Depeche Mode - Touring The Angel: Live in Milan

You've got to hand it to Depeche Mode, having quietly ploughed their dark furrow of sparse and emotive electronica while flogging some 73 million albums in the process of their thus far 26 year career, this is a band that braved a thunder of elements and embraced past afflictions rather than allow them to send them under.

Filmed earlier this year, Touring the Angel... sees the 'Mode in full swing with a repertoire of squelch, bleeps and bloops to give Kraftwerk a run for their deutschmarks. With his characteristic Reservoir Dog-like cool, a coiffured Fletch remains entirely static behind his gigantic alien effects desk while Martin Gore (clad as some sort of gothic Kellogg's hen) is all about the wicked riffs and hypnotic aesthetics, glazed by Anton Corbijn's stage design. Meanwhile, a mesmerised Gahan quite clearly has Milan in the palm of his mitt as he stomps, swaggers and hip-shakes his way through monumental tracks like A Question of Time, I Feel You and Never Let Me Down Again. Also on offer with the set is a second dvd containing a mini documentary and a bonus audio disc, making this a comprehensive package well worth the scratch. Like Gahan bellows soon before closing; "everything counts in large amounts." [Dave Kerr]