Pioneering synthpop outfit turned stadium rockers Depeche Mode were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tonight in a pandemic-necessitated virtual ceremony, with Dave Gahan, Martin Gore and Andy Fletcher meeting up in a Zoom call to accept the honor. Watch the video right here.

If you’re into the more technical aspects of a how a band like Depeche Mode pulls off big arena shows, here’s a video tour of the band’s stage setup on the Delta Machine Tour, with a look at the keyboard arrays employed by Andy Fletcher and touring member Peter Gordeno, as well as Martin Gore’s guitar rig.

Depeche Mode held a news conference in Paris today to announce the European leg of its 2013 world tour — the dates mirroring those that leaked yesterday — and tease fans with a preview of a track from the band’s as-yet-untitled album, which Martin Gore characterized as a cross between ‘Violator’ and ‘Songs of Faith and Devotion.’

It’s enough to make fans of (very) early Depeche Mode swoon: Photographic evidence of DM co-founder Vince Clarke sitting down for dinner with former bandmates Dave Gahan, Martin Gore and Andy Fletcher. Earlier today, Clarke tweeted, ‘Tonight I am dining with the ‘Modes’. Apparently, Fletch is cooking…who knew?’

Martin Gore isn’t the only Depeche Mode member who’s been busy during the band’s downtime: Frontman Dave Gahan has lent his well-known voice to electronic project Soulsavers for that group’s fourth album, ‘The Light the Dead See’ — and he’s already talking about making more music and touring with the group.

With Depeche Mode returning to the studio in March, the first word of a timetable for the band’s 13th album has emerged: Martin L. Gore tells German magazine Sonic Seducer that the record will be released ‘no later than early 2013,’ according to fansite Home.