Depeche Mode in Abu Dhabi: Bucket-list band

Abu Dhabi: Depeche Mode have achieved “bucket list band” status. By that, I mean people go to see them because they are Depeche Mode. They may not know too many of their songs or ever bought an album, but the draw of big name with a big reputation is all it takes to bring people through the doors, sell over 100 million albums and being the biggest touring of 2013. A band that successful knows what they are doing on stage and knows how to play the biggest crowds.

The set by the three school friends from Basildon, Essex, in Abu Dhabi on Sunday night built into a crescendo of their biggest and most familiar hits, a ploy to leave the fans and the “bucket list” fans alike wanting more when they leave the stadium — boy did it work.

The band, though, were not afraid to experiment with “shock horror” acoustic tracks. Martin Gore was left on-stage with just a spotlight and keyboard for company. He has a surprisingly strong voice that carried the stripped-down versions of Shake the Disease and Home. It’s one of the rare moments Gahan is not centrestage, the wiry frontman born to stadium rock.

The moment he decided to pirouette and twirl onto stage in way that wouldn’t have been out of place in the Bolshoi Ballet meant he owned the crowd. There were one or two rock’n’roll cliches in there — such as holding the mic out for a singalong — but they were lapped up by a crowd eager to join in on the likes of Enjoy the Silence and Just Can’t Get Enough.

The main set included 14 songs and the encore was almost instant. The band have realised, after 30-odd years, that there is no point hanging about, because we all know what’s going to happen. The highlight came in the encore with Just Can’t Get Enough getting the biggest reaction of the night with the full crowd acoustic singalong extending it to a live 12-inch remix. The band have the ability to work a crowd of over twenty thousand — who do not necessarily have Depeche Mode as the first thing on their mind. It shows why they have been the biggest touring band of the year and have over 30 years at the top of an unforgiving industry. Depeche Mode should live long in the memory of the UAE and may have been the only thing that outshone Sebastian Vettel on Yas Island.

— Mark “Sparky” Pendergast presents Choice Cuts with Sparky, Friday-Saturday, 10am-2pm.