The recording of a performance that captures the magic of the moment: two and a half hours of intense and powerful music
There was a time when live albums were not banal and cold testimonies of a more or less recent event. Indeed, many historic live shows such as Who at Leeds, Live at the Apollo by James Brown, Live Rust by Neil Young, How West Was Won by Led Zeppelin, Alive! by Kiss, MTV Unplugged in New York by Nirvana, they went down in history because they captured the impossible, that is, the magic and electricity of the unique and unrepeatable moment of a performancethe exact antithesis of the algorithmic chill that populates streaming platforms today. Both on studio albums and live records.
With some exceptions. Memento Mori: Mexico City by Depeche Mode flies high because it is an album of life, death and memory. Life is all in the strength of the songs, intense and powerful like never before; death and the sense of the end have hovered inexorably on stage (Memento Mori is the title of the group’s latest album) since Andy Fletcher left, making Depeche Mode a duo. And then, the memory: decades of music that cross the two and a half hours of the concert which starts off great with My cosmos is mine, Wagging Tongue and Walking In My Shoes.
Among the peaks, Speak to me, I feel you, Wrong, Ghosts Again, Personal Jesus, A pain that I’m used to, John the Revelator and Enjoy The Silence. Memento Mori: Mexico City it’s not a nice souvenir, but an important chapter in the band’s discography. As are the four unreleased songs which have the flavor and atmosphere of the pieces that put an end to an era, that of Memento Mori, dark, dark and artistically elevated. Listen to In The End and Give yourself to me.
The album is available from December 5th in 2 CD and quadruple vinyl formats. Both editions include exclusive live photos taken during the evenings at the Foro Sol. Also on December 5th, the box set of the concert film “DEPECHE MODE: M” will be released (2 DVD version or 2 Blu-ray version), also containing the double CD with the live album. In addition to Mexican concert footage, the boxset features a docufilm directed by Mexican director Fernando Frías which weaves the band’s powerful live performances with archival images, exploring the profound connection between Depeche Mode’s music and themes of mortality.
