![]() Apart from Simon’s excellent vocals, Duran Duran have a curiously ‘un-live’ sound. There’s still too much backing track/sequencer stuff going on for my liking, with songs like ‘A View To A Kill’ and ‘The Reflex’ being required on stage to sound EXACTLY like their studio counterparts. You Might Likeġ7 Aug 12 Duran Duran / The Biggest And The Best / new compilation ![]() They played three tracks from Future Past (‘Invisible’, ‘Anniversary’ and ‘Give It All Up’), two from 1993’s ‘The Wedding Album’ (‘Ordinary World’ and ‘Come Undone’) and their usual cover of ‘White Lines’, which still remains a ludicrous idea on paper, but always goes down very well! To put it another way, they played nothing from EIGHT ALBUMS released between 19, which is mildly surprising considering that BMG have been reissuing many of those records in recent times, such as the 2004 reunion album Astronaut (which features two hit singles in ‘(Reach Up For The) Sunrise’ and ‘What Happens Tomorrow’). Duran Duran made no attempt to pretend that they’ve had a long and consistent career: 14 of the 20 songs performed were released between 19. The early songs sound particularly good because of their more stripped-back sound, although starting the show with the relatively low-key ‘Night Boat’ perhaps illustrates the perils of going off-piste too much, because I thought it received a somewhat muted response.īut the evening was primarily about entertainment and that meant giving the capacity crowd what they’d mostly come to hear: hit singles. Granted, they almost always play ‘Girls On Film’ and ‘Planet Earth’ but early ‘flop’ single ‘Careless Memories’ rocked surprisingly hard and got the crowd on their feet while album track ‘Friends Of Mine’ hasn’t been worn down by familiarity. One of the highlights of the evening was the amount of songs played from Duran Duran, the band’s 1981 debut album five tracks in total (more than any of their other albums). As in Birmingham, there were two female backing singers. Roger Taylor was hidden away behind a mountain of drums and cymbals while John Taylor stood to Simon’s right and guitarist Dom Brown was on the left. The muggy, sweaty environment the O2 Institute Birmingham (which has a capacity of just 2000) was replaced by the glitz and glamour afforded by the larger platform of London’s 20,000 capacity O2, which boasted some excellent projected visuals on angled screens (initially on stage with the band, before being hoisted high into the air).įrontman Simon Le Bon looked great, echoing the ‘sailorboy’ look of his younger self back in the New Romantic days, with a sparkly silver jacket, white trousers and a blue and white stripy T-shirt, while Nick Rhodes, set back stage right in an elevated position, was equally dapper. ![]() Those gigs delivered a few tracks from the new record, a light sprinkling of deep cuts and hits – lots of them! 20 months on, and the group are touring the UK and playing much bigger crowds, but fundamentally not much has changed. In his letter read by his Duran Duran bandmates at the Hall of Fame ceremony, Andy said: "I'm truly sorry and massively disappointed I couldn't make it.Back in 2021, I was lucky enough to see Duran Duran perform two ‘homecoming’ gigs in Birmingham a month or so before the release of Future Past, the band’s well received 15th studio album. "He was due to fly into Los Angeles for the rehearsals and we hadn't played together in years, it was quite exciting and then we got the word." "We found out two days before," the bassist said. The band were to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame before the news hit. Michael Jackson asked Duran Duran to make a record but they turned it down.Duran Duran won't ever stop touring with use of holograms, even when they're dead.John also revealed Duran Duran only found out about Andy Taylor's diagnosis two days before flying to Los Angeles to perform together for the first time 'in years.' There's a lot of it around, I'm aware a lot of people are issues, it's the big word that comes up, so you've got to know as much as you can at all times." ![]() "I hate that term, 'men of a certain age'. Did Andy's diagnosis make you all think twice?" she asked the bassist. "Whenever anyone high profile is diagnosed with prostate cancer, it does urge everyone to realise how important it is. John also revealed Duran Duran only found out about Andy Taylor's diagnosis two days before flying to Los Angeles to perform together for the first time 'in years.'. Guitarist Taylor has terminal cancer but is reportedly optimistic about the future as he records new music with Duran Duran.
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