By the time DeMode took the stage, the arena was nearly full and the seemingly comatose crowd that greeted us upon entry came to life, rose to its feet and revealed its true obsessive-fan colors. And no wonder - the electro rockers know how to work an arena. Principal songwriter Gore whipped out a new guitar for each track (his glittery silver-star axe emitted a particularly swank tone) while Gahan raced across the platform, slipping out of his suit-coat two songs in and eventually allowing his black vest to fly open, revealing an incredible physique (it pays to quit drugs, kids!). He engaged the crowd against a floor-to-ceiling LCD backdrop displaying shifting multi-media projections of mostly thought-provoking political and social commentary. They saved the best images for last with two women indulging their foot fetishes to "Strangelove."
Before heading to the E Center, we looked up past set lists online and the results were not surprisingly consistent, give or take a hit. Their Salt Lake City show was no different: a mix of old and new including "Wrong" off the recent release Sounds of the Universe, and standouts "Walking In My Shoes," "Never Let Me Down Again," "Stripped, and a stunning "Enjoy the Silence."
Despite the predictable outline, the band hardly just went through the motions. Dripping in sweat, at times out of breath, emotion bleeding from their strained visages ... they gave their all, and in return the audience that paid up the nines for a walk down memory lane walked away completely blissed out.