Depeche Mode - 2023 Tour

[Jim Alfredson]

My wife and I had the pleasure of seeing Depeche Mode last night in Chicago on their Memento Mori tour, joined by forum member Redkey. Not only is the band in top form, the new album is really great and they played a lot of it, plus some of their most popular classics. I've seen them half a dozen times since the early 90s and last night's show was one of the best.

 

I am friends with keyboardist Pete Gordeno and he kindly got us some backstage passes. I had to ask him about his rig. The last time I saw them in Detroit pre-pandemic he was using a couple of JD-Xa synths, the RD-2000, and a Minimoog Voyager. This time around he had the RD-2000, a Minimoog Voyager XL, and an Oberheim OB-X8. The Oberheim sounded incredible.

 

Pete told me that when they began rehearsing, Martin Gore brought out the old Virus keyboards they had been using forever. I guess they ditched the JD-Xa's. But the Viruses were basically being used as controllers at this point; they weren't using any of the onboard sounds. Pete suggested to Martin that they do something different. Martin said, "What do you have in mind?" Pete suggested the Oberheim. What a great choice! It filled that auditorium and Pete played a lot of different parts on it.

 

I had a nice conversation with Martin talking shop about synths, vintage synth upkeep, and the like. He's a very personable fellow.

 

I highly recommend seeing this tour. I missed seeing Fletch on stage with them, but it seems his passing has revitalized Gore and Gahan's passion for what they do. In interviews I've seen and read with them about this new album, they seem to have gained some perspective and really appreciate what their music means to fans and the amazing life they've led. On stage they were having a great time. I hope I have that much energy and agility when I'm in my 60s!

[Leroy C]

Thanks for sharing!  I've been listening to the new album almost daily since it came out. 

[Lady Gaia]

Unfortunately it looks like I won't be able to catch them on this tour, but I'm delighted to hear they're still going strong live and that you had the pleasure of talking shop.  Martin's writing and instrumentation choices (as evident even in demo tracks) have always been personally inspiring.

[CyberGene]

I love DM and I’m glad they’re still active ❤️ That being said, the latest album is probably the least memorable I’ve heard from them ever. I went through it once and even forgot they had a new release. I just miss Alan Wilder so much. Without his magic DM have been on a downward slope IMO 😕

[elsongs]

46 minutes ago, CyberGene said:

I love DM and I’m glad they’re still active ❤️ That being said, the latest album is probably the least memorable I’ve heard from them ever. I went through it once and even forgot they had a new release. I just miss Alan Wilder so much. Without his magic DM have been on a downward slope IMO 😕

I wanna see DM do one final studio album with Dave and Martin...with Alan Wilder and Vince Clarke. It doesn't have to be all 4 together, it could be some songs with Dave, Martin and Alan and some songs with Dave, Martin and Vince. And Alan and Vince don't even have to tour or play live or be in the videos or anything. I just want them on the recordings.

[CyberGene]

21 minutes ago, elsongs said:

I wanna see DM do one final studio album with Dave and Martin...with Alan Wilder and Vince Clarke. It doesn't have to be all 4 together, it could be some songs with Dave, Martin and Alan and some songs with Dave, Martin and Vince. And Alan and Vince don't even have to tour or play live or be in the videos or anything. I just want them on the recordings.

Amen to that! 🤝

[Paul Woodward]

Are they still using the Roland A800 pro on stage? Last documentary I watched they had quite a few.

[EscapeRocks]

Saw them in Vegas last week.

It was fantastic.  Dave's energy on stage hearkened back to when I saw them in the late 80's.

 

Good stuff.

[o0Ampy0o]

I found one song on the new album that was OK (only sampled 5 so far), I think it might have caught on with repetition (usually a requirement for people to gain some of the experience which leads to popularity) in the days when broadcast radio was more excited and exciting. A couple would be better if they were a faster tempo. Something is lacking which would hook me in.

[Mark Schmieder]

I thought the new album was mostly fantastic, ironically excepting the first released track that got the early airplay (though it's OK). The live clips I saw from the very start of this tour had good stage energy but Gahan still does too much crowd-rousing for my tastes so I'm not sure if I'll try to see the DC area show. I saw them several times in the 80's before they got big, and they were incredible back then, every show different, lots of improvisation and altered arrangements. But now that I've heard this backstage view of a later show in the current tour, I'm more hopeful that Gahan will be singing more and doing less handoff to the audience.

[Theo Verelst]

One of the albums I've turned into an acceptable digital audio file (with very much complicated processing) is an early Depeche, and I play these "corrected" files a lot on my audio systems. I had this one on vinyl originally in the early 80s, and it was one of my favorite ones. Measuring other synthesizer acts against the yardstick of interest and life of these guys makes most irrelevant IMO.

[scoopicman]

On 4/7/2023 at 12:25 PM, o0Ampy0o said:

A couple would be better if they were a faster tempo. Something is lacking which would hook me in.

 

A lot of them would be better faster.  Martin tends to lean slower and sentimental.  I keep hoping the newer producers create some up tempo Wilder rhythms, but they rarely do.  Fortunately, guys like Andreas Motke make some fine remixes.  Some from Memento Mori that I like:

 

Before We Drown

 

Speak To Me

 

People Are Good

[Stokely]

I've never been a huge fan of most of their songs, but I reckon that's a band I'd enjoy seeing more live.  Especially if they are actually playing on real keyboards and not just syncing to tracks  

[Jim Alfredson]

Saw them again last night in Detroit. They changed up the set list a bit, which was nice. I told Martin about my acquiring the lot of ARPs and his eyes lit up. It was another fantastic show. I really like this tour. The visuals and their choice of songs, not to mention the energy, is just awesome. 

[Mark Schmieder]

It can be very interesting to see the bookends of a tour, on so many levels. I saw Peter Gabriel's start to his "Shock the Monkey" tour, in Boston back in the mid 80's, and then the end of the tour in Worcester MA. By then, he had stripped down to a rock group sans Burundi drummers and other adjuncts. Both shows were out of this world, but very different from each other, and you could tell the thought process Peter had gone through during the tour that led to shifting things up by the end, including the set list.

 

I'm still debating on seeing DM as I saw recent clips and still feel Gahan hands it off a bit too much, but the "Everything Counts" rendition really blew me away -- always one of my favorite songs in their repertoire. I was a huge Alan Wilder fan (as a musician, not a person, but that could be said of many musicians), but just as with Siouxsie Sioux's current tour, I think the DNA is pretty well baked into any session or touring musician hires who grew up admiring the musicians and the music. The current DM crew is stellar.

[Mnbassandkeys]

I saw them in NY at MSG in Oct., 2023.   Still better than ever.  I noticed the changes in Peters rig, and yes, that Oberheim sounds amazing.  Although, for the $4500 price tag, it dang well better sound awesome.   Another huge thing I noticed is that Martin ditched the Roland A-800 Pros and went with Native Instruments S61s.     Can’t say I blame him.   I have both and the NI is light years ahead.