Depeche Mode Rocking the Hollywood Bowl
Depending who you are, you were probably transported back to the 80’s, 90’s, or even earlier in this decade at last night’s sold out Depeche Mode “Tour of the Universe” concert at the Hollywood Bowl. I heard one guy behind me declare that he had seen Depeche in concert for the first time in 1986, meanwhile another group of giggling girls next to me said how cool it was to be at their first DM concert chanting along the lyrics to the newer “Wrong.” This isn’t strange considered Depeche Mode is a band whose career has spanned almost 3 decades, from the first album release “Speak & Spell” all the way back in 1981. And they have changed with the times, at first being a mainly an electronica synthesizer group when they first began to full fledged rock band last night with Martin Gore switching back from lead guitar (silver sparkly star shaped no less) to keyboards and even a drummer was on hand to deliver a full on beat down during “Personal Jesus.”
Depeche Mode dressed as astronauts in a video during "Enjoy the Silence"
Of course, they were some things on display last night that will thankfully never change. Like lead singer Dave Gahan, decked in his traditional all black vest and pants ensemble and as nimble as ever, teasing the audience with his sexy hip swivels and slithering down the mic stand while chanting “Come here, kiss me, now!” during “Fly on the Windscreen.” During “Question of Time” Dave managed to pull off his signature fast spinning with the mic stand draped over his shoulders then calling on the audience to clap and sing. Actually he did this quite a bit and it is no surprise considering the band just canceled a concert in San Diego on Friday due to his voice-the doctors put him on complete voice rest. Sadly, this isn’t the only ailment that has plagued Gahan on this tour as the band also had to cancel appearances in Europe because he had to be hospitalized due to illness (removal of a malignant tumor in his bladder) and a calf tear. By the end of the concert when he and Martin Gore dueted on the very bare “Waiting For the Night,” you could hear the strain on his vocal cords and it was a good thing Gore was there to strengthen the song. In fact, Martin had his fair share of audience loving solos from “Home” to a riveting rendition of the classic “Somebody” which had many girls within earshot of me declaring “that’s my wedding song!” Another standout feature of the concert was there use of campy background video like when the band was dressed as astronauts during “Enjoy the Silence” to the upside down gumball machine spilling gumballs out while the band played “Policy of Truth.” As usual, carrot topped Andy Fletcher remained behind his keyboards all night, but wasn’t immune to the occasional fist pump.
Lead singer Dave Gahan working his hips for the crowd
My favorites of the evening included a version of “Stripped” for which Dave’s raw baritone voice was made, a reminiscent “Strangelove” that had the crowd madly waving their arms a la DM rock documentary “101,” a sweet “Somebody,” and an audience rocking “Personal Jesus” that brought the house down with Gore working his 6 string and Gahan reveling in the crowd’s adoration and doing circles all around the stage, which he continued to do for most of the night. You can see the videos for all of those songs below. Even though the concert was relatively short compared to the standard 2 hours show as it clocked in somewhere just over 1.5 hours, the guys boosted the energy and excitement for both them and the fans with 2 separate encores. Next time longer-we miss you DM!
Singer, songwriter, keyboardist, and lead guitarist Martin Gore
Here is the complete set list:
In Chains
Wrong
Hole To Feed
Walking In My Shoes
It’s No Good
A Question Of Time
Precious
Fly On The Windscreen
Jezebel
Home
Come Back
Policy Of Truth
In Your Room
I Feel You
Enjoy The Silence
Never Let Me Down Again
Encore #1
Somebody
Stripped
Strangelove
Encore #2
Personal Jesus
Waiting For The Night (Bare Version)
DM rocking out “Personal Jesus”
Depeche Mode rocking “Stripped”
Martin Gore belting out “Somebody”
Depeche Mode rocking out to “Strangelove”
