Depeche Mode, 02 Arena

Depeche Mode. Where to start? They’re the most commercially successful electronic band in music history. They’ve sold over 100 million albums and singles worldwide and, with anthems like Personal Jesus, Enjoy the Silence, and Just Can’t Get Enough , it’s not difficult to see why.

The doom and gloom trio from Basildon revel in big synthy blips and bleeps, and they’re playing November 19 at a venue large enough to accomodate their larger-than-life sound: The O2 . The band is basically unstoppable. They’ve been together for 33 years (the trio released their 13th album Delta Machine in 3/13), but their atmospheric Goth pop still sounds fresh. Everyone from Pet Shop Boys and The Killers to Detroit techno pioneers Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson have been influenced by the kings of synth.

Even the New Yorker is a fan. The magazine’s music critic Sasha Frere-Jones has said Depeche Mode 'seem more and more significant as time passes'. This probably has something to do with their early, innovative approach to sampling (in the band’s formative days, they played around with an eclectic, industrial-sound by sampling everyday noises) as well as their experimentation with synths.

Yet, it’s to the credit of the band that they’ve always been imminently listenable. As dark as their songs on lust, heartbreak, and misery are, kohl-eyed Dave Gahan is a coy, captivating performer. His personal life has been very ‘rock and roll’: he’s had more near-death experiences (four) than he’s had wives (three). But his deliciously smooth baritone never fails to hit just the right note.

Ticket price:   £47-£58