O2 Arena, London, January 22
DEPECHE MODE have always made great theatre out of life’s darker moments, but how would they contend on stage with the spectre of death that hangs over last year’s Memento Mori? Their 15th album is a solemn and stately set of songs shaped by the sudden passing in 2022 of founder member Andrew ‘Fletch’ Fletcher at the age of 60, which forced Martin Gore and Dave Gahan – not for the first time – to contemplate their own mortality.
That process brought the pair closer together as they turned to each other for support, strengthening their sometimes strained friendship and drawingMode might appear diminished and more vulnerable – frail, even, in the “Ghosts Again” video – but Gahan and Gore are hardly going to change tack now. This is the opening night of the second UK leg of another colossal world tour and they’ve got 20,000 fans to please. It’s time to party. What else can they do?
