Review at a glance
While Depeche Mode’s doomy electro-rock is revered in the US and Europe, they have never been taken quite as seriously back home.
Thirty-seven years into their career, the trio from Basildon made a powerful statement with their biggest ever UK concert.
Flamboyant singer Dave Gahan was at the forefront of the stadium spectacle, though it was a group effort bolstered by a drummer and extra keyboard player.
Their rabble-rousing new songs Going Backwards and Where’s the Revolution? revealed a progressive political agenda.
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But there was never going to be anything earnest about a show constructed around Gahan’s energetic baritone, bum-wiggling and crotch-grabbing. As he strutted along the ego ramp holding a microphone stand aloft, the singer was a rakish cross between Freddie Mercury and David Bowie (whose “Heroes” was covered in the encore).
Despite being a formidable frontman, Gahan gave way to chief songwriter Martin Gore, who sang stark ballads A Question of Lust, Home and Somebody. Depeche Mode have endured because of internal ego management, as well as their arsenal of big, brooding tunes.
The second half had around 80,000 fervent fans chanting choruses to the stadium-sized synth-pop of Everything Counts, a clubby reworking of Enjoy the Silence and the pounding finale of Personal Jesus.