Depeche Mode, Arena Birmingham - review and pictures
What a strange long road it's been for Depeche Mode, from perky 80s synth kids to gnarly rock gods of the 21st century, and their army of fans has kept on growing.
With the Brum mega-venue full to capacity and covering quite an age range, it's a testament to the dark melodic appeal of the Mode that they still feel vital and current whilst many of their '80s contemporaries rely on the nostalgia circuit.
The original Essex trio of singer Dave Gahan, singer-guitarist Martin L Gore and keyboardist Andy Fletcher have been augmented into a five-piece band, who put on performance that packed a punch, if let down somewhat by the staging.
A video wall that spent some of the night in darkness, also leaving a gantry where Gahan strutted his stuff in shadows, meant that those at the back of the venue must have had to peer hard to catch a glimpse of the group through the dry ice haze.
But they will have heard them loud and clear with a powerhouse performance of songs spanning four decades, right up to and including this year's album Spirit, their 14th studio album.
Oddly the new album only contributed three songs to the two-hour gig, including opener Going Backwards, but perhaps that's because the band have such a huge back catalogue to choose from.
Tattooed front man Gahan was in fine form, pirouetting and preening, in constant motion and exercising that resonant mellow vocal. He's grown distinctly Johnny Depp-like as he's got older, can rock a waistcoat like no other and his supple moves make him a walking advert for the benefits of yoga.
He did share vocal duties with chief songwriter Gore, who stepped into the limelight for Insight, the classic Home (both from 1997's Ultra album) and first encore Strangelove.
The fans, including thousands standing in the lower arena, loved the inclusion of 1983 hit Everything Counts and 1984's Stripped.
But it was the tracks from seminal 1990 album Violator and 93's Songs of Faith and Devotion that really got the arena rocking with In Your Room, Walking in My Shoes, an extended version of Enjoy the Silence and final encore Personal Jesus, which got the whole arena roaring 'reach out and touch faith'.
