Shortly after the Dublin gig, I was off to see Duran Duran again!
I was in London on my own for this one so arrived fairly early for the day-long BST event (Duran were headlining) as I didn’t really have anything else to do. None of the music acts during the afternoon caught my interest, and it was a very hot day (one of those days I feel a bit wistful for currently, writing this from the middle of winter!), so I took the opportunity to chill with my picnic blanket under a tree, enjoy food from the festival stalls, read a book and people-watch. (All the girls were in Veja trainers that summer. That is a very strong memory.)
This was my view for most of the day:
I did venture out to catch a bit of Chic and Nile Rodgers, but the sun was still pretty strong so I retreated back to my tree. I knew Nile would be back on stage with Duran later on!
Thankfully it was a lot cooler by the time the main set started. We were very much in the Future Past era at this point, so the setlist was similar to Dublin (London setlist available on setlist.fm here), but the vibe was very different – equally lovely, but somehow more energetic. I was a long way back in the crowd (BST had a large VIP section so unless you were paying through the nose you couldn’t get anywhere near to the stage) but everyone around me was there to dance. It was a great atmosphere. (And Nile came out as expected to join the band for ‘Notorious’ and ‘Pressure Off’!)
It was dark by the time the band finished and a big crush to get out of Hyde Park… but such a buzz and so worth the trip down to London!