M'Lou Elkins 
Dave Gahan & Soulsavers
Friday 3rd December Westminster Central Hall
Sunday 5th December, London Coliseum
Crowd Critics [Fan Submitted Reviews]
Review/Photos/Videos by Nicole Wevers
I’ve been a fan of Depeche Mode for decades, and first saw them live in London for the World Violation tour in 1990. The last time I (or anyone else) saw them live were two concerts at Waldbühne in Berlin, in July 2018. As these were filmed and turned into the ‘Spirits in the Forest’ movie, that has kept fans like myself going, while waiting to find out whether they would ever tour again.
In the meantime, at the end of 2019, singer Dave Gahan got together with long-time collaborator Rich Machin, and created a Soulsavers album that was recorded live in Rick Rubin’s famous Shangri-La studios in California. It’s an album of cover songs that mean a lot to Dave, and loosely tells a story about his life. It’s a dark, bluesy and moody album that perfectly showcases his vocals, and the incredible musicians who collaborated.
Fast forward through COVID (if only we could…) there is still no Depeche Mode news, but Dave Gahan and Soulsavers release the album in November 2021 and decide to do a number of intimate concerts to showcase it. First announced is a concert at the London Coliseum (home of the English National Opera) on 5th December, swiftly followed by another date at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire on 7th December, where the band also played in 2015 for the previous album they recorded together (Angels and Ghosts). Finally, as these two concerts instantly sell out, a third concert is added on the 3rd December, a charity concert to benefit Nordoff Robbins, the UK’s largest music therapy charity. This is to take place at the beautiful Westminster Central Hall, a concert hall set in the Methodist Central Hall, opposite Westminster Abbey. It’s a gorgeous, intimate setting, which promises great things for the show!
I am lucky enough to get tickets for the first two concerts, and together with my regular gigging buddy Jo we head off, full of excitement. It’s not a Depeche Mode gig, but it’s as close as we’re going to get for the foreseeable future! Besides, we both love the album. The queue is made up of fans from all over the world. We meet up with a few other friends, who have tickets for the balcony. Jo and I are seated in the stalls, 5 rows from the stage, slap-bang in the middle. We go in and get handed a little program, with personal notes by Dave about the songs that we’ll shortly see played, a really nice touch. Shortly after we sit down we get an excited message from our friends on the balcony that not only Dave’s wife, children and extended family, but also Depeche Mode’s Andrew Fletcher (Fletch) and his wife, are sitting right in front of them in the VIP section. Lovely to see they all turned out to support him! Later we see many photos appear online of Fletch happily mingling with fans in a nearby pub before the concert, no doubt making their year!
It’s not long before the lights go down. The stage is lit in red and is framed by a massive church organ, which forms a beautiful backdrop to what turns out to be a 9-piece band: Dave Gahan on vocals, Rich Machin, James Walbourne and Tony Foster on guitars, Martyn LeNoble on bass, Kevin Bales on drums, Sean Read on keys and Wendi Rose and Janet Ramus on backing vocals.
They launch straight into ‘The Dark End of the Street’ (Dan Penn cover), and it becomes immediately apparent that this band is at the top of their game, and Dave’s vocals are absolutely superb, I’m not sure I’ve ever heard him sound better! They follow with ‘Strange Religion’ (Mark Lanegan cover), special mention has to go to Tony Foster’s fantastic slide guitar playing on this. Next is ‘Lilac Wine’ (Nina Simone cover), which tonight is performed as a song of delicate beauty, showcasing Dave’s incredible vocals once again. Jo and I realize it’s an emotional moment for both of us as we look at each other with slightly wet eyes!
It turns out that the band are playing the entire album in order, so next follows ‘I Held My Baby Last Night’ (Elmore James cover), where Dave gets out his harmonica. He shows off his perfect vocals again on ‘A Man Needs a Maid’ (Neil Young cover). Then comes my personal favourite of the night and on the album, ‘Metal Heart’ (Cat Powers cover), which is a great showcase for Wendi Rose and Janut Ramus’ superb backing vocals. I am not a religious person, but I certainly feel something flowing through me at that moment!
They continue with ‘Shut Me Down’ (Rowland S. Howard cover), a gorgeously understated version of ‘Where My Love Lies Asleep’ (Gene Clark cover), which I imagine must feel really special to Dave’s wife Jennifer on the balcony, and a version of ‘Smile’ (Charlie Chaplin cover) with just Martyn LeNoble on double bass and Sean Read on piano accompanying Dave’s delicate vocals. ‘The Desperate Kingdom of Love’ (PJ Harvey cover), ‘Not Dark Yet’ (Bob Dylan cover) and a lovely bluesy version of ‘Always on My Mind’ (Elvis cover) finish the regular part of the show. They then come back for the encore with what is in my opinion the perfect Depeche Mode song as a closer: ‘John the Revelator’, as the song is itself a cover of a Blind Willie Johnson song, and the concert is in a church. It’s a raucous blues-rock version that doesn’t sound anything like the Depeche Mode song, and that’s perfectly OK by me!
The band is superb throughout, but as a Depeche Mode fan I of course mostly watch Dave, and it is a joy to see him singing songs that clearly mean a lot to him, and giving a more restrained stage performance than we’re used to. Occasionally his cheeky side shines through, and finally when ‘John the Revelator’ is played, we see Dave the stadium rocker let out of his cage.
It is a glorious concert, and I am absolutely raring to go again on Sunday, at the London Coliseum, another stunning and unusual venue. Some fans were complaining about the ticket prices (ranging from around £35 to £140), but these are standard London theatre prices, and we managed to get hold of tickets in the Dress Circle for about £74.
We have dinner in a restaurant opposite the venue, and discover the couple at the table next to us are also going to the concert. One of the lovely things about being fan of a band for so long is all the people you meet along the way, sometimes you only see them at concerts, sometimes they become life-long friends!
We meet up with our other gigging buddies and head in. We have a great view, note that Dave’s friends and family are there again, and also spot Peter Gordeno, Depeche Mode’s touring keyboard player, in the audience. There is a cool projection on the stage curtain, the same drawing that is also on the program.
The concert kicks off, and the order of songs is the same as the day before. The thing that is different however, is that there is a big gap between the stage and the front row seats, as the orchestra pit is there. I feel it makes a difference to Dave’s performance, as the crowd is further away, so for me it is a less subtle performance than the one on Friday night, more a rock concert. Not complaining at all, but I am really glad I got to see both!
The band and Dave are again on top form, and have made one change which I really like, which is bringing the two backing vocalists forward to stand centre stage with Dave for ‘Always On My Mind’.
Another change from Friday is that the concert is longer, we get four extra songs! They have added in an actual Soulsavers original, ‘Revival’ from 2007 album ‘It’s Not How Far You Fall, It’s the Way You Land’ as the first encore song. They follow this with a song that brings the entire crowd to their feet, Depeche Mode’s ‘Personal Jesus’. Once again stadium rock Dave is on full display!
They follow this with another Soulsavers original, ‘Shine’ from 2015 album ‘Angels and Ghosts’. Then another Depeche Mode cover, ‘John the Revelator’, which they also played on Friday, and they finish what is a fantastic night with Soulsavers original, ‘Take Me Back Home’.
We leave immensely satisfied. We came because we missed Depeche Mode, but left appreciating what an amazing band Soulsavers are in their own right. We really wish we also had tickets to the concert at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire on 7th December, but I suppose that’s just being greedy… However, those going are in for a treat!
Check out some of my videos from the shows below!
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