Depeche Mode Memento Mori World Tour @Barclays Stadium

Oct 24

Depeche Mode’s legacy is a showcase of brilliant discography and lyricism, and getting to watch them play live is unlike anything else. My first concert at Barclays in years, my seat was in a considerably strange bend of the stadium which I only noticed when the man assigned to the seat next to mine arrived and sat only to be facing me instead of the stage. Momentarily fixed on my gin and tonic, the concert began promptly and with a bang — literally. I could feel the music vibrating through my entire body and out of my chest. Depeche Mode’s synth-pop and dark wave sounds resonated deeply with me as far back as elementary school, when my sister first introduced me to so many English bands and artists. I looked around at a crowd as diverse in age as I’ve ever seen in person at any concert, sure that all of us have memories throughout our lives that are connected to these songs and the beautiful feeling they evoke.

The rather recent passing of keyboardist and founding member Andy Fletcher added a layer of emotional gravity to the tour. Discussions on various forums online speculated that this tour might be Depeche Mode’s final, both Dave Gahan and Martin Gore possibly focusing on solo projects. They played all their hits, ensuring that fans from different eras of their career were satisfied. From their latest album “Memento Mori,” tracks like “My Cosmos Is Mine,” and “Wagging Tongue,” and following up with an adrenalizing triple-shot of "Walking in My Shoes," "It's No Good" and "Policy of Truth". Barclays actually got the tour debuts of two songs — “Policy of Truth” and “Black Celebration” which had not been played live since 2018 and 2017, respectively. “World in My Eyes” was dedicated to Andy Fletcher. “Precious”, “Strangelove,” “A Pain that I’m Used To,” Jacques Lu Cont’s incredible remix, and more, all met with screams from the crowd as Gahan swayed his hips and spun around the stage. For the near two hours they were on stage, the 20 songs Depeche Mode played were a musical timeline of their vast body of work. As they’ve done all tour, the encore ended with “Just Can’t Get Enough,” “Never Let Me Down Again” and “Personal Jesus.”