HE FEELS YOU: Dave Gahan and Depeche Mode were very convincing in Telenor Arena.
Depeche Mode offers the dance of a lifetime. And get at least 20,000 yes.
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In the same way as Thursday’s Øya headliner Blur, Depeche Mode has an impressively convincing new album in the bag. Unlike Blur, they also have a smaller band member, the recently deceased Andy Fletcher.
It will prove to be a combination that gives an exceptionally unique energy in front of almost 20,000 glowing fans in Telenor Arena this Friday.
In advance, the undersigned has noted varying reports about vocalist Dave Gahan’s vocal capacity. Or Han Gahan, as they would call him in Western Norway. On live recordings, you can hear the 61-year-old directly struggling to hit the notes, like a kind of sad sortie over old greatness.
That turns out not to be the case here.
In a solidly produced live video show, Gahan owns the stage for 142 minutes. A captivating sight as he introduces himself with a movement that seems equal parts embrace and kneeling in front of a big “M”.
And then he sings. As he sings.
If the M stands for anything, it is powerful and ore-filled. The two opening songs from this year’s album are good and cool, but already on “Walking in My Shoes” he sings as if it were about life itself.
And it always does in this band.
Martin Gore, the inventor of tough one-finger playing on the synth, long before Magne Furuholmen, seems fragile and shy as usual. When he is a guitarist, he prefers to stay away from the camera. When he gets the microphone, the vocals are cleaner and more proper. There is feeling in what he sings. Only he Gahan has the nerve.
Nobody can do ballads better with their hands in their pockets. No one can swagger and swagger so weirdly, sloppily and swishy, and still make it seem like the coolest thing in the world. He both offers up and dances with himself, and invites the audience to sing along.
And get answers.
At one point he seems directly and genuinely moved. After “Just Can’t Get Enough,” the novelty song that keeps Vince Clark alive, even Martin Gore is laughing. Yes. the man who hardly smiles on his own birthday laughs.
Whether it’s the audience or the fact that it’s the end of the tour, or both: There is an intense joy and glow in this, which is almost unusual to see from such a big stage, from someone who has been on the road for so long in the last few months. Andy Fletcher is celebrated in a beautifully clever and subtle way on “World in my eyes”, and it feels warm and poignant.
Pulling out the set list will be difficult. It’s a parade of strong songs, where several use the remix versions to combine the analogue and digital seamlessly. “Everything Counts” is an early victory. The fan favorite “Stripped” is executed with an obvious but effective red light aesthetic. “Enjoy The Silence” is perfected pop techno with a skull with diamonds and “enjoy” written on it.
If you’re going to be a bit snarky: “I Feel You” gets quite mushy in the Telenor Arena version. “Precious” is a Martin Gore tune that Gahan can’t bear. “Wrong” is an uninteresting song from the painful last fifteen years that seems mostly to be included in order not to have too many good songs.
When, between two encores, he shouts, almost shocked, “That was really amazing, wasn’t it”, such petty squabbles are forgotten.
This was not only amazing. It was masterful.
Published:
Published: 12.08.23 at 00:48
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2023-08-11 22:49:21
#Concert #review #Depeche #Mode #Telenor #Arena #Dark #magical
