PARIS (AFP) ― The most successful electronic band in history, New Wave giants Depeche Mode on Tuesday announced plans for a world tour, kicking off next May on the heels of a new album release.
The British trio, whose last tour dates back to 2010, will launch the new tour on May 7 in Tel Aviv, heading from there to Europe for 34 dates across 25 countries, they told a packed Paris press conference.
European gigs are to include Britain ― with a single date in London on May 28 ― Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Russia, Italy, Germany and France, as well as festivals such as Spain’s BBK in Bilbao.
Bandmates Dave Gahan, Martin Gore and Andy Fletcher expect to play to some 1.5 million European fans before heading to North America.
Depeche Mode have sold more than 100 million albums since the band was founded in 1979, winning over a global audience with such hits as “Personal Jesus” or “Just Can’t Get Enough.”
The new tour will come on the heels of their 13th studio album, the first since “Sounds of the Universe” in 2009, set to hit shelves next year. The album title and release date have yet to be unveiled.
“We feel very fortunate that so many people are still interested in what we do, even before hearing it,” the 50-year-old singer Gahan told a scrum of international media at the press conference, beamed live on the Internet.
On the contents of their new album, they offered a few clues in an interview later with AFP.
“Lyrically, the songs are about relationships, the relationship to the world, politics, feeling like you belong or don’t belong,” Gahan explained.
“Musically, it’s somewhere in between the sound of ‘Violator,’ electronically, and ‘Songs of Faith and Devotion’ in its blues-gospel influence,” the band’s 1990 and 1993 albums.
For the new album, Gahan ― until now an occasional songwriter for the band ― took on a large share of the writing.
The singer ― who lives in New York ― said the album was inspired partly by Barack Obama’s election, and came out overtly in support of giving him four more years in power at next month’s U.S. presidential vote.
“We were very pleased to have a president that finally we felt was thinking about the everyday person and wanted to change things. Change doesn’t come easy, it doesn’t come without a price and it takes time,” Gahan told AFP.
“I’m keeping my fingers crossed because I’m much more interested to see what will happen in the next four years if we have President Obama over governor Mitt Romney. I don’t want that for my children.”
Quizzed about the politics of playing in Russia ― where they have two dates planned ― Gahan said he firmly believed the decision to jail the members of the Pussy Riot girl band was “just wrong.”
