechemode.com for show details.
Setlist:
1. “My Cosmos Is Mine”
2. “Wagging Tongue”
3. “Walking in My Shoes”
4. “It’s No Good”
5. “Sister of Night”
6. “In Your Room”
7. “Everything Counts”
8. “Precious”
9. “Speak to Me”
10. “A Question of Lust”
11. “Soul With Me”
12. “Ghosts Again”
13. “I Feel You”
14. “A Pain That I’m Used To”
15. “World in My Eyes”
16. “Wrong”
17. “Stripped”
18. “John the Revelator”
19. “Enjoy the Silence”
Encore
20. “Waiting for the Night”
21. “Just Can’t Get Enough”
22. “Never Let Me Down Again”
23, “Personal Jesus”