Depeche Mode made their own heroes plain when they covered David Bowie 's "Heroes" during the encore of the opening night of their Spirit tour, which began Friday night in Stockholm.

Depeche Mode previously recorded the same Bowie song in an audience-less concert in New York’s High Line park. “I was so moved, I barely held it together, to be honest,” singer Dave Gahan told Rolling Stone. “Martin [Gore] listened to ‘Heroes’ once it was mixed and randomly told me, ‘Wow, that was really f---ing good.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, it was, wasn’t it?’”

Gahan, whose daughter attended the same school as Bowie’s, recalled how hard he took the legendary musician’s death.

“I had seen the news but it wasn't until my wife told me he had died that I just broke down in tears," Gahan said. "My daughter came out and they were both hugging me. It really affected me. I felt a huge gap. One of the things I was most regrettable about was that I had never really gone up to him at any time I'd seen him in passing and said, 'You know, David, I bump into you every once in a while, but I've never told you how much your music has meant to me and continues to mean to me.'"

Spirit, the band’s 14th album, was released last month. While Gahan says the album isn’t overtly political, it’s influenced by the current state of affairs in the U.S. and human nature.

On “Cover Me,” a song from the new LP that sounds like a Bowie epic, the narrator travels to another planet that turns out to be just like Earth, and realizes “if he wants things to change, he’s going to have to implement it.” And on the final track, “Fail,” Gore sings that ‘We’re ——ed,” which seems to capture the general mood of the album.

The Stockholm show was the first on the tour that runs through October. The band played half of the 12-track album, with the rest of the show featuring older mainstays.

Watch Depeche Mode Perform "Going Backwards" 5/5/17 Stockholm

Depeche Mode Set List, 5/5/17 Stockholm
1. "Going Backwards"
2. "So Much Love"
3. "Barrel of a Gun"
4. "A Pain That I’m Used To"
5. "Corrupt"
6. "In Your Room"
7. "World in My Eyes"
8. "Cover Me"
9. "Home"
10. "A Question of Lust"
11. "Poison Heart"
12. "Where’s the Revolution"
13. "Wrong"
14. "Everything Counts"
15. "Stripped"
16. "Enjoy the Silence"
17. "Never Let Me Down Again"
Encore:
18. "Somebody"
19. "Walking in My Shoes"
20. “Heroes” (David Bowie cover)
21. "I Feel You"
22. "Personal Jesus"

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