Depeche Mode Resurrect Their Past

The overall mood at Depeche Mode's second arena show in the past six months in Toronto was dark, gloomy and sexually taut, and the audience fucking loved it.

In my December review, I mentioned that there was no love lost for the pioneering gloomy synth-rockers on the part of the crowd, and after last night's show I'm convinced that they all worship on the altar of Gahan, Gore and Fletcher.

Opening act She Wants Revenge were the perfect precursor to the show with their brand of electro-gloom a la JoyOrderMode. When Depeche Mode graced the stage and launched into "A Pain That I'm Used To" from their latest album, Playing The Angel, there was a detectable creak in Dave Gahan's voice.

I immediately worried that the threesome were exhausted from the lengthy tour and that the performance would suffer as a result. But by the third song, "Suffer Well," Gahan's signature stage twirls and sashays didn't seem scripted, and his bravado was palpable.

He also interacted more with Martin Gore at this show. During "Personal Jesus," Gahan screamed into Gore's guitar and the two even swayed back-to-back at one point. The guitarist triumphantly tore off his knit Viking hat, which he had kept on throughout the entire show in December, during his two-song spotlight.

The band definitely felt adored and it was no wonder why. The set list was heavy on a lot of older, more obscure and less radio-friendly Depeche Mode tracks that only true fans would be able to sing every word to, and sing, or scream rather, they did. Some of the highlights were "Stripped," "In Your Room," and "Nothing's Impossible."

When Gahan got the audience to clap along during the kicked-up version of "Enjoy The Silence," I could actually feel the wind in the air. During the encore, the band brought out oldies "Shake The Disease" and "Photographic" off of their debut album, 1981's Speak And Spell.

Though the crowd adored every minute of these tracks, they truly enjoyed the new songs as well, giving the impression that they've had some time with the latest album. Not only did the fans savour every guitar chord, keyboard bleep and raspy lyric, they screamed at every hip swivel, slithery strut and butt shake the frontman made.

If Gahan were any more sexy, he'd explode. When he took off his vest to reveal his bare, slender, tattooed chest, the crowd screamed. Even the guys were whistling! Depeche Mode were truly in their element at this show, and the fans were right on the same dark, twisted track as their idols.