Depeche Mode kicked off the 2024 leg of their ‘Memento Mori’ tour at The O2 in London last night (Monday January 22). Check out photos, footage and the setlist below.
READ MORE: Depeche Mode interview: “Do the best you can – you don’t know if you’re going to be doing it again”
Last night marked the first gig of the band’s lengthy run of arena shows in the UK, Ireland and Europe, touring in support of their 15th and most recent album ‘Memento Mori’ and marking their first date in the capital since their acclaimed show at London’s Twickenham Stadium last summer.
Following a support slot from Nadine Shah, the band took to the stage to ‘Memento Mori’s atmospheric opener ‘My Cosmos Is Mine’ with an ambitious stage production repeating the light show and Anton Corbijn visuals from the stadium run.
Depeche Mode live at The O2 in London (Photo by Gus Stewart/Redferns)
Depeche Mode live at The O2 in London (Photo by Gus Stewart/Redferns)
Frontman Dave Gahan, while animated in his dancing and showing off his white leather footwear during ‘Walking In My Shoes’, was sparing in his on-stage banter – aside from thanking London for their reception and paying tribute to the “angelic” vocals of bandmate Martin Gore who took the lead for a short acoustic segment. With a stripped-back accompaniment, Gore sang tender renditions of the classic single ‘Strangelove’ and a version of fan favourite ‘Heaven’ which debuted last month – both were sung by Gahan on record.
Other highlights came in the form of their usual performance of ‘World In My Eyes’ delivered in tribute to their late bandmate Andy Fletcher, who died in 2022 before the recording of ‘Memento Mori’, and the general cavalcade of hits which culminated in the encore’s closing trio of ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’, ‘Never Let Me Down Again’ and ‘Personal Jesus’.
Depeche Mode live at The O2 in London (Photo by Gus Stewart/Redferns)
Depeche Mode’s setlist was:
‘My Cosmos Is Mine’
‘Wagging Tongue’
‘Walking in My Shoes’
‘It’s No Good’
‘Policy of Truth’
‘In Your Room’ (Zephyr Mix)
‘Everything Counts’
‘Precious’
‘My Favourite Stranger’
‘Strangelove’
‘Heaven’
‘Ghosts Again’
‘I Feel You’
‘A Pain That I’m Used To’ (Jacques Lu Cont Remix)
‘World in My Eyes’
‘Black Celebration’
‘Stripped’
‘John the Revelator’
‘Enjoy the Silence’
Encore:
‘Condemnation’
‘Just Can’t Get Enough’
‘Never Let Me Down Again’
‘Personal Jesus’
See the band’s remaining tour dates below, with tickets available here. Check out the band’s support acts for the upcoming UK and European shows here.
Depeche Mode – UK, Ireland and European tour 2024. CREDIT: Press
In a four-star review of the group’s London show at Twickenham Stadium last year, NME wrote: “What ultimately hits the hardest is the generosity of bangers and the graceful energy they arrive with.
“Look at that setlist: the bittersweet euphoria of ‘Everything Counts’, the furious stomp of ‘I Feel You’, a gnarly outing of ‘Wrong’, the Jacques Lu Cont dancey swagger of ‘A Pain That I’m Used To’, and that encore? ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’ into ‘Never Let Me Down Again’ into ‘Personal Jesus’? Come on. We’re in sexy goth heaven. You feel spoiled as an audience member, and we’d be lucky if this good feeling and compulsion of Depeche Mode’s current purple streak continues for years to come.”
Speaking to NME last year, Gahan and Gore looked to the future of the band after the current tour.
“The most important thing is to be putting out good music and that people like it,” said Gore. “Once we finish this tour we’ll take a break, then we’ll see if and when we feel like doing it again. Up until now we always have. You never know, and I’m not saying that in a negative way. We just take each project as it comes.”
Gahan added: “Losing Fletch made that feeling more real. Everything will come to an end. I don’t know when that is.
“After Fletch passed and we had to continue I said, ‘Try to enjoy what you’ve got to do here and do the best you can’. You really don’t know if you’re going to be doing it again.”
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