On July 7th, DM played in the Berlin Olympic Stadium. Here comes our review including photo highlights.
The air in the Berlin Olympic Stadium flickers with heat on this midsummer day in the capital. Shortly before 9 p.m. the thermometer was still 28 degrees when the two remaining members of the longing group Depeche Mode, mastermind Martin Gore and singer Dave Gahan, appeared in front of their almost 75,000 fans. Sold out. Wistfulness swings from the stage to the audience and back again, so it’s the first time for the band in this venue that one is missing: The surprising death of keyboardist Andy Fletcher in May last year is omnipresent, the wounds are still fresh. MEMENTO MORI is the name of the meaningful new album by the synth-pop legends, which was released in March.
Strangelove
So far it has always been Fletcher who has kept the two personalities Gahan and Gore together in their mutual abrasion and in the end also the band Depeche Mode. Can the remaining members survive a sprawling world tour without the calm, thoughtful mediator? In Berlin they at least make a reconciled impression, even if the distance between them still seems palpable. They only meet once, approaching tentatively when they perform together on the stage during the first encore, “Waiting For The Night”. However, this does not detract from the show, because after 40 years of business, Depeche Mode know how to Music for the Masses might. With a simple stage design, which is dominated by a large “M” and a video screen, the band clearly sets an example against the maximalism of other artists who almost threaten to disappear between elaborate decorative items.
Black celebration
It’s still daylight when the dark intro of the “Speak To Me” outro (sic!) heralds the concert and is followed directly by the two new songs “My Comsos Is Mine” and “Wagging Tongue”. For the Black Celebration The audience, who mostly followed the unspoken Depeche Mode dress code – in black – and is at the mercy of the musicians’ charisma from the very first minute, cares. After the still somewhat reserved “Walking In My Shoes” from the 1993 album SONGS OF FAITH AND DEVOTION, Gahan’s inimitable voice erupts for the first time on the ultra-classic “It’s No Good” and the fans enthusiastically chant: “Don’t say you’re happy / / out there without me// I know you can’t be// cause it’s no good”.
In the old tradition, the unexcited “Sister of Night” thwarts the celebration bill for the Berliners, who have just gotten their temperature up, but soon “Everything Counts” follows and once again you can feel what makes this band so special. Who else can afford to never stringently increase the excitement of the set in a stadium tour, but always slow down the tempo – and the show – in order to challenge the audience in a different way and force them to pay attention. This succeeds sometimes more, sometimes less and so one or the other big moment fizzles out in sonorous indifference. The video screens, which often do not show the musicians but video clips, are also a distraction. What has an effect on the Fletcher tribute “World In My Eyes”, for which the likeness of the deceased keyboard player is shown, does not have to be the case with songs like “Ghosts Again”.
They preferred to concentrate on the singer’s still agile and lascivious dance routines, whose age you can only tell from close up and from his laugh lines. Gore, on the other hand, seems to be enjoying the sun in his adopted home of California, presenting himself both tanned and aged, but still in his individual and eccentric attire.
Sweetest Perfection
Gore also gets his ten minutes of rum and performs, mostly alone, “A Question Of Lust” and “Soul With Me”. Embedded in a sea of mobile phone lights that shines brighter than the stars that cannot yet be seen, the mastermind proves once again that his voice is in no way inferior to Gahan’s. Especially since Gahan, the front man, doesn’t always take the intonation too precisely that evening. The sound is ambivalent, typical of a stadium, even if the interaction between the musicians is impeccable. Although Depeche Mode have never had a rumbling band, but the Olympic Stadium is known as a sound absorber.
Music for the Masses
In the end, the most popular were the classics like “I Feel You”, which is even more intense live, the bittersweet “Never Let Me Down Again” and the egocentric “Personal Jesus” from the encore block, the 80s anthem “Just Can ‘t Get Enough” and of course the epic signature track “Enjoy The Silence”. Gore’s showpiece “Home”, which was still heard in 2017, “Shake The Disease” and “A Question Of Time” are sorely missed. But this band doesn’t have to please anyone. The fans are prepared and reconciled because of the same set list on the tour, nobody wants to think about quitting. Gahan and Gore also like their new duo, supported live by drummer Christian Eigner and Peter Gordeno on keyboards.
Just can’t get enough
As was to be expected, there were no big surprises on this evening, which, however, did not detract from the concert experience. Depeche Mode are also a safe haven as a duo and if the almost 80 concerts of the Memento Mori Tour don’t finally tear them apart, one can certainly hope for more music and concerts. Still, the sword of Damocles of impermanence looms over the remaining members. It’s not for nothing that the cover of the new album shows angel wings and on “Soul With Me” Gore sings “I see the beauty // As the leaves start falling // Follow the light // Towards the voices calling // I’m going where the angels fly”. Maybe they’re taking their time with their mortality, too, because at least for the moment, they seem like they’re far from finished.
The setlist of the evening:
Intro: Speak to me (Outro)
My Cosmos Is Mine
Wagging Tongue
Walking In My Shoes
It’s no good
Sister Of Night
In Your Room
Everything Counts
Precious
Speak To Me
A Question Of Lust
Soul With Me
Ghosts Again
I feel you
A Pain That I’m Used To
World In My Eyes
wrong
stripped
John The Revelator
Enjoy the silence
Encore:
Waiting For The Night
Just Can’t Get Enough
Never Let Me Down Again
Personal Jesus