On Saturday, March 25 2023, I hit the road to the SAP Center in San Jose California for the second stop on the Depeche Mode‘s Memento Mori tour. It was a beautiful spring evening which made for a pleasant drive (sans the traffic) to San Jose. The SAP Center is a multi-use 17,000 plus seat event center and home to the San Jose Sharks hockey team. Dubbed the Shark Tank, this arena not only seats a ton of people, but the acoustics are pretty good as well.
Kelly Lee Owens was the opener for this part of the tour. She is a singer, musician and producer who brought her solo set to the stage. She would be considered a techno, dream pop and electronic artist and she paired with Depeche Mode very well. The well mixed beats with her ethereal vocals held the audience captive. She opened with “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” which is a Radiohead cover before delving into her own tracks. Her 7 song set was quick but effective. I am looking forward to more of her.
Set List
1). Weird Fishes/Arpeggi (Radiohead cover)
2).Re-Wild
3). Lucid
4). L.I.N.E.
5). On
6). Jeanette
7). Melt!
As Depeche Mode came on stage, you could feel the energy step up a few notches. Opening the show with “My Cosmos is Mine” from the just released Memento Mori album. As the night went on, Dave Gahan strutted around the stage with all of his signature moves. A few times during the set, Dave headed out on to the peninsula of the stage to get a little closer toy the crowd. The entire set was amazing! The sound, the lighting and band were all awesome.
The set consisted of 5 new songs off Memento Mori, and a wide variety of classic DM songs. It is so hard to narrow down the highlights of the evening because everything was so good but, some of my favorites were “Walking in My Shoes”, “I Feel You” and “Wrong”. They song “World in My Eyes” which was dedicated to the late Andrew Fletcher, the bands keyboard player and a founding member, this Captivated the audience. After playing “Enjoy the Silence,” they thanked the crowd and left the stage. A few minutes later they returned and broke in to their encore set.
The encore set consisted of four songs and started with an incredible version of “Waiting for the night”. This version was just Dave and Martin out on the peninsula singing with backing music of just piano/keyboards. The whole vibe of the song was endearing and intimate. From there, they went into a dance hit, “I Just Can’t Get Enough”. What a change in emotion! They ended up closing the night with “Personal Jesus” and left the crowd begging for more.
The only song I was hoping for that they didn’t play was “Blasphemous Rumors”. However, with how epic the set was, they more than made up for it. If you have been on the fence with catching this tour, do it. There was literally nothing to complain about this show. This will be a memory I will keep with me for a long time.
Depeche Mode are:
Dave Gahan – lead vocals
Martin Gore – keyboards, guitars, backing and lead vocals
Christian Eigner – drums, keyboards
Peter Gordeno – keyboards, bass guitar, piano, backing vocals
Set List
Speak to Me (Outro) (Intro)
1). My Cosmos Is Mine
2). Wagging Tongue
3). Walking In My Shoes
4). It’s No Good
5). Sister of Night
6). In Your Room (Zepher mix)
7). Everything Counts
8). Precious
9). Speak To Me
10). A Question of Lust
11). Soul With Me (acoustic)
12. Ghosts Again
13). I Feel You
14). A Pain That I’m Used To (Jacques Lu Cont’s Remix)
15). World In My Eyes (Tribute to Andrew Fletcher)
16). Wrong
17). Stripped
18). John The Revelator
19). Enjoy The Silence
20). Waiting For The Night
21). Just Can’t Get Enough
22). Never Let Me Down Again
23). Personal Jesus
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Photographer of about 10 years, I have been shooting concerts for about 8 of those years. I started to get serious about concert photography about 6 or 7 years ago and now try to shoot as many as I can. I shoot mostly rock but, have done some country and big band stuff. I love music and since I am nowhere close to being a musician, this is a way I can be a small part of what, in the words of Henry Rollins, “gets me through the highs, the lows and everything in between”.
