DEPECHE MODE: M

 

Depeche Mode's last album Memento Mori was one that focused on themes such as mortality and ageing, and it was of course released against the background of Fletch's death in May 2022. It is an excellent album and the subsequent tour was hugely enjoyable and hugely emotional, especially during World In My Eyes when tribute was paid to Andy in tremendous style. During the tour, there were rumours of the Foro Sol gigs being filmed but nothing was ever confirmed until the announcement of Depeche Mode: M. The film promised that it would be:

 "(A) cinematic journey into the heart of Mexican culture's relationship with death, framed by the iconic performances of Depeche Mode during their 2023 Memento Mori tour. Conceived and directed by award-winning Mexican filmmaker Fernando Frías, the film captures the band's three sold-out shows in Mexico City, attended by over 200,000 fans, blending concert footage with interpretive interstitials and archival material. DEPECHE MODE: M celebrates the band's global influence while delving into the profound connection between music, mortality, and Mexican tradition — a sacred meeting point where pain, memory, joy, and dance dissolve into one another, blurring into something profoundly and beautifully human"

Not just a live film then. How was this going to work?

Happily, it works very well indeed. I saw it at the Odeon in Glasgow last night and then I'm seeing it again at the Glasgow IMAX. I thought that I may as well treat this like a tour and see them when they are in town. Fernando Frias has captured the spirit of the gigs on the last tour pefectly. Ok, some of the songs are edited and (insert name of your favourite song) isn't shown, but that's not the point of this film. I'm not hugely informed about Mexican culture generally but the film's explanation of it in the context of its approach to death is fascinating and it compliments Depeche Mode's music perfectly. Some of the filming techniques are fairly experimental, especially for a concert film, but Frias pulls it off and the whole package makes for an extremely rewarding watch. 

Ultimately, I was there and you will be there because of Depeche Mode and they are rightly the stars of this film. Dave's on-stage persona seen close up like this rather than from ten miles away in a stadium is outstanding. Massively over the top at all times, he struts around, does that odd chicken walk thing, pretends he's playing the piano very badly, spits an unusal number of times and generally owns the entire stadium. Martin, a man who obviously has an ear for a tune and is undisputably a musical genius, hops around displaying no sense of rhythm whatsoever, dancing like a drunk toddler holding a guitar. These are the things you don't generally see a lot of at the gigs. They both seem to be having the time of their lives however. Good for them.

The film handles World In My Eyes and the Fletch tribute perfectly. Martin and Dave appear in offstage mode before the song to add an edge to it and the crowd display pictures of Andy as the song plays. His death still doesn't seem real and that section of the film has the same emotional power that section of the concerts did. The other tracks are great and, unlike on the quite terrible Live Spirits, they sound superb. Stripped for example sounds huge. Wagging Tongue, a real highlight of the live shows, also sounds incredible. It's great seeing everyone going mad for the big songs towards the end too. I was doing the Never Let Me Down Again arm wave in the cinema last night albeit in very subtle form. It's very hard not to.

It's not perfect however. I would have liked to have heard more from the Mexican fans who seem to be as hardcore a part of the Depeche fanbase as anyone else. There are some comments at the start but it's pretty limited. I think more from the fans would have added more to the film albeit the non concert  parts of the film do work very well. 

Ultimately, Depeche Mode: M is hugely enjoyable and a great reminder of what was a great tour. The forthcoming Depeche Mode - Memento Mori: Mexico City will give us the full show (albeit culled from the three nights) on film to fill in the missing songs and that helps Depeche Mode: M work as a standalone film about Depeche Mode as opposed to just a Depeche Mode concert film.

DEPECHE MODE MEMENTO MORI: MEXICO CITY - A NEW LIVE ALBUM AND NEW STUDIO SONGS

 

With Depeche Mode: M coming next week, we already had quite a bit to look forward to but, today, we got more exciting news. On 5th December, the band will release a new live album called Memento Mori: Mexico City and that release will also include four new songs recorded during the Memento Mori sessions. The first of these, In The End, will be available on all streaming services from Friday 24th October. That means we can all stop watching dodgy YouTube videos filmed at various screenings of the film.

The live album features the setlist from the first part of the tour. The tracklist is:

Intro, My Cosmos Is Mine, Wagging Tongue, Walking In My Shoes, It's No Good, Sister Of Night, in Your Room, Everything Counts, Precious, Speak To Me, Home, Soul With Me, Ghosts Again, I Feel You, A Pain That I'm Used To, World In My Eyes, Wrong, Stripped, John The Revelator, Enjoy The Silence, Waiting For The Night, Just Can't Get Enough, Never Let Me Down Again, Personal Jesus

I enjoyed the sets on the last tour and I thought the opening pair of My Cosmos Is Mine and Wagging Tongue were tremendous openers. It'll be cool to hear the set again though it's a pity the incredible version of Black Celebration we heard later in the tour isn't here. That's just being picky however.

The cover has a bit of a bootleg feel to it which I hope is intentional. If not, it doesn't feel like a great deal of time was spent on the artwork here.

Finally on the live part, I think we can all agree that the sound on the last live album was crap (see my wordier review here - https://almostpredictablealmost1.blogspot.com/2020/07/well-its-about-time-depeche-mode-live.html) and sounded nothing like the actual gigs. Let's hope that's not the case here.

The four new songs also feature on all formats. They are called: Survive, Life 2.0, Give Yourself To Me and In The End. I can't wait to hear them, starting with In The End this Friday.  Suddenly getting four new Depeche tracks as a surprise is a very good thing and if they match or get close to Memento Mori in quality, happy early Christmas to us all.

As it is 2025 and a new thing is being released, we have a multitude of formats to deal with. Buy one or be an idiot (hello me) and buy most of them, the choice is yours! Here is a rundown of them and some links to buy them. This isn't exhaustive, just a selection so please don't shout at me. 

VINYL:

Quadruple black vinyl (see top of blog): Official store https://depechemodeuk.store/?lf=3624b999881c86f8f5db5042cc9b4d95

Quadruple blue vinyl -Depeche Mode US Storehttps://depeche-mode-us.myshopify.com/products/memento-mori-mexico-city-4lp

Quadruple silver vinyl - HMV UK https://hmv.com/store/music/vinyl/memento-mori-mexico-city!-limited-edition-4lp?_gl=1*10szgoc*_up*MQ..*_gs*MQ..&gclid=CjwKCAjwgeLHBhBuEiwAL5gNEclx8EbLASwLQsDSFG9CpTIG7JlVbfsOswRO2T4H3GKbb1IfngCS1xoCDZUQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&gbraid=0AAAAACmFV8V5J1vCJ7sgZiQFip6sJhHJL

Quadruple pink vinyl (see above) - jpg.de https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/poprock/detail/-/art/depeche-mode-memento-mori-mexico-city/hnum/12513380

Quadruple Golden Pearl (whatever the hell colour that is) vinyl exclusive to Amazon - https://t.co/eYpqW4T2jt

(NB the Amazon picture shows blue vinyl. It isn't that)

CASSETTE

Double cassette - Official store UK or US https://depechemodeuk.store/products/memento-mori-mexico-city-2cassette

CD

Double CD - Official store US or UK https://depechemodeuk.store/products/memento-mori-mexico-city-2cd

MuteBank https://mutebank.co.uk/products/depeche-mode-memento-mori-mexico-city-2cd

DVD AND BLU RAY

Disc 1 (Blu Ray and DVD) - Depeche Mode: M

Disc 2 (Blu Ray and DVD) - Memento Mori: Mexico City - that's a full length concert film directed by Fernando Frias featuring over two hours of footage from the 2023 Foro Sol shows. Exciting stuff

2 x CD - Memento Mori: Mexico City

Buy it from the official stores  https://depechemodeuk.store/products/depeche-mode-m-2dvd-2cd or Mutebank https://mutebank.co.uk/products/depeche-mode-memento-mori-mexico-city-2cd-blu-ray

I'm very much looking forward to this. First up is the film which I'm seeing in Glasgow next week. Podcast preparations are somewhat behind so the review of that will be here in writing rather than in a mumbled Scottish accent in your headphones at some point soon. 

INSIGHT - A DEPECHE MODE PODCAST

 

If you are reading this, you probably know that I've written a lot about Depeche Mode. What started as a hobby has turned into something bigger than I ever imagined it could be and, recently, conscious that I hadn't done anything for a while, I started thinking about what to do next.

I'd had an idea for a podcast a few years ago which I ran past a few DM fans but we didn't get round to doing anything. I found the notes I'd prepared for that and decided to do it myself. With that, Insight - A Depeche Mode Podcast came into existence.

Now, I've never recorded a podcast before. I also have limited technical skills and very little idea of how I'm going to do this however I am going to do it and hopefully you'll tune in. 

I'm aiming to release the first of what at the moment looks like about 25 podcasts early in 2026. The frequency with which they will be released is not something I'm making any promises about but I'll attempt one a month, maybe more. Depending on how they go, I'll try and add a few extra ones with interviews and other things. Sounds like a plan eh?

There will be a first episode this year to try things out and I will try to tie it in with the release of M. I'm going to a couple of screenings in Glasgow so that seems like a sensible theme for the first episode of Insight, presuming I work out how to actually record and release a podcast in the next couple of weeks. 

Anyway, I hope you enjoy whatever it is this turns into. There are social media things for you to follow to stay up to date:

Twitter (not calling it X ) - @InsightPod101

Instagram - @insightpodcast101

See you soon.

DEPECHE MODE: M

 

It seems a new Depeche Mode live film is on the way. It is called Depeche Mode:M and it was filmed live at the Foro Sol gigs in Mexico City on 21st, 23rd and 25th September 2023.

Gigs there always look incredible and it therefore seems a good venue to choose for this sort of thing. The film is directed by Fernando Frias and features, so the press release says, "interstitials and archival" footage from the gigs. 

Like the best forgotten Spirits In The Forest, it seems the film will be shown in cinemas (or theatres for everyone outside the UK) so that's good news. It's great that we are getting a release from this tour as it was a cracker. Two of the three Foro Sol gigs were reviewed by blog friend Natalia Burgos. Natalia has sadly passed away since then and she is much missed by everyone in the DM community. Here is her review:

https://almostpredictablealmost1.blogspot.com/2023/10/a-memento-depeche-mode-foro-sol-mexico.html

The press releases is of course full of the usual press release jazz. To end here it is in full lifted from the ever excellent XS Noize. Once more news about Depeche Mode:M comes out, I'll no doubt write about it here:

Depeche Mode has announced an expressive and dynamic cinematic film titled Depeche Mode: M, featuring interstitials and archival footage from the band’s Mexico City shows on the 2023-2024 Memento Mori Tour.

The feature-length film, conceptualized and directed by award-winning filmmaker Fernando Frias, takes audiences on a profound musical journey, using nearly 200,000 Mexican fans’ fervent connection with the band as a window into the band’s timeless global influence, and a powerful tribute to the unbreakable connection between music, tradition and the human spirit.

Through Frias’ creative lens, the cinematic experience weaves footage from the three sold-out shows at Mexico City’s Foro Sol Stadium to explore the parallels between the themes on Depeche Mode’s latest album Memento Mori and the deep connection to death and mortality in Mexican culture. Frias is best known for his award-winning film I’m No Longer Here, which won Mexico’s prestigious Ariel Academy Awards with 10 wins, including Best Picture and Best Direction. The film also earned Frias a DGA nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement. Additionally, it was Mexico’s submission to the Oscars in 2021 and was shortlisted for Best International Feature. His latest film, I Don’t Expect Anyone to Believe Me, premiered to critical acclaim.

Depeche Mode: M will premiere in theatres later this year and follows the band during its Mexico City stop during the Memento Mori Tour, which saw them play to more than 3 million fans at 112 shows around the world and was hailed by Rolling Stone as “a stunning celebration of life and music.” The tour followed Depeche Mode’s 15th studio album, Memento Mori, released in 2023 to wide critical acclaim. An indelible inspiration to fans, critics and artists alike, Depeche Mode continues to forge ahead, with the Memento Mori album and tour representing just the latest chapter of a peerless and ongoing legacy.

Depeche Mode: M is produced by Columbia Records, Anonymous Content and REDRUM. Sony Music Vision is the distributor.

BOOK REVIEW: DEPECHE MODE LIVE

 

Authors Dennis Burmeister and Sascha Lange set the benchmark for Depeche Mode books with 2013's Monument, a celebration of Dennis' remarkable Depeche collection. The book is a work of art basically, full to the brim of incredible Depeche Mode items that inspire jealously in even the most fervent collectors. Their next book Behind The Wall was a fascinating exploration of the band's East German fanbase. News that Dennis and Sascha were working on another book was rightly greeted with delight among the Depeche fanbase and that book, Depeche Mode Live, is a wonderful companion to Monument, showing the other side of Depeche Mode obsession - watching the band play live.

Depeche Mode Live covers the band's entire live career, starting with Martin's first band Norman & The Worms and ending with the band's most recent tour in support of Memento Mori. Between those two points, there book is crammed with things that will make every Depeche Mode fan happy. There are more photographs than it's possible to count from every single live era and when you buy the book, you will see many of these photos for the first time. Fans all over the world contributed to the book and the results are incredible. We are all very familiar with concert photos from the last three or four tours given the prevalence of smartphones and while the pictures from those tours are great to see, it's the early photos that really grab the attention. Seeing the band on the Construction Time Again tour for example is incredible. This was the point where they moved from pop to something more interesting altogether and the photos bear that out. The stark stage set-up, the near all black dress code, Martin looking very different to the Martin we first met - it's all there. Wonderful.

There are pictures of tour passes, adverts, backstage pictures and, of course, lots and lots of live photographs. The progression the band make from innocent pop stars to their stadium phase is laid before you and it's a joy reliving that journey. Was it really only 11 years from The Meaning Of Love to Devotional? It was quite a trip and Depeche Mode Live helps you relive that in a fascinating way.

There are interviews in the book too with people like the band's former booking agent Dan Silver and Peter Illmann the former host of Peter's Pop-Show, one of the show's responsible for the band's success in Germany. All the interviews (there are six in total) are fascinating. I must confess that I've already read them several times.

The best way to sum this book up is to simply tell you to buy it. It is an absolute triumph and a must for Depeche Mode fans everywhere.

I caught with Dennis and Sascha to ask them about the book and of course ask a few daft Depeche Mode questions:

APA: Why did you decide to write this book and what was the inspiration for it?

Dennis: Depeche Mode's success is based on the band's artistic output in the studio, their worldwide loyal fanbase and, above all, their impressive concert and tour history. With Monument and Behind The Wall, we dealt with the first two of those topics. With Live, we now shed some light on the history of Depeche Mode as a unique live band.

APA: Monument was a wonderful book, full of fascinating pictures from the band's history. How does this book compare to that?

Dennis: The concept is nearly the same. Of course, we used many live pictures, but we also used pictures from my personal collection - backstage passes, posters, ticket stubs, flyers, set lists and all that kind of stuff. 

Dennis

APA: How did you gather together so many live pictures? How many of those belong to you two?

Dennis: Most of the live pictures are from friends and fans or different photographers. Lots of people asked us if we wanted to use their pictures in our book and said they would be proud to be able to contribute to it. In Germany, concert photos were often sold or exchanged at Depeche Mode parties, so we have been unable to identify who took a number of the photos that appear in the book.

APA: How did you decide who to interview for the book?

Dennis: Sascha and I agreed instantly on how to approach this. We made a list of of as many people as we could who witnessed the band's live progress and got in touch with them.

APA: Is this a book that will appeal to both long term and new Depeche Mode fans?

Dennis: Absolutely. Every Depeche Mode fan, regardless of their age, can re-live or discover new memories from the band's rich history.

APA: And now the quick fire round. What was the first Depeche Mode gig you saw:

Dennis: At the beginning of 1990, my grandfather who I lived with, passed away. I therefore didn't see any of the World Violation tour. My first Depeche Mode concert was on June 16th 1993 - the Devotional gig at Berlin Waldbuhne. It was magical. Dave was in a great mood but it was strange to see him with long hair, Nothing went right at all during the concert. The heavy rain made the stage curtain so heavy it kept falling down and every time that happened the fans cheered like it was a football match. Dave slid barefoot across the stage while stagehands mopped the stage around him. Everything during the 1993 tour was unpredictable including of course Dave himself. What that meant though was that every concert was different. Dave stagediving into the crowd at Frankfurt during In Your Room was one of the many legendary things he did on the tour.

Sascha: East Berlin, 1988. Dennis and I live in East Germany where the band had not previously performed. I've been a fan since December 1984 and would loved to have gone to a concert then, I was very luck to be at the lengendary performance in East Berlin on 7th March 1988 at the Werner Seelenbinder Hall. That was Depeche Mode's first and only concert in the GDR and it remains my favourite concert of all time. Suddenly that evening, musicians who were previously unreachable to me stepped out of the posters on my wall and into my world. The setlist was slightly shorter than on other concerts on that tour but that didn't matter to me or the other 6,000 fans. Even if they'd only played two playback songs that night it would not have mattered! To see them live in the GDR? Absurd! It was like aliens had landed.

Sascha

APA: Favourite Depeche Mode gig?

Dennis: Berlin 1993, Leipzig 1998, Oberhausen 2001 and, of course, the last show with Fletch at the Waldbuhne in 2018.

Sascha: East Berlin 1988 of course.

APA: Favourite live Depeche Mode song?

Dennis: I love Music For The Masses so I'd say Behind The Wheel, Strangelove and Never Let Me Down Again are my all time favourites.

Sascha: Strangelove

APA: Pick one song you would like the band to play live that they don't usually play

Dennis: Comatose - "Take a light, start the flame" and watch thousands of lighters burning,

Sascha: Strangelove

GOING BACKWARDS - DEPECHE MODE: SPIRIT - THE 12" SINGLES

 

The fourteenth Depeche Mode 12" Singles boxset was released on Friday 20th September. It features the three singles from 2017's Spirit album together with a very welcome bonus 12", more of which shortly. Spirit is an odd album really. The recording session was fraught with problems, the album is a track or two too long and it's one that isn't hugely popular with fans, yet it prompted the band's longest world tour ever and that tour was an absolute joy. I enjoyed it so much that I spent 18 months hassling fans all over the world to provide reviews of the 133 gigs and happily managed to get every single one covered - you can read all about that here - The Global Spirit Tour Project

The Spirit singles all had physical releases which was a good thing - a CD single and double 12" accompanied each. The 12" singles here, bonus 12" aside, are reproductions of those releases. As with all previous 12" singles, the release comes in a box (see above) and on the back of that, we find the photo menu thing that has come with each release. I genuinely still don't know what it is actually called. Anyway, here it is:

As with the other boxes, the boxset also comes with a reproduction promo poster, this time for Where's The Revolution:

If you are the sort of person who buys records but doesn't have a record player, the download card you find inside will allow you to listen to the remixes at your downloaded leisure:

To the records themselves then. The album's first single Where's The Revolution was initially released as a double 12" (all three singles in fact were double 12" singles) and that's what we have here.

The rear of the 12" looks like this:

It features all three band members looking like they run a Barbers and Craft Beer and Coffee/Vermouth Emporium which serves locally sourced small plates full of things people eat but secretly hate. The 2017 single came in a cellophane sleeve which had a sticker on it. This release doesn't have the cellophane but it does have the sticker. These small, incredibly pleasing details have been a real highlight of this boxset series.

As for the remixes themselves, as we have already seen, I tend to spend a lot of my free time writing far too much about Depeche Mode and, during 2021, I wrote an in-depth review of every single from Dreaming Of Me to Cover Me. I've already listened to these remixes then and so, to save you having to go through that, here's the review where you can read all about them:

Where's The Revolution Single Review

The second Spirit single was the superb album opener Going Backwards. 

The original double 12" is faithfully reproduced here. As you'll see, the band have removed their beards for the rear cover. 

The wee sticker is hiding inside the sleeve. If you want to read all about the remixes and watch the very cool video for the single, here you go:

Going Backwards Single Review

The final single from Spirit was the beautiful Cover Me, a song by Dave and one that turned out not just to be a highlight of the album but of the live shows too. Anton's video for the song was a beauty as well.

We have another double 12" here and we also have another sticker:

If you would like me to cover (ho ho) the remixes for you, have a read of this:

Cover Me Single Review

The bonuses in the boxset campaign have been wonderful, from the Sometimes I Wish I Was Dead flexi in the Speak & Spell box, to the second A Question Of Lust 12" and beyond, each have been gratefully received by collectors everywhere. That A Question Of Lust 12" really is a glorious thing you know. Here, we have another bonus 12" and it's a 5 track live affair called The Highline Sessions. The band recorded five songs in New York's Highline Studios on 3rd August 2016 assisted by Kurt Uenala and Matrixxman. This is the first time all five songs have been officially released. 

For people who care about these things (me and anyone reading this), the catalogue number given to this 12" is P12BONG48 which technically makes it the promo for Going Backwards which of course had the catalogue number 12BONG48. Well, it didn't really as it wasn't a BONG catalogue number 12" to start with but for this box, it is 12BONG48.

ARGH! Now I see that I should have mentioned this earlier. It should therefore be noted that Where's The Revolution has a catalogue number for this release of 12BONG47 and that Cover Me is 12BONG49. Basically, for anyone left awake at this point, when from Heaven onwards, Depeche Mode's singles stopped having BONG catalogue numbers, a fact much mourned by me and people who are like me (you know who you are). Actually, they only had BONG numbers from Leave In Silence onwards, stopping with Heaven but IS THAT REALLY IMPORTANT NOW? It probably is. I know that if I didn't mention this and get all my facts right. people like me albeit not me, would only contact me to tell me.

Let's just move on eh? What is on P12BONG48, a.k.a The Highline Sessions?

The first three tracks, Going Backwards, So Much Love and Poison Heart feature on Side A of the record.

All three live versions are really good. So Much Love is particularly enjoyable and it's a punchier version than the hugely enjoyable version played on the tour. Poison Heart sounds much better than it did on the tour too.

There are two tracks on the B-side. The only track that falls a bit flat on this 12"  is The Worst Crime. The version here never really takes off and that may explain why it was not played at all on the tour. The 12" ends with the band's cover of David Bowie's "Heroes" which is a faithful enough cover of the track and one that I like. Depeche don't do cover versions often (let us never speak of Dirt) so it's unusual to hear them do one but with tis track, they pay a nice tribute to Bowie.

The 12" packaging is simple but lovely. Once again, excellent work has been done here.

As I said at the outset, Spirit is an odd beast as the album is sadly not that memorable but much about the campaign was. While this box contains a number of reminders of the less memorable parts of the campaign, it also brings back many great memories and, as has been the case throughout this 12" boxset campaign, it is a well put together, well thought through set that is a joy to have. Excellent work all round.

Logic dictates that we have one more boxset to come. Once the Memento Mori box appears, will that be it or will the 12" singles thus far missing from this campaign appear? Let's see what happens.

DEPECHE MODE MUSEO PART 8 - CURIOS

 

It's been a while since I last posted and it's also been a while, nearly eight years in fact, since the Museo was last open. Eight years? There have been two Depeche Mode world tours in that time. Anyway, the Museo has been refurbished, the exhibits polished and so here we are. Rather than look at a rare release this time, I decided to have a look at a few things I have that you can't play.

As you can imagine, I've accumulated a lot of Depeche related stuff over the years and, though much of it seems fairly strange, it's nice stuff to have. Here are a few highlights. This post will feature on the usual social media places, so please feel free to add you own there. These are in date order to give the post a pleasing symmetry.

1985 - SOME GREAT REWARD US TOUR CREW T SHIRT

From the front, this looks like a perfectly ordinary Depeche Mode t-shirt from the mid 80's. However, when you turn it over....

As you'll see, it's a T-Shirt that was provided to the crew on the tour. This is the genuine article and is very rare. I've not worn, nor will I, so it stays with the other, younger DM t-shirts in the drawer they share. Yes, of course I have a specific drawer for them.

1988 - CONCERT FOR THE MASSES FLYER

This again is the genuine item. A number of flyers for the legendary Pasadena Rose Bowl gig have been kept safe fro over 30 years and I was able to get my hands on one earlier this year. It's A5 in size.

1990 - VIOLATOR HMV SHOP DISPLAY

Not a lot to say about this one really. It's from HMV and was displayed in one of their shoips.

1993 - SONGS OF FAITH AND DEVOTION SHOP DISPLAY

You know where this one is going don't you? It's a SOFAD era cardboard display thing from a shop.

1993 - SONGS OF FAITH AND DEVOTION CANDLE

It was the early 90's and with Depeche Mode in their Songs Of Faith And Devotion phase, promo items took on the theme of the era. The American record company released this promotional candle so that fans could recreate Dave's dressing room of the time in their own homes. The candle came wrapped in cellophane. Mine still is and I thus far resisted the urge to light it to see if it smells of as Devotional gig. Also released around this time was a roll of packing tape (France) and some Walking In My Shoes baseball boots (do you see what they did there?). There was also one other things.

1993 - SONGS OF FAITH AND DEVOTION PROMOTIONAL INCENSE BURNER

This is another innovation by the band's American record company. The incense burner comes with a chain around it so that you can swing while performing acts of faith and devotion. There is a metal tag on it and that says Depeche Mode on one side as you can see above.

On the reverse of the tag we have the album title and the Sire and Reprise logos.

That's what it looks like when you open it up. They are near impossible to find in mint condition. If you get one of those, it should come in a box. Mine has very much been used though will polish up nicely if I ever get round to it.

1998 - THE SINGLES 86-98 PROMO CUBE

Like the shop displays, not really sure what I can add here. It's a cube and it promotes the album The Singles 86-98.

See?

2014 - DELTA MACHINE PRIVATE PLANE SEAT COVER

"What's in the package?"

"Erm..."

"Not another bloody record. Surely not. "

"NO! It isn't a record. Promise."

"It looks like one. What is it then?"

"It's really cool. It's a seat cover from the band's private plane on the Delta Machine tour. Genuine article too. There aren't too many of these. What do y....."

*other person leaves room*

2024 - MEMENTO MORI VIP GIFT BAG

For the band's Glasgow gig earlier this year, I went for VIP tickets. No idea why really as they cost money that could easily be better spent elsewhere but getting one meant I got a free gift. Exciting times. It starts with the toilet bag show above. But what is inside? 

An eye mask and a candle is the answer. 

That's the candle box there.

There's the candle tin. It says Depeche Mode on it as you can see. Thrilling.

And finally, the candle itself. It is cedar scented apparently. 

There we are then - a trip around the stranger parts of my collection. Next time, I'll go back to looking at the band's rarer releases in worrying detail. Look out for that soon.