Live Report: Depeche Mode at Malahide Castle

It’s incredible that four decades after forming in the then new town of Basildon, Essex, Depeche Mode are onstage at Malahide Castle playing a set, that far from being a heritage act, tilts marvellously into their 2023 album Memento Mori, their 15th and the equal of almost anything they’ve done.

Obviously, it plays second fiddle to Violator, Music for the Masses or Black Celebration – but come on give the new kid a break. The Depeche Mode massif that has swarmed into the castle grounds certainly does, singing along to ‘My Cosmos Is Mine’ and ‘Wagging Tongue’, the two opening tracks of both tonight’s set and Memento Mori. That took cojones from the band, something they have never lacked sure, but the thrilling smiles from frontman Dave Gahan and Depeche Mode guru Martin Gore when the crowd chorus, “You find it hard to swallow, when you watch another angel die”, indicates they know the gamble. Of course they do – after all it’s far from their first rodeo.

However, they also know their fans and the adoration they possess for this band is evident across the venue. They are in early and are eager. They come in all shapes and sizes, many in DM T-shirts parading legacies of previous gigs, a fair few eternal alt-teenagers and various striking peacocks – a man in full Freddie Mercury royal cape and crown, a lady in full Aladdin Sane make-up, a Buzzcock punk with glinting green gruaig, leather clad Studio 54 types and so many well-preserved goths – looking fantastic. And good eggs all – a fine sense of bonhomie hovers – latecomers who simply need to get closer to the Gahan & Gore flame, move easily through, indeed one man leads his little grandson with remarkable ease to the front rail.

Copyright Miguel Ruiz.

The Depeche Mode beast prowled across the USA throughout the Spring, this is their first date of two dozen in Europe and the UK, before returning to complete over forty dates in America, finishing with four dates in Los Angeles. A city that has witnessed many of the band’s triumphs, some captured on their fantastic 101 documentary, directed by D.A. Pennebaker, a man who knew a thing or two about pointing a camera (check out his 1965 Dylan documentary Don’t Look Back). 101 his superb Depeche Mode concert film 101, chronicles the final leg of the band’s Music for the Masses Tour and its very final show on 18 June 1988 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Pennebaker was fascinated not by the band but by the fans, he captured the iconography of the band, just before Violator, the record that would make it that your Great-Aunt Hilda knew and dug Depeche Mode.

I digress. Like I was saying, far from a heritage act, Depeche Mode, never have played the karaoke set, and why would they? possessing as they do a four-decade catalogue that is chasmic deep with absolute bangers. The rolling techno that has been slowly entrancing the audience gels into the instrumental from ‘Speak To Me’, the closing track on Memento Mori, a giant M appears as the backdrop and on struts Martin Gore resplendent in sequin blazer, pearls, chains, safety pins, cyberpunk cargo trousers, black painted nails and that iconic haircut. He is flanked by drummer Christian Eigner and keyboardist/bassist Peter Gordeno, both DM royalty, having been integral to the set-up since the Ultra tour in the late nineties.

Copyright Miguel Ruiz.

And then Dave Gahan, dressed in black glittery pinstripe tux with pink silk lining, above white leather boots with two-inch black heels, stomps on, part-Bela Lugosi, part-Elvis, part-Buster Keaton – an iconic, diamond cut frontman who immediately electrifies the audience. He’s in some shape, when the band hit us early on with ‘It’s No Good’, he pirouettes around his mic flamingo style, strikes praying mantis poses, throws Bowie-like effected poses and goes full Elvis in front of the drum-kit. Men grip their hearts, women shriek, one screams at him to take off his shirt and you recall this was once, and in some ways, still is a boyband. Just one of their many, many guises, for Depeche Mode are a band that have reinvented themselves again and again. Rare is the band, who have influenced techno, nu-metal and goth rock and who have inspired artists as diverse as Shakira to Slipknot, Nine Inch Nails to Britney Spears.

During ‘In Your Room’, Gahan dances around the band, urging them on as they masterly layer the track, circling Gore’s bluesy solo. Every hand claps along to ’83’s must play - ‘Everything Counts’, Gahan using the long ramp for the first time, dancing deliriously. Two Memento Mori tracks, split by Black Celebration’s ‘A Question of Lust’, illustrate another re-invention. The first – ‘Speak To Me’ finds Gahan exploring Scott Walker, before he leaves the stage to Gore, who with only Gordeno accompanying him on piano, sings ‘Soul With Me’, a Judy Garland-style ballad that is as courageous as it is touching, stressing the meaning of Memento mori – the stoic mantra reminding us of the inevitability of death, spurring us on to enjoy life while we can - “I’m ready for the final pages/Kiss goodbye to all my earthly cages”. When they hit us with the lead single from their new record– ‘Ghosts Again’, remarkably already a crowd favourite, the visuals are ace – Gahan & Gore with skull iconography and black monk-like hoodies, playing chess, aping the scene from Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal.

Copyright Miguel Ruiz.

And yes, of course, much of the new record is about Andrew Fletcher, the glue of DM who passed away suddenly last year, leaving the band as a duo. Fletch was frequently a wily diplomat shuttling between the often-acrimonious Gahan & Gore and I overhear several serial Depeche Mode gig-goers commenting on how close the pair appear to be tonight. Fletch’s favourite DM song was ‘World In My Eyes’ from Violator, they play now, its squelchy proto-House style ratches the tempo up even another notch. The 80s pop nostalgia of ‘A Pain That I’m Used To’ repeats the trick. Indeed, we fast enter house party at 4am territory, when everyone gets to play the cut that moves them. The genius of Depeche Mode is their ability to swap genres like hats. ‘John the Revelator’ is post-industrial Gene Vincent rock and roll. ‘Enjoy the Silence’ is a rave complete with the memento mori visual motif of skull with ‘Enjoy!’ emblazoned on its parietal.

Reappearing for the encore. Gahan & Gore at the foot of the ramp crooning the plaintive ‘Waiting for the Night’ is a highlight and indicates the level of adoration the Depeche Mode audience possess for these two men, erupting when they embrace in the light of a thousand phones. And then we lurch into the country disco delirium of ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’, followed rapid with the one-two sucker punches of ‘Never Let Me Down Again’ and ‘Personal Jesus’.

Reach out and touch faith.

Copyright Miguel Ruiz.