Depeche Mode, DIIV

Depeche Mode @ Capital One Area, Washington, DC, October 23, 2023,

Oct 26, 2023
By Hays Davis
Pictures by Hays Davis
Internet Unique

“You recognize that tune?” Dave Gahan known as out throughout Depeche Mode’s October 23 efficiency at Washington, DC’s Capital One Area as they performed “World in My Eyes”, although he already knew the viewers’s reply. A jubilant DC crowd handled all the set like a celebration, and for many who discovered town unexpectedly added to Depeche Mode’s tour schedule after a small Spring 2023 run of US dates had been introduced in late 2022, the celebration probably started months in the past.

After a sombre “My Cosmos Is Mine” opened the present, Dave Gahan labored the stage as if he had simply been sprung from captivity, and he seemed to be having fun with himself at the least as a lot because the viewers. Dancing, prancing, and posing, he was a marvel all through, and Gahan was in nice voice as he carried out impressively all through the band’s four-decade songbook whereas in nearly fixed movement. Guitarist/keyboardist Martin Gore additionally took a memorable solo flip, assembly the viewers on the finish of the stage’s runway for “A Query of Lust” and a transferring “Soul with Me”.

Joined by long-time touring members Christian Eigner and Peter Gordeno, the band performed a set that featured half of their acclaimed 2023 album Memento Mori. Trying again to 1983’s Development Time Once more, “Every little thing Counts” was rapturously acquired, as was a madly rocking “A Ache That I’m Used To” from 2005’s Taking part in the Angel. Many within the viewers who weren’t already standing shot to their ft as if immediately compelled as Gahan started singing “I Really feel You”. Including notably to the present, a large letter M loomed on the rear of the stage, projecting dwell photographs, video scenes, and different visuals, together with giant facet screens. The band paid tribute to Andy Fletcher, who died in 2022, as photos of the founding keyboardist flashed throughout “World in My Eyes”.

After a spirited “John the Revelator” led into “Benefit from the Silence” to wrap up the primary set, the encore discovered Gahan and Gore assembly on the runway for an affecting “Condemnation” earlier than “Simply Can’t Get Sufficient” fired the viewers again up. Gahan appeared intent on inspiring the group to attain lift-off towards the present’s finish, prompting wild arm-waving, and a few appeared to attain ignition with the rousing, show-closing “Private Jesus”.

DIIV opened the present with a well-received set that each complemented and pleasingly contrasted the primary occasion. From the dreamy “Between Tides” to a surging “Doused”, the quartet drew in a crowd that had reached the Capital One Area rafters because the band acquired underway. Judging by the t-shirts sported by viewers members on the night time’s finish, DIIV could have made some new followers amongst DC’s Depeche Mode trustworthy.