Review: A Great Wave Of Duran Duran

I hope y'all will indulge me on a long review of my favorite group of all time. Some people like the Grateful Dead, others Bruce Springsteen, and still others Barbra Streisand. For me, it's Duran Duran. During the '80s, I listened to nothing else. I have quite the collection of albums, picture discs, EPs, 12" singles, cassettes, VHS and DVD videos. You name it, I got it.

Picture this. (Nod to Sophia Petrillo here.) The year is 1980. Cable television comes to our house and brings music channel MTV with it. At our high school, there are the haves and the have nots. Those that have cable, and those that wish they did. (VCRs and microwave ovens are still new technologies.) With early 80s MTV comes the British New Wave/New Romantic movement...and Duran Duran.

I feel like a small town boy who's been thrown a lifeline to the outside world. A fantasy place where people think like me. I end up dying my hair blonde, wearing skinny ties that I tuck in between the 2nd and 3rd buttons on my shirt, and do all my shopping at Chess King and Merry-Go-Round. I'm too chicken to pierce my ear and my boss tells me I'm a 'ninny' to even think such a thing. [I do that twice about 5 years later, still at a time when it's a 'big deal' for a man to wear earrings...and I'm in a corporate job.] Pretty silly now that I look back on it, but I was so serious about it then.

Since the original five Duran Duran members reunited back in 2001, I've been waiting for them to tour in a place near me. The band came to Albany on November 6th and played the Palace Theatre. There was very little promotion for the show and the attendance reflected that as they played to a house that was only half full. Maybe because it was a Monday night, or maybe I'm still living a bit in the past when people clamor to see DD. It's a shame because they missed one hell of a show.

After I finally get tickets, Andy Taylor (lead guitar) gets the boot two weeks before my show. Ya might know. So the performers were four of the originals: Simon LeBon (front man), John Taylor (bass guitar), Nick Rhodes (keyboards), and Roger Taylor (drums). Dominic Brown subbed on lead guitar and there was a back up singer and a saxophonist. The stage was a basic setup with a wide curtain of animated lights as a backdrop where most of the visuals made me think of psychedelic patterns and colors from the 1960s.

There was no opening act. Things got underway with a taped audio montage of recognizable guitar riffs, synthesizer melodies, and lyric hooks that were blended together quite well with a high-tech feel. From the moment they took the stage Simon LeBon belted out hit after hit. They have a long list of hits, so they had to choose songs NOT to play. Missing were: Planet Earth, Is There Something I Should Know?, New Moon on Monday, Skin Trade, and I Don't Want Your Love among others. They did include a Power Station hit and I was hoping for a little Arcadia Election Day since the polls were open the following day but that didn't happen. Midway through the show, they dedicated Ordinary World to the American and British troops serving in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The low point of the evening for me was when they launched into The Reflex half way through the show. The Nile Rogers remix is layered and complex and it's my favorite of their studio recordings. Going in I had expected it to be their last song of the evening. But it was flat and didn't play well live...it was wise that they didn't end on that note.

The best songs of the night:

— Hold Back The Rain made me the happiest. They played a lot from the Rio album and the saxophonist was awesome, really hitting his stride during Rio. I had already thought about writing this post prior to the show and was prepared to say HBTR was the one song I wished that they had played. Well they rocked the house with it and made the whole experience worth the price of admission for me.

— (Reach Up For The) Sunrise which is the last Duran Duran song for which I actually paid. It came as a remix on the Queer Eye for the Straight Guy soundtrack — the old Fab Five meets the new Fab Five. The backdrop lights created images of pulsating rainbow colors that I have to think was an intentional acknowledging wink to the Queer Eye fans in the audience. Sunny golden flood lights illuminated the crowd as it cheered and people waved their hands in the air. This should have been their final encore because it was the best performance of the night.

If you like Duran Duran, you'll love this show. As my British friends would say, "Absolutely fan-ta-stic!"

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I saw Duran Duran for the first time in the Carrier Dome at Syracuse University. It was a cold winter night on a Saturday in 1984 after a lake-effect snow storm had dumped about 2' on the city. The stage had been erected where the 50 yard line would be for an 'Orange' football game so they played to a packed house...but only in half the stadium.

Billy Idol was the opening act at a time when 'Rebel Yell' had been released with hits Eyes Without A Face and Flesh For Fantasy. He put on a great show, sufficiently sneering at the crowd with his trademark raised lip, whipping everyone up for the main act.

Then it was time. Behind the stage, stretching from one side to the other, a heavy curtain was used to block the empty side of the arena from sight. It was there that the group descended down the stairs through the empty stands to the floor and made their way to the stage. Those who could catch a sneak peak caused several false alarms after spotting only a stage hand, throwing thousands of teenage girls into a screaming frenzy thinking the band was about to take the stage.

Union of the Snake had been on the radio and in heavy rotation on MTV (yep, MTV actually used to play/show music) and New Moon On Monday was just released from the 'Seven and the Ragged Tiger' album. The live footage used in the video for The Reflex was filmed at their subsequent performance in Toronto. The show was incredible, I sang all the lyrics, and loved every minute of it.

This was the first (and only) time I'd ever been in a domed stadium where the roof was held up with air pressure. I still remember being tossed out by unseen forces. As people in front of me approached the exit, they were thrust out into the night by an invisible hand right at the threshhold between inside and out. It seemed surreal. I thought my eyes were deceiving me because there was no wind rushing by my ears as you'd expect. My eyes told me to brace myself, my other senses told me there was nothing to be concerned about. But when I reached the doorway I was cast out just like all those that went before me. I later found out this is called The Dome Effect.

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My next opportunity to see the group was at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheater in Irvine, CA during their resurgence in 1995. Warren Cuccurullo was now on lead guitar and had a major hand in the writing of 'The Wedding Album' filled with slow melodic ballads like Ordinary World and Come Undone.

Toad The Wet Sprocket (remember them?) was the opening act and did a great job with the songs that made them famous: All I Want and Walk On The Ocean. A great set with a laid back feel.

That subdued atmosphere carried over to the Duranies. Coupled with an open-air arena that seemed to suck the sound up into the night sky, the music was plodding, the show lackluster, and the experience generally disappointing.

Review: Journey / Def Leppard Still Rock

Talk about an outing where everything went right.

On a whim, I decided to attend the Journey / Def Leppard concert at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC to locals). SPAC is situated in the middle of a huge lush park in Saratoga Springs, NY. A quick jaunt up the Northway (I-87) and I'm there. With a bit of ingenuity, I manage to avoid a 45 minute wait in a long snaking line on the highway to get parking, spending about 15 minutes instead. The road to the parking area is through the park under a canopy of pine trees. It's still dusk and I soak up the ambiance. They say to stop and smell the roses...it is equally enjoyable to roll down the windows and smell the pines.

I park with relative ease on a huge grass field, then face the task of getting a ticket. SPAC has a combination indoor/outdoor venue. Indoor is a two-tier setup that holds thousands. The rear of the amphitheater is open to a sloped lawn section where people sit on blankets in a semi-organized free-for-all where no one has assigned seats and it is first come first serve. Thousands more can be seated on the lawn, with views of the stage from the front of the lawn, and views of video screens in the back of the lawn. This night, there is probably 20,000 in attendance.

As I wait at the back of a line of about 50 people, a man offers a group of us an inside single ticket. Hey, I'm interested! What's the price? He paid $55 but will let it go for $35. Lawn seats are $25...I figure it's worth the extra $10 so I don't have to wait in that long line. It's a deal.

I wander to the ticket takers, hoping I haven't been duped. I'm probably too paranoid. It turns out the ticket is good and I make my way down a path through the people on the lawn. The seat, by some standards, isn't so great. I'm in the last row but not far off center. It's actually great for me. While I never ever leave my seat, I always like to have an easy "escape route" just in case. This is the same reason I prefer to sit on the aisle in a movie theater.

I'm stoked. I saw Journey here 25 years ago. Times change but yet they stay the same. The songs are the same and the high energy was definitely the same. These guys rock. But the blue fog of pot smoke hanging over the crowd, common of most concerts 25 years ago, is gone. No one is noticeably stoned or drunk. No one vomits. No one is even the slightest bit unruly. There are a couple of small beach balls being batted around but no marshmallow fights. The crowd is the same only 25 years older. And I notice the feelings that the lyrics evoke are quite different. The songs are the same but my life experiences are more complex. Now when they sing about missing their "City By The Bay," I can better relate since I've spent so much time in San Francisco and miss it myself.

Okay, for Def Leppard fans, a live experience of "Pour Some Sugar On Me" is the reason to see these guys in concert. They power through the show, which seems like a greatest hits CD, with three guitars and the drummer driving the vocals. Like Journey, the crowd knows the words and sings almost every lyric. We aren't disappointed as the final encore is PSSOM. I'm happy. The crowd is ecstatic. "Don't forget us," lead singer Joe Eliot finishes, "and we won't forget you!"

Now it is Sunday morning -- I'm hoarse and my ears are still ringing. A 'SPAC'tacular night!


Consider this etiquette / social behavior question: If you purchase an extra ticket from someone outside a venue, and end up sitting next to them inside, do either of you have any obligation to have further contact?

If you had purchased the ticket from Ticketmaster, the point would be moot, as you've had no prior contact. It just seemed odd to me that the person that sold me the ticket (it was a single ticket, I was alone, and I sat right next to him) not only never spoke to me, but never even looked at me for the next 4 hours.