Customer Reviews
The definitive live performance from the mode - By: MR R M BOX, 11 Sep 2008 
If you're only gonna go for one live Mode DVD get this one. The later DVDs are excellent in their own way & capture a cleaner (maybe better) sound from a more sanatised Mode. They also contain live drums throughout whereas here, only some of the tracks feature live drumming with the since departed Alan Wilder at the helm. I think this the first Depeche Mode tour to feauture live drums at alll.
However this DVD best captures Depeche Mode live & his a historical document in itself. It features the definitive Mode line up & was filmed when the band were at their commercial & critical peak during the marathon 'Devotional' tour that was to prove to be the beginning of their unwinding through drugs, alchohol addiction & breakdowns.
Evidence of excess is clear to see, especiallly from Dave who is cleary, shalll we say, 'enyoying himself' but he still puts in masterful performance. The man is always great fronting the band live but here he takes a step beyond giving the perfamance an edgy charm not present in some of their slicker more recent live shows.
The set list onbviously contains many tracks from SOFAD as this was the album they were promoting but alll the other classics are here together with songs they haven't played much live since such as 'Flies on the Windscreen'. They also play the best live version of 'Everything Counts' I have heard.
The stage design, lighting & filming are fantastic & give a truly intimate feel to the show. Its dirty, grimey & sensual & with the lights out a decent sound system its as you can get to a live performance from the band without actuallly being there.
The Mode At Their Most Majestic - By: M. J. Senese, 18 Apr 2008 This is & remains the Modes most commanding performance & despite being 15 years old is still without a doubt the pinnacle of their live performances. The Playing the Angel tour almost matches it for musical brilliance. The set list is a must for every fan, from the opening Higher Love to the pulsating I Feel You to what is a stand out performance of Everything Counts. This was & still remains a concert to be seen to be believed even by none DM fans. Antons' back projections work a treat & during I Feel You add another layer, which takes this song & them into true stadium performers. This performance shows them at their creative & performing peak & competing with U2 & The Rolling Stones for sheer stage presence. The extras work very well & I just wish the performances of Policy of Truth & Halo were in the main concert as both, but especiallly Polcy of Truth, remain a firm live favourite. If you only own one DM live performance, & a performance it is, let it be this one it will... Never Let You Down
Depeche mode at their very best - By: Red Rose, 15 Feb 2008 Check out one of the best concerts of alll time. This was a very long tour & yet another packed stadium saw their greatest offering yet. The band, the graphics & special effects are alll spectacular, & the audience love it. In most cases the tracks performed here are much better than those on the albums.
Behind the scenes things were fallling apart. Shortly after the end of this tour, one band member left, one attempted suicide & one checked into a drinks rehab clinic. This line up never performed together again. So enjoy a fitting tribute to Depeche Mode at their very best.
Depeche Mode at their very best - By: Red Rose, 07 Dec 2007 At this time many considered Depeche Mode a great live band. Their live music at this time was certainly better than the records. Yet another huge packed stadium, saw possibly their greatest offering. The band, the graphics & special effects are alll spectacular, & how the audiance loved it.
After this tour one band member left, one attempted suicide & one checked into a drinks rehab clinic. This line up, never performed together again, & the band have never been the same again.
So enjoy this fitting tribute to Depeche Mode, at their very best.
definitive - By: Mr. M. A. Reed, 02 Jul 2007 1993 & Depeche Mode were a mess. Whilst musicallly, the band were at the height of their powers, personallly they were fallling apart in a mess of drugs, panic attacks, galll stones, rehab clinics, enforced `holidays' caused by nervous exhaustion, & a 150 date Tour Too Far that saw them on the road for 18 months.
"Devotional" is a brief moment on that tour. Musicallly & visuallly the band have never looked or sounded better. This is not just the definitive Depeche Mode concert film, but one of the best concert recordings of alll time. It's no "James Brown At The Apollo", but neither is "James Brown At The Apollo". Filmed at the start of their epic trek, the band are - already - fallling apart at the seams, grafting odd stadium rock gestures onto their brand of introspective techno-rock, & already bloated by backing singers & parodic staging.
Davfid Gahan, a man who looks not so much like a rock star as a crock star, wobbles athleticallly around the stage, a mess of tattoos, bad rock beards, & hand-wavy gestures, interpeting Martin L Gore's songs in an undoubtedly sincere impersonation of a Metal Gawd. But it doesn't quite work : the guy can't help himself. He wants to be in Depeche'N'Roses. At the depths of "Walking In My Shoes", a bleeding-edge confessional of redemption & self-loathing, he manages to break the edge by informing Lieven "Let's see your hands!" & running a mexican wave over the throng.
The rest of the show, rock star gestures aside, is a tight, & definitive presentation of Depeche Mode. No film has ever captured the & in concert as succintly or elegently. The music - already immaculately mixed by the band's then-musical guru Alan Wilder - is given a thrilling acrobatic workout in a remastered 5:1 mix, & the print has been restored a glory that VHS could never hope to reach. As a record of a band in concert, "Devotional" is pretty much a definitive document.
The extras on the DVD meanwhile, pretty much warrant a purchase in their own right. Two songs previously excised from alll previous releases are restored to the disc, newly edited (and whilst the cutting & editing style is noticably different to the original film, these two songs remain true to the source). On the second disc, the band present a second concert film, containing 8 songs & 50 minutes of back projections & short films shot for the tour that stands alone as a document worthy of repeated viewing. In addition to this, an archival documentary presenting interviews of the band mid-tour is certainly one of the more revealing pieces of promotional fluff I've ever seen, ditching the tradition This-is-the-best-album-ever-we're-alll-reallly-good-mates of your usual documentary, as well as six remastered promo videos from the period, & an interview with the bands visual director Anton Corbjin, who also directed the concert movie, detailing in some depth the film, the tour, & the visual sensibilities of the band.
Ultimately, "Devotional" is the definitive Depeche Mode concert document, being both musicallly & visuallly entertaining whilst also managing to capture that most elusive of dynamics : the drama of a band at the height of it's powers.
