Depeche Mode Saves

Last time Austin hosted Depeche Mode, mist shrouded their first weekend set at ACL Fest 2013. Gen X moms and dads tucked the kids in for the night, dug out tattered Violator shirts, and willingly gave their minds and spirits over to the band’s narcotic pulse. Much of that same ritual came into play Wednesday night at Circuit of the Americas.

At Zilker Park during those two humid hours, the crowd sung full force about lust, heartache, depression, self-doubt. Austin’s collective music mind vacillated between wanting to be Dave Gahan or wanting to bed Dave Gahan. Spectacular show, that, high on energy and oozing with raw sexuality.

The crowd, the energy, the excitement all returned on a similarly warm, but clear evening four years later.

Female dream-pop tribe Warpaint held their own against the Eighties juggernaut they preceded. An audience in need of its Depeche Mode fix couldn’t help but notice – and feel – the L.A. quartet and its mastery of psychedelic drone. As the amphitheatre filled to bursting, attendees hanging in the aisles and wings hoping to stake out a view of their gods, Warpaint earned their exit applause and instant converts.

The Beatles’ “Revolution” laid the groundwork for introduction to the headliners’ 14th studio album, March’s Spirit, whose throbbing beat took hold of everyone’s stomachs. Frontman Dave Gahan in a red satin jacket and henchman Martin Gore strapped into a star-shaped and sparkling guitar, the band filed out and immediately plunged into new song “Going Backwards,” a lament on the downfall of the human race.

“We have not evolved,” sang a fist-clenched Gahan against a paint-splattered backdrop. “We have no respect. We have lost control.”

Spirit arrived to mostly positive reviews, chronicling the world’s state of affairs in the wake of Brexit and Trump. Songwriter Gore is confused and worried, as is mouthpiece Gahan. In a February Rolling Stone interview, the latter opined, “As I get older, the things going on in the world affect me more. My daughter, Rosie, was deeply affected by the election last year. She just sobbed, and I was like, ‘Wow.’”

That concern drove “Wheres the Revolution,” a set highlight and the band’s latest single, proclaiming, “You’ve been pushed ’round. You’ve been lied to. You’ve been fed truths. Where’s the revolution?”

Energy from the crowd waned about midway through, but just a little. The faithful were itching for a familiar hit, but the Englishmen opted for new material and tracks spanning 1993 forward – “Barrel of a Gun” from 1997 and “Corrupt” from 2009 to name two – and avoided myriad hits their casual observers know from 1990’s Violator and before.

And yet DM remain one of the rare bands whose popularity hasn’t waned out of the mainstream for three-plus decades now. Their bionic heart beats so unique and unchanging that new tunes and lesser known singles largely still engage, familiarity be damned sometimes. The band forced everyone within earshot to appreciate lesser known work and the crowd seemed okay with that.

Ultimately, they were rewarded for their patience at the end with a domino block of “Enjoy the Silence,” “Never Let Me Down,” “Somebody,” “I Feel You,” and “Personal Jesus.” The band paid homage to David Bowie as well with a playful rendition of “Heroes.” One could close their eyes and imagine the group performing in ’86 or ’90 or ’98.

Though the trio’s aged, you couldn’t tell from their energy levels or their voices. Gahan still chicken walks like Jagger and makes grown men and women gush, while Gore hits the high notes like a schoolboy. Both proved nothing short of reassuring, because during this worldwide existential crisis, surrendering yourself to the unbridled sensuality of Depeche Mode can have a medicinal effect.