Depeche Mode have put out official releases covering the vast majority of their tours since the mid-1980s, whether via film, live album releases or more often than not both, so the release of Memento Mori: Mexico City, another dual film and album combination, is in simple terms a continuation of that approach. There’s no way that it can convey the giddy cresting energy and innovation of 101 or the drenched-in-darkness gothicisms of the combined Songs of Faith and Devotion Live and Devotional releases, but Memento Mori: Mexico City does capture the band at a sadly inevitable time of change, recorded like the studio album after the death of Andy Fletcher. Even as more of a self-considered vibe merchant, he was still an engaging presence and a core throughline.
The band’s quietly emotional visual salute on the tour to Fletcher, featuring archival close-up shots of him by Anton Corbijn projected during performances of ‘World In My Eyes’, by default can’t be conveyed on the live album itself; otherwise this is another example of the now well-oiled Depeche live machine – Peter Gordeno and Christian Eigner, on keyboards and drums respectively, have now been filling those roles for the group for nearly thirty years – doing what they do best. It’s less about the surprises that Depeche delivers, with nearly all the epochal late 80s and early 90s highlights taking another bow, as the interesting variations, whether via rearrangements on those songs to gently rework expectations from an audience primed to know them very well (and the crowd is absolutely vocal in appreciation throughout) or by including some of the deeper cuts and less familiar singles.
The Memento Mori selections themselves have the most intrinsic interest by making their live debuts, with the set starting with a strong replication of the album’s opening two tracks, the brooding roil of ‘My Cosmos is Mine’ and the moody sparkle of ‘Wagging Tongue’, the latter of which showcases that the combination of Dave Gahan and Martin Gore’s harmonies remains, as ever, one of their strongest and most distinct qualities. If age and the rigours of the road can start to tell as a result, the energy level is still there, whether on a strong version of the Gore-sung late 90s highlight ‘Home’ or a lovely turn through Memento Mori’s striking lead single ‘Ghosts Again’. There’s a bit of a bonus this time out. Following the live cuts, four songs from the Memento Mori sessions are included. It’s understandable why they didn’t make the cut, feeling more like good enough album tracks at most, but there’s something subtly funny in a band so closely associated with electronics calling a song ‘Life 2.0’ – then again, they’ve seen enough now to appreciate the life they have.
