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

Penélope Cruz and Glenn Close shine in ambitious drama La Bola Negra

Photo by Carla Oset/Netflix

Miguel Bernardeau and Guitarricadelafuente in La Bola Negra.

For a long time — too long — gay characters in movies tended to appear as either side characters with no real stories or as tragic figures who were usually unable to express their true selves for fear of what the world at large would think. That has changed in recent years, but the remnants of the past can still haunt, as the new film La Bola Negra demonstrates.

The film takes shape in storylines involving three different men: Carlos (Milo Quifes), a young man in Granada, Spain in 1932 who wants to join an exclusive casino (aka social club); Sebastián (Guitarricadelafuente), who unwillingly joins the military during the Spanish Civil War in 1937, only to have desires aroused in him when he’s asked to guard an enemy detainee; and Alberto (Carlos González), an out gay man in 2017 whose inheritance from his recently-deceased grandfather opens up a world he knew nothing about.

The film goes back and forth between each man, detailing how they handle their individual situations and the complications that arise in their individual lives. Along the way their stories are deepened through people they meet who either welcome them with open arms or shun them for various reasons. While tragedy bonds their stories, so too does hope, resistance, and love.

Co-director/co-writers Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, along with co-writer Alberto Conejero, have expanded Conejero’s play, La Piedra Oscura, which was inspired by Federico García Lorca’s unfinished play, La Bola Negra. Lorca, who was killed during the Spanish Civil War, had only finished four pages of the work, his first to feature an openly gay protagonist. It’s clear there’s a desire by the filmmakers to honor the legacy of Lorca as both a playwright and a gay man, and the seriousness of their pursuit is evident throughout the film’s 160 minutes.

Calvo and Ambrossi do little handholding to guide viewers through the three distinct stories, an approach that mostly works but occasionally leads to confusion, especially as more characters are added to the equation. None of the stories are overly complicated, but they take their time with each, making the long film feel even longer. Only Alberto’s story contains any kind of development that might be considered surprising, making it tough to fully engage with the other two.

Where the film does come alive is when it brings in two well-known actors for brief-but-fascinating stints. Penélope Cruz plays Nené Romero, a singer who entertains the troops and further expands Sebastián’s mind. Glenn Close pops up as Isabelle Durand, a scholar of Lorca who helps Alberto with a unique discovery he makes in his inheritance. Both actors bring up the level of the film significantly through their performances.

Quifes, Guitarricadelafuente (the stage name of Spanish singer Álvaro Lafuente Calvo, no relation to Javier), and González all put in good work in their roles, even if none are overly engaging. They are often overshadowed by supporting actors like Cruz and Close, as well as Miguel Bernardeau as Rafael Rodríguez Rapún, the captured soldier; Julio Torres as Alberto’s partner, and Alberto Cortés as Lorca, who brings a symmetry to the film as a whole.

La Bola Negra — which means “the black ball,” represented both literally and figuratively in the film — is an ambitious film that becomes a slight victim of its filmmakers’ aspirations. Although each of the three stories contain interesting elements, a strong emotional connection is lacking overall despite good-to-great performances.

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La Bola Negra is now playing in select theaters; it debuts on Netflix on December 2.

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