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Many bands of the ’80s have foundered on the rock of ephemeral success; frozen in the past, they slowly fall into oblivion, failing to transform.

Depeche Mode, the legendary group named after the homonymous French fashion magazine, belongs to the couple few exceptions: with their two latest albums “Sounds of the Universe” and “Delta Machine”, they’ve shown that they could evolve and provide content that is both refreshing and interesting.

Delta Machine takes on a personal tone from the very first track, “Welcome To My World”, and maintains it up to the very last, “Goodbye”. It thus constitutes an “identity-album” of sorts, also sharing the same initials as the band’s name. With the various themes presented in the album, the band members offer us an honest snapshot of their personalities and concerns at the time of the writing. Indeed, far from the somewhat corny topics of their first albums, “Delta Machine” goes over far graver subjects with “Angel”, “Soothe My Soul”, “Should Be Higher”, or “Heaven”, the latter being for lead singer David Gahan, quote, “one of the main reasons I carry on making music”. The lyrics are nebulous, analogous to these agglomerates of troubling and troubled thoughts that submerge us when trying to apprehend these notions. The cover art of the album already hinted at these existential themes: blood-red buildings under a sky of a pure, divine white, and, at the junction, the band name and album title. This subject is also present in the instrumentation with the bass for instance, powerful yet strangely soothing, a stark contrast to the more abrasive and industrial arrangements of their previous album “Sounds of the Universe”, very dark in “Corrupt” or in “Wrong” and its video clip.

As you may imagine, we were eager to discover how these changes would translate live during the two shows of the band in Bercy, Paris, on January 29th and 31st. As expected, Depeche Mode did not disappoint. In addition to playing no less than five tracks from their latest album, Depeche Mode indulged the crowd with yet-unreleased acoustic versions of “Slow”, “But not tonight” and “Shake the disease”, sung – to everyone’s surprise – not by Dave Gahan like on CD, but by the very talented Martin Gore, who otherwise typically takes on the role of backup singer. With this decision, the band enchanted the many spectators who had been craving for more of Martin Gore’s angelic voice on the record. For over a quarter of an hour, Gore, alone, infinitesimal in the middle of the stage, channels his emotions into his fragile and wavering voice, touching as can be, a holdover of a painful childhood. In his eyes, one can quickly grasp all the meaning he attaches to the words he articulates and the melody he sings. Even without knowing the lyrics, the sincerity and conviction of his rendition do not fail to arouse affection and empathy.

The general ambiance of the concert is also reinforced by the obsessive videos projected onto the giant screen of the venue. For the whole duration of the song “Enjoy the Silence”, motionless contorsionists are on display, pressed against a sheet of glass. In “Heaven”, each of the three band members puts down a black triangle in the middle of a road, before heading off to an unknown destination. Finally, in “Halo”, a young woman enters and then leaves a triangular frame at each shot. It’s only at the end of the song that the routine breaks: the character points at a ring on her finger and eventually disappears for good, taking the frame with her.

Occasionally, the audience joins in and lets the simple, yet highly emotional hooks echo. Propelled by the band, these melodies seem to target each member of the audience personally and conjure up different memories for each of them. The black triangle, Depeche Mode’s emblem, goes beyond the reference to the band’s founding trinity and now embraces all of its fans in a sign of rally, belonging, and fraternity.

Having completely left out their penultimate album from this tour, the band finds itself needing to play some of their older tunes in order to satisfy the crowd. However, they once again do so adding a layer of novelty to the songs, with extatically prolonged drum fills at the end of “I Feel You” for example.

Over the course of nearly two hours, Depeche Mode successively surprised, conquered and enraptured the hall, with Dave Gahan as usual brimming on stage with explosive energy, at times singing barechested, at others characteristically spinning around with his microphone stand high up in the air. Yet, with all that, he still manages to seamlessly switch to his more sensitive personality for the mellower tracks, accompanying the melody with delicate hand gestures redolent of a conductor.

The concert is now over.

A group of friends strikes up one of the acoustic hymns again… in vain: the legends have left the stage, the mojo has vanished; the flame has gone out, the fire is consumed. We come back to reality, replete with images and sounds, and we catch ourselves wanting for more, hoping their second show in Bercy isn’t sold out yet. Some hope.

Depeche Mode remains and will remain magical, and, far from being a relic of the past, the band could very well be at its peak.