Super guests of the final evening of the Sanremo Festival 2023, Depeche Mode have always been poised between crisis and great successes and have made the history of the English electronic new wave. The band will perform on stage at the Ariston theater without Andy Fletcher, who passed away last May, and will present the single “Ghosts Again”, which anticipates the new album “Memento Mori”, out on March 24th
The famous British music magazine Q called them “the most popular and longest running electronic band the world has known” And Rolling Stone “the quintessence of electronic music in the eighties”. Techno-pop influences and the intuition to wink at rock and, later, at post-punk and industrial, the Depeche Modemuch desired by the artistic director Amadeus (by his own admission), will be the super guests of the final evening of Sanremo Music Festival 2023. A group formed more than forty years ago which, between misunderstandings and disappointments, but also great successes such as Enjoy the silence, People are People, Personal Jesus And Never let me down again, made the history of the English electronic new wave. 100 million records sold worldwide, 24 active albums including 14 studio, 4 live and 6 collections. The business card with which Dave Gahan and Martin Gore will perform on the stage of the Ariston theater is that of the great international stars.
The same one they’ve toured the world with since the 80’s when in Basildon, along with Vince Clarke (keyboards, guitar, backing vocals, drum machines) and to the late Andrew Fletcher (keyboards, bass, spokesperson), who died last May due to an aortic dissection, formed the Depeche Mode. A career – that of the band – full of ups and downs, difficulties and timeless songs, which began almost by chance. Looking for a frontman for their band composition of soundIndeed, Clarke, Fletch (Fletcher’s nickname) and Gore heard Dave Gahanthen unknown, sing a reinterpretation of Heroes of David Bowie in a small club and they asked him to join the training. The new rumor suggested the name Depeche Mode, taken from that of a French fashion magazine of the same name. The rest is history. But complications, problems and obstacles are always around the corner. And while the band began to grind numbers and have a good response from the public, Clarke, the lead author, abandoned it for form the electropop duo Yazoo with singer Alison Moyet and then Erasure, with Andy Bell.
Gore remained the composer, and for the tour of their second album A Broken Frame, Depeche Mode hired keyboardist Alan Wilder. Hence a string of successes, turns towards darker records, with gothic and dark tones such as Black Celebration, a huge concert at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena and various world tours. But behind the genius, there is often a hint of madness. And indeed, the group faced a long period of crisis. Fletch struggled with depression and alcohol abuse in the 90s and Gahan with hallucinogen addiction – for which he attempted suicide in 1995 – and speedball (combination of heroin or morphine with cocaine or crack), from which, in 1996, he was pronounced clinically dead for a few minutes, before being miraculously revived. Furthermore, disputes between Gore and Wilder intensified, who left the group thirteen years after his entry, openly criticizing its members. Three remained, with Gahan having overcome drug addiction problems, Depeche Mode continued to gain acceptance among the general public even with the arrival of the new century, releasing records such as Playing the Angel, Sounds of Universe, Delta machine and Spirit. In 2017 they were also nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Famewhich they entered three years later.
DEPECHE MODE RETURN TO THE SAN REMO FESTIVAL
33 years after the last time, the band returns to play at the Ariston theater, where they will present a world premiere of “Ghosts Again”, a single that anticipates the album “Memento Mori” (out next March 24), the first by Gore and Gahan without Fletcher and fifteenth of the group. “For me Ghosts Again perfectly captures that balance that exists between melancholy and joy”, explained the singer. Gore echoed this, adding: “It’s not often we end up recording a song that I don’t get bored when I listen to it. I’m excited to be able to share it with everyone.” The release of Memento Mori will be followed by the band’s nineteenth world tour, which will begin in March and will visit Italy on July 12 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, on the 14th at the San Siro and on the 16th at the Dall’Ara in Bologna. Can’t wait for tonight’s performance.
