This should be fun

https://www.depechemodem.com/

I'm definitely old school Depeche Mode. MASSIVE fan from 1983-1990. And they had a couple great albums after ("Ultra" and "Playing the Angel"). "Songs of Faith and Devotion" ditched their mostly electronic sound for rock and gospel. And while the production was nice, it wasn't for me. And "Exciter" felt under cooked. Mark Bell was not a good fit for them. The rest of their albums were either good ("Delta Machine" and "Memento Mori"), just o.k. ("Sounds of the Universe") or terrible ("Spirit", their worst). There are four "spare" songs on the "M" soundtrack from the "Memento Mori" recording sessions. This being one of them. It's actually quite good, and better than 3/4 of the tracks on the album. I stopped going to see Depeche Mode in concert after the "Spirit" tour, and actually left halfway through that. Because their shows just felt too "same 'ol". And they had mostly the same setlist since the "PTA" tour (their last great tour IMO). The live drums and Dave's on stage performance also finally wore me down. But I do have an interest in seeing "M". I have friends who saw it at the Tribeca film festival and said it's more than just a concert movie. So I might go see it at my local IMAX.

Saw this last night. One of the better concert films of late. I really liked the interludes of poems and stories around death and Mexico.

For those who care, the live album is out today. I haven't enjoyed their tours since "Playing the Angel". So this was exactly what I was expecting. "Meh". And once again, "Everything Counts" is absolutely ruined by Christian Eigner on drums. If they absolutely must have a drummer (and I vehemently don't think they should), he is NOT the guy for the job. He plays like he's in Metallica, not Depeche Mode. At most, they should have an electronic drum kit. It works beautifully in other electronic bands when they use them. The Human League for example. Like fans know, this release has a few leftover studio tracks from "Memento Mori". The best one being "Life 2.0". And I'll go as far as to say I think it's the best song they've done in over 20 years. It feels like a distant cousin to something off "Violator". And very reminiscent of "Enjoy the Silence" in spots. Grab your best headphones and give it a listen. It gave me chills.

I hope it has "People are Good" but probably not.

I saw it was released on Blu-ray along with 2 CDs in Oct 2025

This will stream on Netflix Starting Fri Jan 9, 2026

Yep, reminder set!