Jonathan Geddes's verdict: Three stars
For many bands a vast arena gig is a career highlight, but for Depeche Mode it's just another Monday. The synthpop outfit's success at both home and abroad meant that a Hydro appearance was unlikely to pose a challenge, and this was an assured performance where nearly every sound, movement and gesture was designed for mass appeal.
Leading this was Dave Gahan, a man who strutted and spun around with relish, and enough self-belief to go bare-chested.
Admittedly, his actions occasionally bordered on the pantomime, but as a front man he was a compelling throughout. At times he needed to be, because the music did not always match the stage presence.
There were, undoubtedly several fine moments, from a pounding Black Celebration that displayed the thunderous drumming of Christian Eigner to the hugely danceable A Question of Time. Their two finest moments, and, indeed, two of pop's best tunes, were packaged together with Enjoy The Silence in particular performed in life-affirming fashion, before Personal Jesus was given an extended down and dirty rendition.
And yet there were moments when such a thumping approach didn't quite come off. The opening clutch of songs, in particular, were performed in clubbing fashion, any subtlety squashed underneath a juddering beat. Such moments reappeared throughout, a dreary Heaven here, the disappointingly aimless Halo there, and it tempered matters, no matter how hard Gahan and his comrades worked.
Tellingly, it was when Martin Gore got his chance to shine that stood out most. His three stripped-back songs, including a spine-tingling But Not Tonight, were refreshingly different, and possessed an emotion that not even the encore's chant-along version of Just Can't Get Enough could match.
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