Hailing from Essex, and having conquered our eyes and ears for almost 40 years, British electro-pop group Depeche Mode are spoiling fans with a broadcast of their 2018 LiVE SPiRiTS concert. To be shown in its entirety on their official YouTube channel next Thursday (June 25th, 20:00 British Standard Time), the band’s performance film presents the complete footage from the Berlin leg of their Global Spirits Tour. Though it had been seen in rather more fragmented form on the acclaimed 2019 documentary, SPiRiTS in the Forest – the trailer for which is currently the featured video at the head of the Depeche Mode YouTube channel – there is sure to be plenty of new content for diehard fans to feast their eyes on.
Directed by Anton Corbijn, the Dutch photographer and prolific director of music videos and feature-length films, the documentary is set for release on June 26th, on DVD and BluRay. Featured on the film’s official website, a pre-release sneak peak is on offer for those who can’t wait the extra week – a video of the band performing “Cover Me” from the soon-to-be-released Berlin concert.
Sourcing an official statement for the upcoming release, an article published by NME claims the new concert film will “zero in on their lives – all extremely different save for their love of Depeche Mode’s music and the way that music has shaped their experiences – intercut with the final Berlin show, held at the iconic Waldbühne (“Forest Stage”) on the record-breaking two-year Global Spirit Tour in 2018, which saw them play to over 3 million fans at 115 shows across the world.”
Quite the feast of sight and sound awaits, I’m sure. Not surprising, though, for a film like this to be coming from a director who, in a previous interview with NME, said the band were constantly changing and developing, artistically. “Depeche Mode were only interested if there was a different angle to it,” Corbijn said, “so we decided to look at the reason for why Depeche Mode was still growing. They have all these fans and they’re the biggest cult band in the world. It’s unbelievable.”
- Photo credit: Owen Ela
