Dave's Year in Review

2024

December 29, 2024

By: Purple

It's time! The year 2024 is drawing to a close, so it's time to look back and highlight all of the things that Dave has accomplished and has been a part of this year. Then, we will also look forward to 2025 and try to predict what may be in store for him then. Let's get started!

1. Closing out Memento Mori

Depeche Mode started out the year with the 4th and final leg of their Memento Mori Tour, playing 32 dates in Europe. Their very last performance for the tour was on April 8 in Cologne, Germany. According to fan video recordings from that last show, Dave did not end it with his usual phrase, "See you next time!" which left a lot open for interpretation. Was the omission of that phrase intentional or unintentional? Either way, the tour definitely ended on a high note with so many already itching to see them on stages again sooner rather than later. For people who are interested in numbers, an aggregator website called Touring Data has reported the following for this entire tour¹:

Box office revenue totaled 300,016,336 USD.

The total number of tickets sold was 2,678,521.

The total number of shows played was 110.

Some highlights and notable moments of Leg 4 of the tour include:

Release of the final single and music video from Memento Mori, "Before We Drown." You can read my review of both here.
Dave inviting a fan on stage to dance with him twice- once with a boy in Dublin, Ireland on February 3 and then with a girl in Prague, Czech Republic on February 22.
Spanish flamenco dancer, Belén López, joining DM onstage to give her own performance during "Enjoy The Silence" in Madrid, Spain on March 12.

2. The rise of Cyborg Dave?

It's closer and scarier than you think. All kidding aside about cyborgs and whatnot, what I am really talking about is the increasing prevalence and advancement of AI-generated content using Dave's likeness. Even though AI technologies have been around for a long time already, it has really begun to ramp up in the past year or so. Some recent examples of the use of this technology are writing songs using AI-generated vocals that sound like Dave, AI-generated images of Dave, and even AI-generated stories about Dave. The scary thing is that much of this content (though not all) is being passed off as real and fooling many unsuspecting people into thinking that they are real. Right now, it is relatively easy to tell when media is AI-generated...for example, something might be slightly off about the look or sound of it, but can you imagine what could happen given a few more years of refinement of this technology? We could very well come to a point where no one knows (except Dave, himself, and people close to him) whether a song purported to be by him, or an image or video of him is real or not. If you have read my No-AI Pledge, then you know where I stand on the use of this technology. But like it or not, it looks like it is here to stay and is going to have a big impact on artists like Dave. The question that remains to be answered is, what is that impact and what major actions will artists like Dave take, if any, in response to it?

3. Paying tribute

This seemed to be the overarching theme of this entire year for Dave. If the Memento Mori Tour shows could be viewed as tributes to his late friend and bandmate, Andy Fletcher, who passed away in 2022, then the rest of Dave's musical works and performances this year were essentially tributes to another late friend of his, singer Mark Lanegan, who also passed away in 2022. In June, the band Humanist released a single called "Brother" which featured Dave on the main vocals. Humanist songwriter and guitarist, Rob Marshall, originally wrote the song as his own tribute to the late singer, but he had Dave sing the words...almost in a deliberate move to allow him to also pay his own tribute, as well. You can read my review of this single here.

Then later in the year on December 5, Dave along with other well-known artists such as Soulsavers, Josh Homme, Chrissie Hynde, and many others put on a show at The Roundhouse in London for Mark Lanegan 60 — A Celebration. It was a show specifically meant to pay tribute to the late singer in honor of what would've been his 60th birthday. Dave performed the following songs originally written by Mark:

"Sideways in Reverse"

"Low"

"Kingdoms of Rain"

"Strange Religion"

"One Hundred Days" (with Josh Homme on lead vocals)

"Revival"

"Hit the City" (with Shelley Brien Lanegan)

It should also be noted that this 1-night performance marks Dave's latest public appearance to-date.

4. Family values

I know, I know...what is a section that is not about Dave at all doing in here again, you ask? Well, it really does belong here since this is a big story on a family relation of Dave's, so why not? The big story that I'm talking about is his daughter's, Stella Rose Gahan's, further musical developments this year. So let's recap what those are: In September and October, she opened for American rock band, A Place to Bury Strangers, on their European tour, and then in November, she embarked on her own headlining tour throughout Europe, performing hits from her debut album Eyes of Glass, which came out last year, and also 4 brand-new songs from her latest EP, Hollybaby, which was officially released on December 13. Completely gone was her backing band, The Dead Language, and she performed completely on her own while she toured. Of this new way of performing, she says, "It's definitely a new experience, and as the tour went on, I figured out how to fill the space when I had to tune my guitar, where it's this dead silence. But I think that also gave me an empowering feeling, like it's OK if there's silence on stage for a few minutes. For the people watching, they just use you as the mediator. If you look like something's going wrong, they're gonna think something's going wrong. I really enjoyed it but now, if I have different elements, I know what I want to elevate the show rather than figuring it out with the band."²

Now, she continues to be very modest about her father's obvious fame and influence on her; when asked the following question in the same interview, "Do you gauge your Dad's opinion when it comes to your music?", she says, "As much as you would with any parent?...Especially since I've toured now, and I noticed the little things that dads do, like slipping things in your suitcase or whatever, that might help. That's the extent of it, it really is just normal stuff."² Another interview also has her answering the question that I am sure is on everyone's minds but is probably already getting old for Stella Rose which is, what is her favorite Depeche Mode song? You can watch and listen to the interviewer asking her this and her response in the video below at around the 30:32 mark.

This year at least, it is getting pretty clear that Stella Rose is serious about having a career in music just like her father. But it is also clear from her musical style and the things she has said that she prefers to make a name for herself and that she does not need to rely on her father's influence at all to carry her along her artistic journey. For this reason alone, it will be very intriguing to see what she does next and how far she will go!

5. The year ahead

As of now, 2025 looks to be a very quiet year for Dave. But who knows? Anything can happen. It is looking pretty certain that there will not be any new music or tours for DM as neither Dave nor Martin seem to be seriously working on any new material. However, at least 1 public appearance for DM may be on the books next year as they were recently awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.³ According to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, DM will have 2 years from this June 14 to schedule their star ceremonies, so I would imagine that Dave and Martin will make a public appearance for this in the coming year or so.

Other than that, we might not see Dave for much more than being around to support his daughter's musical endeavors much less working on his own. The rest comes from rumors and mere speculation. As far as rumors go, there are some circulating about works from a past collaboration with the late Mark Lanegan possibly coming to light but not much more is known about that right now. Then, as far as speculation goes, if past schedules serve as any indication, we could very well see Dave tag up with Rich Machin and Soulsavers to do something with them again; even if something like that did take place, though, I could not imagine the public seeing anything come out of that until at least 2026. So...we Dave fans could be in for a very long and boring year.

References

It has been a while since we've had an article like this, so I would like to hear from you! What are your best memories from 2024? What are you looking forward to in 2025, either from Dave, DM, or just in general? What major achievements do you think Dave will accomplish in the next year? Please comment below!