Tag: Duran Duran

Gig Review: Duran Duran at Leeds Arena, 4th May 2023

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It was getting to the stage at this point where I realised I was starting to ‘collect’ Duran gigs in different cities. Birmingham, Dublin, London and now Leeds. There’ll be at least one more city added to the collection in the upcoming weeks of this gig blog catchup! Leeds was probably the easiest for travelling so far.

A couple of support acts on this tour, the first of which was Lia Lia. I mostly remember this as ‘experimental but quite pleasant to listen to’.

Next up was Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters fame. He mainly performed his band’s classics, which was fine by me – I vaguely remember seeing the Scissor Sisters at some T in the Park or other back in the day, but like the majority of my twenties, it’s a very blurry memory, so it was fab to be able to see these songs played live again.

Onto the main event! As usual, setlist.fm has the details here.

As mentioned above, this was my fourth time seeing Duran in less than two years so I was quite familiar with the Future Past era setlist by this point. A couple of songs I was delighted to hear live for the first time were ‘Night Boat’ (in hindsight a hint towards the upcoming Danse Macabre album, at that point not yet officially announced) and ‘Is There Something I Should Know?’

I was also intrigued by the mashup of ‘Lonely in Your Nightmare’ and a cover of ‘Super Freak’ – another track that would later become very familiar in the Danse Macabre era! At the time I was a little concerned that this mashup had replaced my old favourite ‘Girls on Film’/’Acceptable in the ’80s’… but I needn’t have worried, as the latter made its appearance later in the evening 😊

I didn’t realise at the time that it would be a while before I saw the band again. 2024 ended up being Duranless because their only UK dates were a couple of festivals down south and the logistics didn’t work out for me. But there were quite a few other gigs, which I’ll be continuing to blog about over the next few weeks!

Gig Review: Duran Duran at BST Hyde Park, 10th July 2022

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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!

Gig Review: Duran Duran at St Anne’s Park Dublin, 12th June 2022

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This was another COVID-postponed gig, and turned into a bit of a nightmare with the postponed logistics, especially as at some point Geth decided to come along for his birthday weekend. It was a flying visit to Dublin in the end but I really enjoyed it!

It was a bit of a festival atmosphere in St Anne’s Park – love an outdoor gig in the summer. The first support act was Sinead O’Brien. Simon came out to introduce her (something, he claimed, that he’d never done for a support act before). I recall her music being fairly chilled out and a good way to start the show.

A return to blurry gig photography, sorry. Hopefully this will improve over the next few gig review catchups as our phone cameras get better.

The middle act was Goldfrapp, a band that I always quite enjoyed in their hit days, so it was good to have the opportunity to see them.

I think this picture might have been taken of the big screen rather than the band themselves!

In between the acts, it rained a lot 😒 and we made good use of the various plastic bags we’d brought with us.

I tweeted about this gig at the time, so here are a couple of links to my contemporary thoughts:

TLDR: as a gig experience, I probably enjoyed it even more than Birmingham the year before (although that was special in a different way!). Duran played some unexpected songs, and it was a really fun atmosphere, with Geth getting a lot of love from fellow gig-goers as it was his birthday, and lots of dancing in the crowd.

It’s fun to look back at the Future Past era gigs now that I’m used to the band’s Danse Macabre look!

They finished with ‘Rio’, which is fairly standard. Geth was dragging me to the exit during that one as the train back to Dublin city centre was due… and then the train driver waited for everyone anyway, for about an extra 20 minutes!

Setlist.fm has the deets here!

I didn’t have long to wait for another Duran gig, so expect another review soon…

Gig Review: Andy Taylor ‘Rock ‘n’ Raise’ at Wylam Brewery, 15th September 2021

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It has taken me a long time to get round to posting all my gig reviews from the last few years. This one is from 2021 – at the time I reviewed the gig for both Cherry Lipstick and Daily Duranie. The latter is no longer online so I will post a modified version of that review here!

While the Duran gig on Tuesday 14th September was more fabulous than I could ever have expected, I had a very good reason for being unable to stick around for the second night – I already had tickets for another exciting show! I made a quick train journey from Birmingham back home to Newcastle, ready for the long-awaited return of Andy Taylor to the North East of England. Duran one night and Andy the next… quite possibly the closest I’ll ever get to seeing the classic lineup! Wonderful that they were both hometown gigs too.

Andy’s gig was a charity show titled ‘Rock ‘N’ Raise’, with the aim of raising money for charities including the Sir Graham Wylie Foundation and Teenage Cancer Trust. As such, it was a bit of a festival atmosphere with various support acts, all with links to the area. My favourite was North East singer Lorraine Crosby, who is most well-known for singing the female vocal on Meat Loaf’s ‘I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)’ and these days performs a Queen tribute act. She has a brilliant voice and would later join Andy for his big finale.

She was also wearing the event t-shirt! I bought one and still wear it regularly.

There was also a charity raffle and auction just before Andy came on, with the auctioned items being a bracelet made specially out of the guitar strings Andy was using that night (to be made after the gig, obviously!) and a signed poster. The two items went for £1,000 each, and I believe were bought by the same person! Great news for the charity and I hope the buyer enjoys them – the bracelet especially would be a very special souvenir!

Andy and the band played a brilliant mix of Duran tracks (including ‘What Happens Tomorrow’, which Andy described as ‘the Duran song that got away’, and ‘Careless Memories’, which I adored), Power Station tracks, tracks off the 1987 Thunder album, and a few Robert Palmer and Rod Stewart tracks with which Andy had originally been involved. It occurs to me that seeing an Andy Taylor gig must be the only way now to see Power Station songs performed by a Power Station member, unless John and the rest of Duran ever decide to throw a few into a set! There were no tracks played from Andy’s new album, so it felt like quite a different show to his last gig at the 100 Club, but that also felt right for the type of show it was. There’ll be plenty of time to hear the new stuff when Andy’s ready for us to hear it. (Note from 2025: and we now can!)

In the stage fog!

Just like Duran the night before, Andy closed his finale with ‘Rio’. Andy’s version was a bit of a party, with support acts joining him on stage and the glorious surprise of Si King from the Hairy Bikers playing the bongos!

Because it was a local-to-me gig I dragged Geth out with me. He really enjoyed it and was able to share my excitement when Andy played ‘What Happens Tomorrow’ as I’d recently been playing Astronaut a lot in the car! He said he’d like to see Andy again so I’ll be buying two tickets for the Cullercoats gig if/when that COVID-cancelled UK tour finally gets rescheduled… Fingers crossed that Andy will eventually make it out there to see all the international fans too – because everybody deserves to see this show.  It was a cracker!

(Note from 2025 – no more Andy gigs as of yet due to his ongoing cancer treatment. This Classic Pop interview from earlier this year is a great, positive read!)

As was my habit in those days, I livetweeted during the gig: 1, 2, 3, 4.

Music Review: Duran Duran: Danse Macabre

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It’s been a while since I did a music review. I don’t think I even did one for Duran’s last album, Future Past, which was released two years ago. But the excitement was high for the new Hallowe’en-themed album, so it’s time to get back into the habit! Thoughts listed track by track…

Nightboat

This re-recording sounds even eerier than the original, and sort of more epic. Like a film soundtrack. It does lose some of the punk energy I loved in the 1981 version, though.

Black Moonlight

This is more of a banger every time I hear it. A ‘dancing around the room’ kind of song! Love that funk bassline. I also love that it’s been all over the BBC this Hallowe’en week.

Love Voudou

A funkier and less spiky update of the original ‘Love Voodoo’ from 1993. I think I prefer this version!

Bury A Friend

My favourite Billie Eilish song so I was excited about this one. It did not disappoint. Fully Duranised and nicely rock-infused.

Supernature

Loses none of the disco feel of the original Cerrone version. Love the backing chorus at the end.

Danse Macabre

Probably the most Hallowe’en-y song on the album. My favourite lyrics (I am a Hallowe’en girl so frankly I was sold from the opening) and it’s another one that’s highly danceable.

Secret Oktober 31st

I always found the original slightly dirge-y (I wrote a piece for Cherry Lipstick to that effect) but this version is a bit better – it has a twinkly lightness about it at the start and then gets a bit filmic by the end. Much more interesting.

Ghost Town

A classic from the Specials back in the day so I wasn’t sure what to expect. They’ve injected it with a lot more fun and it made me smile (and then laugh when it got extra reggae in the middle). A more serious cover would probably have fallen flat but this one struck the right note.

Paint It Black

Another personal favourite from childhood. What I love about the Rolling Stones original is its harsh spikiness and that was lost here. However, it does sound spookier (and the guitars are pleasingly ’80s) so I think it’s a version that will grow on me.

Super Lonely Freak

Duran played this mashup of ‘Super Freak’ and ‘Lonely In Your Nightmare’ when I saw them in Leeds earlier this year. I hadn’t realised it had originated from the Hallowe’en 2022 Vegas gig, but I did enjoy it in concert (even if I was worried for a moment that it had replaced the wonderful ‘Girls On Film’/’Acceptable In The ’80s’ mashup that I love! But they kept that in too so yay). Glad to see it immortalised on record… and the sax section is fantastic.

Spellbound

Being a recovering goth, I am a huge Siouxsie and the Banshees fan. The original has been played at every goth club night since 1981 and so I know it intimately. This version lacks a little of the punk energy, but it would fit in very nicely with later goth rock from the second half of the ’80s.

Psycho Killer

A smoother and more epic version of the Talking Heads original. Gorgeous double bassline (the second provided by Victoria De Angelis of Måneskin, complementing John Taylor) and lovely instrumental work all round.

Confession In The Afterlife

A slow and serious ending to what has otherwise been a fun and danceable album. Pretty tune and a nice guitar solo but it feels like a bit of an odd duck on this record.

Gig Review: Duran Duran at O2 Academy Birmingham, 14th September 2021

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It’s been two and a half years since I last did a gig review on here! I’m a bit out of the habit…

Like many other things in my life post-pandemic, going to gigs is not as frequent an occurrence as it used to be. I like my evenings at home on my sofa and it has to be something special for me to buy tickets these days. However, I have been to a few since the world started returning to normal (nine, by my calculations) and have one or two lined up for the future. It’s probably time I start catching up with some reviews again.

It was, of course, highly appropriate that my first post-pandemic gig back was my first time getting to see Duran Duran. They’ve been my favourite band for years now but for various reasons I just hadn’t had the chance to see them. When a couple of surprise dates were announced in September 2021, I grabbed the opportunity with both hands.

I reviewed this gig for both Daily Duranie and Cherry Lipstick at the time, so my much fresher thoughts are out there already and I won’t repeat those. Really it’s just nice to look back, in hindsight, at a really special experience – the suddenness of the announcement, heading down to Birmingham for the evening, the incredible atmosphere at the O2 Academy (a much smaller venue than the arenas Duran usually play) and the overwhelming feeling of experiencing something for which I’d waited a long time. Not to mention excitedly livetweeting the gig (see here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here) 😀

Duran Duran

Now, for the first time in nearly four years, I shall update my Band Aid baby bucket list:

Updated Band Aid baby bucket list progress: song artists 11/37 (29.7%); message artists 2/7 (28.6%); total artists 13/44 (29.5%).

Off adventuring again

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I’ve got another outdoor Duran Duran gig to attend this weekend so I’m off down to London tomorrow (timing could have been better, looks like it’s going to be impossibly hot down there) while Geth holds the fort at home. This will be the very last of my pandemic-postponed events (not counting the two that never got rescheduled – I’m still holding out hope for them but it’s looking unlikely now!).

Once I was finally able to break free of the endless news-watching trap in which I had become entangled due to this week’s events, I had a really good go at Bravely Default II yesterday. I got the game when it came out in February 2021 and have been playing it on and off for over a year, but hadn’t actually opened it up since last October – I’ve been far too busy with other things since then! Hopefully this summer I will actually finish it.

Flying!

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Flying visit to Dublin in both senses! We flew out yesterday morning, enjoyed a wonderful Duran Duran gig in the north of the city (review to come soon) and flew back this morning (a lot later than intended but let’s not dwell on that). It was really strange at first to be on a plane again after four years, but it felt normal again very quickly. I’m finding that with a lot of things.

With yesterday’s flight, my record streak of time spent without leaving the UK came to a welcome end. My new record is 1,418 days: I did not leave the UK between arriving into Edinburgh from Toronto on 25th July 2018 and leaving Newcastle for Dublin on 12th June 2022. I do not wish to break this record again. While home is far and away my favourite place, there are lots of far-flung things in the world that are worth poking my nose out for.

Duran day

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Just a quick post this morning as I’m travelling today for a concert. Going to see Duran Duran again – a gig that was booked for 2020 originally and has been postponed twice. It’ll be lovely to go finally.

Quite a lot on this month but I’m focusing on one thing at a time as it’s a bit overwhelming otherwise!

A month of two halves

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The first half of September has been almost back to pre-pandemic levels of Being Out And About! Weddings, races, gigs… it’s been a busy time, but so joyful to be able to see people and do normal things again. I even finally got to see Duran Duran this week! They announced a couple of short-notice gigs about a fortnight ago and I jumped at the chance… especially seeing as I already had a ticket for Andy Taylor on the Wednesday and so it was set to be the best coming-out-of-the-pandemic return to gig-going week I could have hoped for!

I’ll review the gigs in depth here eventually but I’ve also written pieces on them for a couple of fansites/publications so I want to wait until those are out first.

Anyway, the second half of September, in contrast, is empty, and I plan to make the most of that. I will only be leaving the house to do parkrun and an occasional long-ish run (my short daily runs are now all being done on the treadmill to reduce my risk of injury in the lead-up to the marathon) until I leave for London, with the one exception being the day I’ll be helping Geth unpack boxes in his new office. I am guarding that time very carefully as I want as much physical and mental rest as possible over the next sixteen days!

I am also getting organised for Hallowe’en so that I’m not rushing around with that in October. Some exciting things coming in the post soon…

Gig t-shirts
T-shirt collection well stocked up this week! Love both of these 🙂

Saturday

The Wombles – ‘The Wombling Song’
Duran Duran – ‘Come Undone’

Sunday

Mika – ‘Grace Kelly’

Monday

Mark Knopfler – ‘Local Hero’
The Running Channel – ‘Run With Me’

Tuesday

Meat Loaf – ‘Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through’
Duran Duran – ‘Invisible’

Wednesday

Duran Duran – ‘Tonight United’
Andy Taylor – ‘Bringing Me Down’
Gloria Gaynor – ‘I Will Survive’
Duran Duran – ‘Friends Of Mine’

Thursday

Duran Duran – ‘What Happens Tomorrow’

Friday

Tom Jones – ‘Delilah’
Duran Duran – ‘Ordinary World’