Post by Deleted on May 15, 2008 5:26:45 GMT -5
blogs.denverpost.com/reverb/2008/05/14/duran-duran-the-wells-fargo-theatre/
*click link for photos*
There were few surprises when Duran Duran took the stage at the Wells Fargo Theatre on Monday night. The popular ’80s band made a comeback a few years back, and they’re still hanging around trying to recreate the fizzle-pop that initially broke them to international fame so many years ago.
Because the show was packed with the expected moments – Simon Le Bon’s meandering between-song nonsense and Nick Rhodes’ permascowl – we’ll start with the evening’s single-biggest pleasure: The keyboards and synthesizers.
It sounds like an odd place to start a Duran Duran review in 2008, but then again it does make sense. Rhodes was an innovator in the world of synthesizers, and he gave the band that sound that make them as groundbreaking as they were popular.
But the sweetest part of Monday’s show was actually seeing Rhodes and bassist John Taylor play their keyboards and synthesizers. I’ve spent the last couple months gritting my teeth while watching all these ’80s-aping bands not playing their instruments. Sure, Justice doesn’t want to risk the wrong keystroke amid their dance epics, and Does it Offend You, Yeah? doesn’t want to mess with the hassle of traveling with all the needed equipment to recreate the sound on their records.
O, wah. These newer boys could actually learn something from the Duran Duran men. Rhodes was busy all night with his four or five synths and his lone Apple laptop, and when Turner wasn’t on the bass, he was plunking along on the keys. Bravo, boys.
Of course they still played to a healthy backing track, but it was mostly to accompany and assist drummer Roger Taylor.
And now that that’s out of the way, onto the show, which was unsurprisingly flat. Sure, the boys – err, men – had their moments. An early-set “Hungry Like the Wolf” sailed and had them sounding 20 years younger, and a late-set “Rio” was equally stunning.
Otherwise, Duran Duran had a really hard time recreating the magic that once made them such stars. Not that the mostly female audience realized that. From the opening strains of their entrée music – the symphonic composition from “A Clockwork Orange” – the ladies represented like it was 1985.
Wearing matching boy band jackets, the guys started with two songs off their latest lackluster outing, “Red Carpet Massacre:” “The Valley” and the title track. John stood stage right with Le Bon in the middle, and Rhodes was back stage left on a platform surrounded by Casioesque machinery.
Le Bon’s voice sounded great as he worked his way through “Hungry Like the Wolf” and “Planet earth,” two oldies that ignited the crowd. Then they slowed things down considerably with a song they cowrote with Justin Timberlake (who is “heavenly,” according to Le Bon) and “Come Undone,” a song the singer dedicated to all the lovers in the half-full house.
“We don’t care if you’re young or old or same-sex couples,” Le Bon told he audience. “It’s all the same. We’re easy.”
A lame new track, “Skin Divers,” followed and featured Le Bon and John in matching white button-ups with fake-blood spattered on them. It was an odd scene, seeing these fortysomething rockers up there in matching outfits that would seem more at home at the merch booth of a My Chemical Romance show, but it was yet another reminder that we were watching a boy band.
“The Reflex” got its start with an audience singalong of the “da na na nas” and a Le Bon air kick. (Yikes.) It was especially excellent to see Nick (kind of) sing back-ups, although that didn’t compare to that song’s tenor sax solo – which was only one of many to come. Oddly Le Bon shied away from the “Whyyyyyyyyys” in the chorus, instead holding his mic out to the audience for them to sing.
Were the notes too high for him? Not likely, because he handled some other high-octave work later on. It was a bummer regardless, because the audience wanted to hear that trademark Le Bon baritone rip them out.
“This next song is a bit of a singalong,” John said advancing “Save a Prayer,” only to be interrupted by an obnoxious Le Bon.
“I think what John meant is that we would love it if you all sang along to the choruses of this song,” Le Bon said, holding an acoustic guitar he would only barely play in “Save a Prayer.”
It was a funny moment, as it was obvious Le Bon didn’t want anybody singing over his heavy lifting. The song sounded lovely in a strictly ’80s context. It was like watching “High School Reunion” or rocking out at Rockbar on a Thursday – only with a lot more people.
“A View to a Kill” followed, and it was O.K. That’s right, only O.K. It’s a sad day when that ’80s hit is only O.K., but the band wasn’t firing on all cylinders. Things only got more odd with a miniature intermission/costume change opportunity and a cover of the Normal’s “Warm Leatherette” – a rager of a song, but a terrible cover choice for pop band of Duran Duran’s melodic stature.
After a thoroughly unremarkable “Skin Trade” and a too-slow “Notorious,” the group bounced back with an effervescent “Girls on Film” – a song that proved that John’s back-up vocals are still strong and on-point. Still, the boys looked silly in the cheap, shiny black suits they had changed into after “A View to a Kill.”
Then again, they’re a boy band, right? Matching, cheap, shiny, black suits are a must! And so is the mandatory introduction of all the guys – because the screaming audience doesn’t know that it’s Nick Rhodes in the back looking creepy and Simon Le Bon front and center being annoyingly cutesy.
Simon seriously took 10 minutes for his introductions. But as lame as they were, the crowd ate them up. “That’s John Taylor!” one woman next to me screamed, apparently learning te ex-heart-throb’s name for the first time.
The sleeper ballad “Ordinary World” followed, and Le Bon’s voice sounded crystalline amid the soaring chorus: “But I won’t cry for yesterday …” After that came the equally cheesy “(Reach Up For The) Sunrise,” a dance track that has the band reaching for relevance. “Wild Boys” closed the night out, and while it sounded pretty smooth, the song also required a potent suspension of disbelief.
Grown men + bad, matching suits = “Wild Boys?” Well, sure. I guess I can buy that.
*click link for photos*
There were few surprises when Duran Duran took the stage at the Wells Fargo Theatre on Monday night. The popular ’80s band made a comeback a few years back, and they’re still hanging around trying to recreate the fizzle-pop that initially broke them to international fame so many years ago.
Because the show was packed with the expected moments – Simon Le Bon’s meandering between-song nonsense and Nick Rhodes’ permascowl – we’ll start with the evening’s single-biggest pleasure: The keyboards and synthesizers.
It sounds like an odd place to start a Duran Duran review in 2008, but then again it does make sense. Rhodes was an innovator in the world of synthesizers, and he gave the band that sound that make them as groundbreaking as they were popular.
But the sweetest part of Monday’s show was actually seeing Rhodes and bassist John Taylor play their keyboards and synthesizers. I’ve spent the last couple months gritting my teeth while watching all these ’80s-aping bands not playing their instruments. Sure, Justice doesn’t want to risk the wrong keystroke amid their dance epics, and Does it Offend You, Yeah? doesn’t want to mess with the hassle of traveling with all the needed equipment to recreate the sound on their records.
O, wah. These newer boys could actually learn something from the Duran Duran men. Rhodes was busy all night with his four or five synths and his lone Apple laptop, and when Turner wasn’t on the bass, he was plunking along on the keys. Bravo, boys.
Of course they still played to a healthy backing track, but it was mostly to accompany and assist drummer Roger Taylor.
And now that that’s out of the way, onto the show, which was unsurprisingly flat. Sure, the boys – err, men – had their moments. An early-set “Hungry Like the Wolf” sailed and had them sounding 20 years younger, and a late-set “Rio” was equally stunning.
Otherwise, Duran Duran had a really hard time recreating the magic that once made them such stars. Not that the mostly female audience realized that. From the opening strains of their entrée music – the symphonic composition from “A Clockwork Orange” – the ladies represented like it was 1985.
Wearing matching boy band jackets, the guys started with two songs off their latest lackluster outing, “Red Carpet Massacre:” “The Valley” and the title track. John stood stage right with Le Bon in the middle, and Rhodes was back stage left on a platform surrounded by Casioesque machinery.
Le Bon’s voice sounded great as he worked his way through “Hungry Like the Wolf” and “Planet earth,” two oldies that ignited the crowd. Then they slowed things down considerably with a song they cowrote with Justin Timberlake (who is “heavenly,” according to Le Bon) and “Come Undone,” a song the singer dedicated to all the lovers in the half-full house.
“We don’t care if you’re young or old or same-sex couples,” Le Bon told he audience. “It’s all the same. We’re easy.”
A lame new track, “Skin Divers,” followed and featured Le Bon and John in matching white button-ups with fake-blood spattered on them. It was an odd scene, seeing these fortysomething rockers up there in matching outfits that would seem more at home at the merch booth of a My Chemical Romance show, but it was yet another reminder that we were watching a boy band.
“The Reflex” got its start with an audience singalong of the “da na na nas” and a Le Bon air kick. (Yikes.) It was especially excellent to see Nick (kind of) sing back-ups, although that didn’t compare to that song’s tenor sax solo – which was only one of many to come. Oddly Le Bon shied away from the “Whyyyyyyyyys” in the chorus, instead holding his mic out to the audience for them to sing.
Were the notes too high for him? Not likely, because he handled some other high-octave work later on. It was a bummer regardless, because the audience wanted to hear that trademark Le Bon baritone rip them out.
“This next song is a bit of a singalong,” John said advancing “Save a Prayer,” only to be interrupted by an obnoxious Le Bon.
“I think what John meant is that we would love it if you all sang along to the choruses of this song,” Le Bon said, holding an acoustic guitar he would only barely play in “Save a Prayer.”
It was a funny moment, as it was obvious Le Bon didn’t want anybody singing over his heavy lifting. The song sounded lovely in a strictly ’80s context. It was like watching “High School Reunion” or rocking out at Rockbar on a Thursday – only with a lot more people.
“A View to a Kill” followed, and it was O.K. That’s right, only O.K. It’s a sad day when that ’80s hit is only O.K., but the band wasn’t firing on all cylinders. Things only got more odd with a miniature intermission/costume change opportunity and a cover of the Normal’s “Warm Leatherette” – a rager of a song, but a terrible cover choice for pop band of Duran Duran’s melodic stature.
After a thoroughly unremarkable “Skin Trade” and a too-slow “Notorious,” the group bounced back with an effervescent “Girls on Film” – a song that proved that John’s back-up vocals are still strong and on-point. Still, the boys looked silly in the cheap, shiny black suits they had changed into after “A View to a Kill.”
Then again, they’re a boy band, right? Matching, cheap, shiny, black suits are a must! And so is the mandatory introduction of all the guys – because the screaming audience doesn’t know that it’s Nick Rhodes in the back looking creepy and Simon Le Bon front and center being annoyingly cutesy.
Simon seriously took 10 minutes for his introductions. But as lame as they were, the crowd ate them up. “That’s John Taylor!” one woman next to me screamed, apparently learning te ex-heart-throb’s name for the first time.
The sleeper ballad “Ordinary World” followed, and Le Bon’s voice sounded crystalline amid the soaring chorus: “But I won’t cry for yesterday …” After that came the equally cheesy “(Reach Up For The) Sunrise,” a dance track that has the band reaching for relevance. “Wild Boys” closed the night out, and while it sounded pretty smooth, the song also required a potent suspension of disbelief.
Grown men + bad, matching suits = “Wild Boys?” Well, sure. I guess I can buy that.