Depeche Mode.
It's probably fair to place the full beginning of Depeche Mode's career in 1980, when Dave Gahan took over as lead singer. Over forty years of the band's existence have been punctuated by memorable tunes and successes of the highest order, as well as slumps, sub-par recordings and the death of one of the founding members. As part of a series of concerts called Memento Mori, Depeche Mode stopped for a double concert in Prague (22 and 24 February 2024). Announcements that both events had sold out were confirmed by, among other things, several individuals standing outside the O2 arena before the concert with written requests to buy tickets. Both Prague concerts had the same structure and setlist. The opening of the evening was provided by Humanist, who took the stage shortly after the announcement of Depeche Mode's charity activities tied to Swiss watchmaker Hublot.
The opening act's set opens with a powerful dramatic virbl that flows freely into a standard bigbeat figure - Beast of the Nation. For a group made up of relatively experienced musicians with a good history, including Mark Lanegen, Rob Marshall, Mark Gardener and a few others, the performance is pretty ordinary. The songwriting doesn't deny one of Dave Gahan's spiritual fathers, but the set itself comes across as uninspiring and dull, with the exception of the third item - Skull (the seventh track on the eponymous 2020 album). The sound is decent, the side screens work, only the strobe is a bit distracting.
During intermission, the hall fills up quickly, to its full concert capacity. At quarter to nine, the reproduced techno stops playing and a performance by cult band Depeche Mode begins. A harsh white light directed at the audience creeps across the stage and the musicians, whose faces cannot be seen, take their seats. The first notes of the opening track My Cosmos is Mine from the album Memento Mori (2023), which gave the name to the whole tour, are heard. The stage is rather dim for now, with the band members keeping a bit of a low profile. The real show only comes with Walkin in My Shoes (Song sof Faith and Devotion, 1993), the stage is cloaked in red and a giant screen displays a large letter M. The concert picks up momentum and the rear projection offers more and more clips to accompany each song. The seventh Everything Counts (Construction Time Again, 1983), themed around corruption, is punctuated by a black-and-white video dominated by large white gloves while Ghosts Again (Memento Mori, 2023) is illustrated by a bizarre chess game between two apparent hooded ghosts. The third track from the current album, Strange Love (Music for the Masses, 1987), is sung with feeling by Martin Gore before an acoustic interlude dedicated to the late Andrew Fletcher, and the concert moves into its second half. The audience forgives the sometimes impure double-voices and enjoys more classic tracks from the geniuses of techno and electro pop. Standouts include I Feel You (Songs of Faith and Devotion, 1983) and Behind the Wheel (Music for the Masses, 1987), with its layered structure and dominant tempo. Dave Gahan gradually sheds his jacket and shirt, and spins his pirouettes for the rest of the evening wearing only a T-shirt that is pink in the front and black in the back. A slightly weaker track is Black Celebration from the 1986 album of the same name. Dave Gahan, silhouetted in his typical bowing swan pose, and his bandmates Martin Gore, Christian Eigner (guest) and Peter Gordeno (guest) play the last three songs of the basic set, of which Stripped (Black Celebration, 1986) stands out, and of course Enjoy the Silence (Violator, 1990), which Dave introduces with the classic exclamation "Are you ready?". The encore contains the intimate, acoustic-tinged Condemnation (Songs of Faith and Devotion, 1983) with lyrics containing symbolism of pride, strength and not accepting one's fate. The more cheesy pop song Just Can't Get Enough (1981) is replaced by the two final expressive songs Never Let me Down Again (Music for the Masses, 1987) and Personal Jesus (Violator, 1990).
Depeche Mode handled their role as heroes and symbols of their generation with grace, and managed to carry their legacy forward at least two generations further. The concert was also held by the enthusiastic audience, who pulled off most of the sing-along parts with the band. The whole performance was a bit of a look back to a time when music was going in new directions and finding its way. Depeche Mode found one of those paths back then, and moreover, managed to blaze it for their followers.