Depeche Mode is fun. It’s hard for non-fans to buy that, because a good majority of the influential synth-pop band’s biggest hits have a dour cast (try busting out “Blasphemous Rumours” at a karaoke bar), and the concert T-shirts are varying shades of charcoal and claret.
But the evidence has been there all along: In the iconic video for 1990 smash “Enjoy the Silence”; in the rambling, off-the-cuff 1987 cover of “Route 66”; and in the live shows, where you immediately learn that singer Dave Gahan prides himself on his twirl and booty-shake.
That playful side was much in evidence at the band’s March 30 show at T-Mobile Arena, remarkable considering the merch table absorbed all visible light, and the Latin title of the latest LP translates to “remember you must die.”
Depeche Mode’s first Vegas visit without founding member Andy Fletcher—who died in May 2022, in pace requiescat—was a joyous occasion, boosted aloft by an enraptured sellout crowd, affecting nods to their absent friend and one killer performance after the next. Gahan even lead the arena in singing “Happy Birthday” to a young fan. If the 40-plus-year-old Depeche Mode is aging out of this job, no one’s said it to their performance.
The evening’s high points were many, and included muscled-up, reinvigorated takes on lesser hits (“John the Revelator,” “Wrong” and “In Your Room” all burned bright and hot) alongside faithful versions of the major ones (any Depeche Mode show that contains “Everything Counts,” “A Question of Lust” and “Just Can’t Get Enough” is probably an all-timer). The band’s latest single, “Ghosts Again”—a warm, midtempo charmer co-written by Mode’s main songwriter Martin Gore and the Psychedelic Furs’ Richard Butler—nestled in amongst the band’s classics, as if a space had always existed for it.
Another heartening aspect of the set, and a perceptible change from the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers' last visit to T-Mobile in September 2017, was the warm interplay between Gore and Gahan. The band’s two remaining original members have been through hell both personally and professionally, even before they lost Fletcher, who often kept the peace between the two. But on this night they grinned at one another, shared the spotlight for an acoustic “Waiting for the Night” and even hugged boisterously.
The stage did impressive work, too, with a multistory screen (puckishly embossed with a giant letter “M”) that alternated between live footage and imagery created by longtime band collaborator Anton Corbijn. During “World in My Eyes,” it displayed a haunting image of Fletcher, whose eyes slowly morphed from open to closed. During “Enjoy the Silence,” it showed glitter-dusted skulls painted with the word “Enjoy!” And we did, very much.
