Depeche Mode: Touring the Angel: Live in Milan

After a career spanning more than 25 years of producing meaningful songs and brilliant live performances, you'd think Depeche Mode would have set the microphones and instruments aside to bask in their accumulated success. However, to the relief of fans worldwide, this doesn't seem to be the case. They proved with the release of Playing The Angel (2005) that they can still provide upbeat, quality material following the heavily criticized Exciter (2001), and they followed up this release with a world tour entitled Touring the Angel. From this tour came the DVD recording of their show in Milan. Not only can they still make great albums, Depeche Mode can also put on a fantastic show.

Anton Corbijn, who has worked with the band for many years with photography, videos and stage production , served as artistic director responsible for the design of the stage and the on stage video recordings, and for this tour, he once again found a way to provide fresh visuals. While previously recorded videos and images were a consistent part of the DM stage setup, Corbijn this time combined previously recorded video with live action from the stage as well as the crowd along with lighting effects to really bring the stage to life. Large screens on stage behind the band displayed individual shots of the band playing, the crowd dancing and singing along, or zooming in on images such as one of Dave Gahan's tattoos, combined with lighting and some camera tricks. The live DVD director was Blue Leach, who also contributed a new look to the band. A variety of camera angles, fragmented images and different visual and camera effects, such as beads in front of the camera lens, all added to the new look Leach gave the band on DVD.

As far as the performance is concerned, Depeche Mode continues to be brilliant. The band seemed to show more energy than they did during the Exciter tour. Dave Gahan's stage antics and command of the crowd remain unmatched. Even in his 40's, Gahan refuses to stand still for long, dancing and encouraging the crowd to sing a long during numerous songs. Perhaps what any Depeche Mode fan will find most encouraging, though, is seeing songwriter Martin Gore perform the few songs he sings with confidence he seemed to lack earlier in his career. The set list for the concert included a good mix of new songs from Playing the Angel and old favorites. The earlier portion of the show consisted mainly of new songs opening with "A Pain That I'm Used To" followed by "John the Revelator" and highlighted by a touching performance of "Precious," which was written by Gore about his children during his time of divorce. Later songs during the concert include upbeat performances of "World in My Eyes" and "Enjoy the Silence," and classics during the encore like "Shake the Disease," the rarely played "Just Can't Get Enough," and no Depeche Mode show would be complete without "Never Let Me Down Again."

The DVD will give you the just the Milan concert as well as two bonus tracks. However, the more serious Depeche Mode fan will want the three disc special edition set which will include an audio disc with eight live tracks and another DVD with more features like the Touring the Angel documentary and screen shots from some of the tracks during the concert.

Whether you missed the tour and want to see what it was like or would love to relive your own Depeche Mode concert experience, this DVD is a must. Everybody knows a DVD can never replace the experience of a concert taken in live, but Touring the Angel: Live in Milan definitely comes close.