Niki N. Phaser

             Depeche Mode history was made recently, on February 17, when the band performed a special show at the Royal Albert Hall, for Teenage Cancer Trust. Before performing Somebody, Martin Gore invited a special guest on stage, none other than Alan Wilder, who accompanied Gore on piano. Wilder left Depeche Mode in 1995, after the strenuous tour for Songs of Faith and Devotion, which nearly broke the whole band, claiming that relationships within the band “have become seriously strained, increasingly frustrating and, ultimately, in certain situations, intolerable”. After his departure, he devoted himself full-time to side-project Recoil, which is still touring and releasing albums. As expected, the brief reunion caused a lot of joy among Depeche Mode fans, but this was a one-off. No rumors of a full-on Wilder return should come of this.

SOMEBODY is here                   Recoil – Allelujah