The Review Is In

Depeche Mode brings the revolution to Houston in rapturous performance and crowd just can't get enough

If art and music are the litmus test for the current socio-political climate, based on Depeche Mode’s rapturous 90-minute Sunday night performance in front of a packed Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion crowd, these are trying and divisive times we live in.

Not content to simply play the hits, revolt and upheaval hung over the massively popular U.K. band’s 22-song set like a thundercloud that mirrored a world where reality game show hosts can rule the country, fighting tooth and nail with those who seek positive change. It’s not entirely coincidental that NFL players took a knee earlier in the day. This was a band on a mission to use high art and an impressive, multi-screened stage backdrop to push the envelope.

Early 2017 release, Spirit, was the most politically pointed album from a band that never really had been known for its subtlety regarding issues such as sexual liberation and religion. The trio of Dave Gahan (lead vocals), Martin Gore (guitar/synth/vocals) and Andy Fletcher (synths) — rounded out by an extra synth/bass player and drummer – favored darker, symbolic, mid-tempo cuts from the band’s nearly 40-year-old catalogue to fit the tenor of the show’s theme early on.

While many of Depeche Mode’s trademark songs rely on synthesized sounds and Gore’s expertly placed electric guitar riffs, a live drummer lent the requisite oomph needed to bring a more organic and visceral feel to the proceedings, ultimately a good and bad thing. It made many of the songs even better live, but it also meant that many of their early synth-pop favorites would be passed over for their latter hits, which may have left some clamoring for the more celebratory gems like “Just Can’t Enough.”

Perhaps purposefully, this is the heaviest the band’s live show has been in two decades when it flirted with industrial goth sounds during the extremely successful late-'80s, early-'90s run of masterworks, Music For The Masses, Black Celebration, Violator and Songs of Faith and Devotion, all of which got airtime Sunday night.

After an great opening set from Los Angeles quartet Warpaint, the band walked out following a snippet of the Beatles’ “Revolution” and played a handful of charged Spirit tracks including “Going Backwards,” “Where’s the Revolution,” and “Cover Me,” mixed with songs from their later work, including “Corrupt” and “Wrong” from Sounds of the Universe, a bass-driven remix of “A Pain That I’m Used To” from 2005’s Playing the Angel, and a pounding “Barrel of a Gun,” from 1997’s Ultra.

The weighty mid-section of the evening’s set list dragged a bit (Gore’s obligatory mid-show spotlight, “A Question of Lust,” and “Home,” included), before picking up steam when the group unleashed the hits, much to the delight of the audience.

Political message firmly made, Gahan and company went to their bread and butter in the latter third of the night, starting with 1983 fan favorite “Everything Counts” from 1983’s Construction Time Again. The dapperly-dressed lead singer reminded everyone of his legendary frontman status, prancing and posturing to exultant reception throughout, his moves belying his 55-years of age. Simply put, the man exuded sex appeal.

Die-hards and casual fans alike grooved to the set closers from their most beloved albums “Stripped” (Black Celebration), “Enjoy The Silence” (Violator) and “Never Let Me Down Again” (Music For The Masses), which Gahan was happy have the crowd sing along to, more content to direct choreographed hand waves and claps.

The five-song encore cast aside any doubts that Depeche Mode might be losing a step as one of the best bands in the world. Gore kicked it off with the gorgeously sung “Somebody” from 1984’s Some Great Reward, leading many to tenderly embrace their loved ones. It was followed by a stellar “Walking In My Shoes” from Songs of Faith and Devotion, video screens poignantly depicting a transgendered woman preparing to face the not-so-simple task of going to the café.

A touching tribute to David Bowie, “Heroes,” revved into the one-two punch of “I Feel You” (from Songs of Faith and Devotion) and always thrilling chart-topper “Personal Jesus” (Violator, again). The impact of Depeche Mode’s earlier calls for revolution may have sailed over the heads of many who may have been there to dance in the aisles, but there was no denying the expert craftsmanship in how these alt-rock/new wave vets doled out their stylistic and exciting manifesto.

Set List
Intro
Revolution (The Beatles)
Cover Me (Alt Out)

Main set
Going Backwards
So Much Love
Barrel of a Gun
A Pain That I'm Used To
Corrupt
In Your Room
World in My Eyes
Cover Me
A Question of Lust
Home
Poison Heart
Where's the Revolution
Wrong
Everything Counts
Stripped
Enjoy the Silence
Never Let Me Down Again

Encore
Somebody
Walking in My Shoes
Heroes (David Bowie cover)
I Feel You
Personal Jesus

This was a band on a mission to use high art and an impressive, multi-screened stage backdrop to push the envelope.

Photo by Johnston Farrow

This was a band on a mission to use high art and an impressive, multi-screened stage backdrop to push the envelope.

concerts music

Movie Review

Meta-comedy remake Anaconda coils itself into an unfunny mess

Photo by Matt Grace

Jack Black and Paul Rudd in Anaconda.

In Hollywood’s never-ending quest to take advantage of existing intellectual property, seemingly no older movie is off limits, even if the original was not well-regarded. That’s certainly the case with 1997’s Anaconda, which is best known for being a lesser entry on the filmography of Ice Cube and Jennifer Lopez, as well as some horrendous accent work by Jon Voight.

The idea behind the new meta-sequel Anaconda is arguably a good one. Four friends — Doug (Jack Black), Griff (Paul Rudd), Claire (Thandiwe Newton), and Kenny (Steve Zahn) — who made homemade movies when they were teenagers decide to remake Anaconda on a shoestring budget. Egged on by Griff, an actor who can’t catch a break, the four of them pull together enough money to fly down to Brazil, hire a boat, and film a script written by Doug.

Naturally, almost nothing goes as planned in the Amazon, including losing their trained snake and running headlong into a criminal enterprise. Soon enough, everything else takes second place to the presence of a giant anaconda that is stalking them and anyone else who crosses its path.

Written and directed by Tom Gormican, with help from co-writer Kevin Etten, the film is designed to be an outrageous comedy peppered with laugh-out-loud moments that cover up the fact that there’s really no story. That would be all well and good … if anything the film had to offer was truly funny. Only a few scenes elicit any honest laughter, and so instead the audience is fed half-baked jokes, a story with no focus, and actors who ham it up to get any kind of reaction.

The biggest problem is that the meta-ness of the film goes too far. None of the core four characters possess any interesting traits, and their blandness is transferred over to the actors playing them. And so even as they face some harrowing situations or ones that could be funny, it’s difficult to care about anything they do since the filmmakers never make the basic effort of making the audience care about them.

It’s weird to say in a movie called Anaconda, but it becomes much too focused on the snake in the second half of the film. If the goal is to be a straight-up comedy, then everything up to and including the snake attacks should be serving that objective. But most of the time the attacks are either random or moments when the characters are already scared, and so any humor that could be mined all but disappears.

Black and Rudd are comedy all-stars who can typically be counted on to elevate even subpar material. That’s not the case here, as each only scores on a few occasions, with Black’s physicality being the funniest thing in the movie. Newton is not a good fit with this type of movie, and she isn’t done any favors by some seriously bad wigs. Zahn used to be the go-to guy for funny sidekicks, but he brings little to the table in this role.

Any attempt at rebooting/remaking an old piece of IP should make a concerted effort to differentiate itself from the original, and in that way, the new Anaconda succeeds. Unfortunately, that’s its only success, as the filmmakers can never find the right balance to turn it into the bawdy comedy they seemed to want.

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Anaconda is now playing in theaters.

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