''Spirits in the Forest – A Depeche Mode Film'' is a live

concert film A concert film, or concert movie, is a film that showcases a live performance from the perspective of a concert goer, the subject of which is an extended live performance or concert by either a musician or a stand-up comedian. Early history The ...

, documentary, and

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by the English

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

band

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depeche ...

. Directed by award-winning filmmaker and long-time artistic collaborator

Anton Corbijn Anton Johannes Gerrit Corbijn van Willenswaard (; born 20 May 1955) is a Dutch photographer, film director and music video director. He is the creative director behind the visual output of Depeche Mode and U2,Pitman, Joanna"The silent partner"' ...

. The film chronicles the final concert of the band's

Global Spirit Tour The Global Spirit Tour was a worldwide concert tour by English electronic music band Depeche Mode in support of the group's 14th studio album, ''Spirit''. During the summer 2017, the band played to more than 3 million fans in total. This is th ...

at the Waldbühne in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, as well as the stories of six fans of the band. The film was released to cinemas worldwide on 21 November 2019. A DVD & Blu-Ray featuring the full concert titled ''LiVE SPiRiTS'' was released on 26 June 2020.

Background

As part of a promotion for the release of their album ''

Spirit Spirit or spirits may refer to: Liquor and other volatile liquids * Spirits, a.k.a. liquor, distilled alcoholic drinks * Spirit or tincture, an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol * Volatile (especially flammable) liquids, ...

'', Depeche Mode announced that a contest would be held in which one fan or celebrity would take over Depeche Mode's

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

page every day for a year. A press release stated that winners would post to the band's seven million followers their own "personal anecdotes, videos, concert photos, covers of the band’s songs, or other Depeche Mode-related content." Celebrities who contributed to the takeover include

Trent Reznor Michael Trent Reznor (born May 17, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and composer. He serves as the lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and principal songwriter of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, wh ...

Linkin Park Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. The band's current lineup comprises vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, bassist Dave Farrell, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn and drummer ...

Tony Hawk Anthony Frank Hawk (born May 12, 1968), nicknamed Birdman, is an American professional skateboarder, entrepreneur, and the owner of the skateboard company Birdhouse. A pioneer of modern vertical skateboarding, Hawk completed the first documen ...

Richard Blade Richard Blade (born Richard Thomas Sheppard; May 23, 1952 in Bristol, England) is a British-American Los Angeles-based radio, television, and film personality from Torquay, England. He is best known for his radio programs that feature new wave ...

, and

Chris Hardwick Christopher Ryan Hardwick (born November 23, 1971) is an American comedian, actor, television and podcast host, writer, and producer. He hosts ''Talking Dead'', an hourlong aftershow on AMC affiliated with the network's zombie drama series '' The ...

, as well as Charity: Water. From these contest winners, six fans were chosen to be featured in the film. The production crew travelled to each of the six fans' hometowns to film, then continued their stories as they journeyed to see the final concert of the Global Spirit Tour, which took place at the

Waldbühne The Waldbühne (''Woodland Stage'' or ''Forest Stage'') is a theatre at Olympiapark Berlin in Berlin, Germany. It was designed by German architect Werner March in emulation of a Greek theatre and built between 1934 and 1936 as the Dietrich-Eckar ...

. In addition to the fans' stories, the film incorporates footage from the final two shows of the Global Spirit Tour, both of which took place at the Waldbühne, on 23 and 25 July 2018. The setlist played featured a wide array of songs from throughout their career including multiple from their most recent album, ''

'', as well as songs that haven't been played in over a decade such as "Useless" and "The Things You Said" from ''Ultra'' and ''Music For The Masses''. In September 2019 it was announced that the film would debut globally for one night only, on 21 November 2019. Initially expected to screen at 2400 cinemas worldwide, the number was later revised up to 2800. On 29 October 2019, a preview of the film was hosted at the

Curzon Curzon may refer to: People Americans * Aria Curzon (born 1987), American actress * Walter de Curzon Poultney (1845–1929), one of Baltimore, Maryland's most colorful and flamboyant high-society members Britons * Christopher Curzon (born 1958), ...

Mayfair in London, featuring a Q&A session with director Corbijn. The six fans who are the main characters of the film were announced as Indra Amarjagal from

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

; Daniel Cassús, a Brazilian living in

; Liz Dwyer from the

U.S.A. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

; Christian Flueraru from

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

; Carine Puzenat from

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ca, Perpinyà ; es, Perpiñán ; it, Perpignano ) is the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

; and

Dicken Schrader Dicken Schrader (born December 4, 1973) is a Colombian-American creative director, director, video artist and musician. He is most noted for his YouTube viral videos featuring himself and his two children, Milah and Korben, performing cover versio ...

from

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

. A home release on CD, DVD, and Blu-Ray was released on 26 June 2020. It is Depeche Mode's eighth live album and continues the tradition of recording and releasing performances from at least one show each tour. One week prior to the 26 June 2020 release date, many of the fans followed in the movie filmed an unboxing of the DVD box set for the Depeche Mode

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel. The live version of "Cover Me" was released on YouTube on 22 June 2020 to anticipate the upcoming release. A livestream of the full concert aired on the

LiveNation Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. is an American global entertainment company and monopoly that was founded in 2010 following the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The company promotes, operates, and manages ticket sales for live entertainmen ...

YouTube channel on 25 June 2020.

Track Listing (CD)

Reception

Spirits in the Forest

Spirits in the Forest received generally positive reviews from both movie and music critics alike. The film has an aggregate score of on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

. Jim Amos of

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

praised the film and said it was the new standard for concert films stating that "The new film, ''SPIRITS in the Forest'', is something entirely different however, turning the concert film genre on its ear." Many critics compared the film to their 1989 film, '' 101'', as it also follows the fans as well as the band. David Ehrlich of

IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...

felt that the film captured "The experience of watching it dovetails with that of going to a live show and being surrounded by thousands of strangers who share your same love" since it follows both the fans and the band closely.

Box office performance

Sources vary on the total gross of the movie's one-night release, with one claiming about US $2.5m while another claims US $4.5m. It reached Number 3 on the box office charts in Mexico and Number 2 in both Germany and the UK.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

* * {{Anton Corbijn Depeche Mode Films directed by Anton Corbijn 2010s English-language films