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Review

Mode of appeal

By SEAN DALY
Published November 4, 2005

	80s Podcast: Depeche Mode

TAMPA - Ever wonder what happened to all those jaded Depeche Mode fans who coolly mocked the dumb jocks in your high-school halls?

Well, as a former varsity tennis player and C student, I'm happy to report that, all these years later, they appear to be far sunnier in outlook, dress and skin tone. They have less aerodynamic hair. And they remain proudly, blissfully smitten with that '80s-born trio of British synth-poppers.

On the opening night of a world tour - an earlier date in Fort Lauderdale was canceled due to ongoing hurricane recovery - Dave Gahan (the tortured lead singer), Martin Gore (the tortured lead songwriter) and Andy Fletcher (the tortured third guy) gave 8,970 happy, vocal fans at the St. Pete Times Forum Thursday exactly what they craved:

Ninety minutes of clanking, swirling, thumping electro-pop perfect for either bemoaning your existence or doing the robot dance.

Touring behind new album Playing the Angel - a dark, brooding triumph that manages to sound both fresh and familiar (they know it's good; they played most of it) - the band filled a flashing, futuristic stage with all manner of sleek, digital geegaws, including a giant silver orb and three keyboard consoles encased in intergalactic space pods.

Star Trek vibe aside, there's a much more earthbound reason for Depeche Mode's longstanding success and unmistakable influence on such modern groups as Nine Inch Nails, the Killers and Thursday's opening act, the Bravery. Simply: Gore & Co. are honest about alienation and can make the all-ages scourge of loneliness sound both heartbreaking and incredibly catchy.

Gahan is a subtly seductive frontman, a singer whose monotone style of crooning only breaks with inflection in the prettiest, most painful places. On opening number A Pain That I'm Used To, which is also Playing the Angel's aggressive opening track, the singer shimmied like a cross between Mick Jagger and a pole-dancer, promising, "I'm not sure what I'm looking for anymore."

Still displaced after all these years. Oh, how the smart people roared their approval. New single Precious, a desperate call for peace - perhaps between lovers, perhaps between nations - also received a raucous grade, and with good reason. It's one of the most gorgeous songs the band has crafted.

Such was the assault of synthed-out ecstasy that there were a few times when certain songs, including the Gore-sung Damaged People and Home, lost nuance. (Gore, who alternated between buzzing guitar and burbling keyboard, does get bonus points for wearing black angel wings throughout the show.) Everything Counts was botched so bad, Gahan demanded a do-over. And with great chunks of the arena empty, it was obvious that the Times Forum was too cavernous for a show that would have benefited from greater intimacy.

But hey, when the oldies "n' gloomies were played, you couldn't help but shake it and shake it well. 1985's A Question of Time, the first fan fave to be issued, sent the crowd into a pogo frenzy. 1990's Policy of Truth, with that instantly recognizable keyboard hook, sounded just as smoldering and sexy as the 1990 studio version.

Depeche Mode might have been stingy with some of their songbook (no People Are People?), but the show's close was a boom-boom-boom assault of techno-thumping hits, including the thunderous galloping charge of Personal Jesus ("Reach out and touch me!"), the crescendoing crashes of Enjoy the Silence ("Words are very unnecessary!") and the dance-floor silliness of Just Can't Get Enough ("Just can't get enough!").

By the time Gahan growled "I'm taking a ride with my best friend" on the sublimely ominous Never Let Me Down, one thing was clear: When you're road-tripping down misery lane, Depeche Mode makes for a darn good chauffeur.

Sean Daly can be reached at sdaly@sptimes.com or 727 893-8467. His blog is at www.sptimes.com/blogs/popmusic

[Last modified November 4, 2005, 01:40:17]