Depeche Mode fans hope for Glastonbury headline slot as band announce 2017 stadium tour

Fans are hoping British band Depeche Mode will grace the world's biggest stage at Glastonbury 2017 but they could be disappointed. The electro hitmakers are set to embark on a mammoth stadium tour next year but singer Dave Gahan says headlining the festival's Pyramid Stage is out of the question – at least for now.

Coinciding with the release of their 14th studio album Spirit, Depeche Mode will launch their 32-date jaunt in May before performing at London Stadium, formerly known as the Olympic Stadium, on 3 June. Some eagle-eyed fans have noticed a gap in the band's tour schedule on 23 and 24 June, which is when Glastonbury takes place in Somerset.

Responding to the speculation that the group could take the Friday or Saturday headline slots, Gahan told the Press Association: "There's talk about that [Glastonbury].

"I'm not ruling it out. If it was going to be any time it would be the following year. We've never headlined there and we're a British band that has had probably more top 10 or top 20 hits. It is kind of fitting that we should do something like that."

In addition to London, other tour stops the trio will make include Berlin, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Stockholm and Frankfurt. Teasing their forthcoming show at London Stadium, which holds a capacity of 80,000, member Andy Fletcher said: "It's a Saturday night so it should be interesting.

"Everyone thinks we can do it. We're really excited. It's a challenge. We normally play a few nights at the O<sup>2 so to go outdoors is a good challenge for us." It has been 23 years since Depeche Mode last played a UK stadium.

The band have sold over 100 million records worldwide, with their best known singles including Just Can't Get Enough, Personal Jesus and Everything Counts.

Taking a departure from their 2013 album Delta Machine, Depeche Mode warn their new collection, Spirit, will be heavily political. Sharing details of their new material, frontman Martin Gore said: "Without going off about it at this stage... the main purpose [of the album] is to think about things a bit more... politically and globally and think about the world.

"For me the European Union was like the world becoming one – one stage of the world becoming one. And then you would hope to take it further than that eventually. For the world to actually become one place. Now it's just becoming more and more fractured and we're just taking steps backwards."

Spirit is set for release "early next Spring", while The Global Spirit Tour kicks off in Stockholm, Sweden on 5 May 2017. Tour tickets go on general sale on Friday 14 October at 9am via Ticketmaster. Tickets for Glastonbury 2017 have already gone on sale and sold out within minutes.

Listen to Depeche Mode's Just Can't Get Enough: