It’s all just a bit of history repeating. Sunday night, at Cleveland’s Gund Arena, the musical time machine landed in 1986. Say welcome back to mopey kid favs, Depeche Mode.After a four year absence from touring, Depeche Mode has returned to the road in support of “The Singles 86>98.” Now a trio after the departure of Alan Wilder, Depeche Mode-Dave Gahan, Martin Gore and Andrew Fletcher, had a lot to prove. Its last tour, for the album “Songs Of Faith And Devotion,” found the band in mental and physical disarray. Lead singer Gahan suffered a number of heroin overdoses, main songwriter Gore fell under the spell of demon alcohol, and the band, in general was exhausted.After choosing not to tour behind its last release, “Ultra,” many thought the glory days of Depeche Mode were far behind. Well, forget what’s been said or what’s been written. Sunday night’s performance showed the band in unstoppable form.The stage setup was very simple. A red velvet backdrop, two large letters, a D and M, outlined in lightbulbs-separated by a three-sided video screen. Think Depeche Mode in Vegas and you’ve got the vibe. Instrumentally it was very sparse-three keyboard stands and a drum set. After an opening set by Stabbing Westward, Depeche Mode strolled on stage to a pulsating techno beat. When the band was on stage, including a touring drummer and a keyboard player/backing vocalist, the song morphed into “A Question of Time.” Any fears about Gahan’s performance were quickly put to rest. He grabbed the mic stand with a wild grin and belted out the lyrics as if his life were in the balance. He danced, shaked and shimmied determined to pour 20,000 watts of nocturnal sunshine into every fans’ heart. And that was just the first song.Depeche Mode has many strengths. While people may think of electronic music as cold, Depeche Mode has always added human emotion in the mix. The contrast was sharp. Hard edged beats framed by delicate vocal melodies and lyrics of emotional and spiritual longing. But it wasn’t a grim affair. Depeche Mode lyrics may be steeped in melodrama but the music is upbeat. And Gahan worked the upbeat aspect. He extorted the crowd at various time to clap its hands and sing along. It was like a hip-hop concert or tent revival meeting. Gahan worked the crowd harder than Elvis in Vegas. A member of the “ants in my pants, gotta dance” school of frontmen Gahan was clearly having a great time. And his mood was infectious. There were constant grins from the band and outbreaks of booty shaking from Fletcher. And when joined on stage by two Supremes-like backup singers the party atmosphere was undeniable.The audience ravenously devoured everything the band threw at them. Like the new album, the set focused on the singles. Gahan was in fine voice as the band roared through classic songs including “Stripped,” “World In My Eyes,” and “In Your Room.”The most goosebump inducing moments came when Gore took over lead vocals for the songs “Question Of Lust,” “Home” and “Somebody.” His delicate tenor was the embodiment of the songs’ hopelessly romantic lyrics. When Gore sang time stood still. The only downside of the evening were the absence of two of Depeche Mode’s biggest songs “Strangelove” and “People are People.” Still there was no denying that Depeche Mode are vital today as in the past.