Enjoying The Spirit Of Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode w/ Warpaint
KeyArena, Seattle, WA
10.21.17

I can only hope that I am aging just as well as Brit new wave electro-rockers Depeche Mode, though I have my doubts. Looking every inch as slick and sounding every note as powerful as they started out nearly four decades ago, the band’s current “Global Spirit Tour” brought them to Seattle for a show that proved sweaty, rebellious, and surprisingly relevant.

Opening the show was LA foursome Warpaint. Looking like they rolled right off the tour bus and onto the stage, their psych-rock-meets-dream-pop sound a great opener for Depeche Mode—not too close, not too far removed. The band is three albums into their career and have had some ups and downs in media fawning but are currently running a tight ship. While they might come off casual, strolling around the stage and trading vocal duties, their musicianship seemed more put together than ever.

During the break, KeyArena filled to the rafters, the temperature seeming to swell a good 20 degrees and no one had even started dancing yet. It didn’t take long.

Against a splatter-paint-like video backdrop, Depeche Mode’s set opened with “Going Backwards,” the cautionary opening track off the band’s fourteenth studio album, Spirit, released earlier this year. As smoke billowed through the room and the strobe lights went crazy, so did the crowd. Lead vocalist David Gohan had everyone in his grasp from the get-go and as much youthful energy—okay more—than most. “A Pain That I’m Used To” got everyone clapping along before Gohan took on some spins and mic stand thrusts to go along with the dance-inspired video sequence during “In Your Room.”

“Barrel of a Gun” gave way to an outro of Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five’s “The Message,” and “Enjoy the Silence” got an extended version sampling Nine Inch Nails’ “Head Like A Hole.” But the specials didn’t end there. Guitarist and main songwriter Martin Gore delivered stunning near-solo renditions of “A Question of Lust” and the encore opener of “Somebody,” and a cover of David Bowie’s “Heroes” provided a magical moment for the room.

After a two-hour set and a five-track encore this once in a lifetime show ended on the obvious, but appreciated, “Personal Jesus.” But even without that note, it felt like a night of hits for the sold-out crowd singing along to every word.

Depeche Mode Setlist
Going Backwards
So Much Love
Barrel of a Gun
A Pain That I’m Used To
Corrupt
In Your Room
World in My Eyes
Cover Me
A Question of Lust
Home
Poison Heart
Where’s the Revolution
Wrong
Everything Counts
Stripped
Enjoy the Silence
Never Let Me Down Again
Encore
Somebody
Walking in My Shoes
Heroes (David Bowie cover)
I Feel You
Personal Jesus