Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Ljubljana / Križanke / Slovenia
Concert date: 14.07.2012
Attendance: 3,300
Ticket price: €33.00 (standing, category II) / €43.00 (standing, category I) / €59.00 (fan pit)
Duran Duran is a name that still sparks strong, fiery emotions among countless music lovers. With a whole string of hits like »The Relfex«, »Hungry Like The Wolf«, »A View To a Kill« »Notorious«, »Rio« and »Wild Boys,« to name just a few, and more than a hundred million records sold, these new romantic legends can rightfully claim the title of the ultimate pop rock band of the eighties. Then again, the British masters of musical glamour and new wave sensibility, who finally made their first appearance here (unlike their ‘comrades’ Spandau Ballet, who played Slovenia twice back in 1987), don’t need any pompous introduction at all. The legions of music gourmets and slightly less hardcore gig-goers who showed up in the middle of Ljubljana’s Križanke said it best, led by the forty-something ladies whose hearts still start racing at the sight of Simon Le Bon. Križanke was bursting at the seams even before the ‘wild boys’ hit the stage, thanks to an admirable number of quality pop rock fans, something that usually only happens here when the likes of Halid Bešlić or Dino Merlin come to town.
The night looked pretty much ideal for reviving eighties nostalgia, since besides presenting the hits from their latest studio album »All You Need Is Now« (2011), Duran Duran, as has been the case in recent years, had a collection of their greatest hits ready to go. Everything would have been almost perfect if the totally unsuitable LeeLooJamais hadn’t opened the show. They left most fans of good pop rock with long faces, drooping ears and sleepy eyes, and on top of that the sound was dismally bad, which sadly happens at Križanke all too often, even to bands of far bigger caliber. Anyway, during the overly long wait for Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, John and Roger Taylor, and touring guitarist Dom Brown, who replaced original member Andy Taylor, along with the other two touring companions, singer Anna Ross and percussionist/tenor saxophonist Simon Willescroft, it felt like the buzz and feverish eruption of energy would blow Plečnik’s legendary architectural achievement to smithereens. Right off the bat it has to be said that all four original members still boast a youthful look, even though it was plain to see that LeBon, once he shed his glamorous uniform, has grown himself a rather neat little belly in recent years. John Taylor on bass, on the other hand, is still skinny as a rake, so it’s no surprise that the character Dante from the popular Japanese video game series »Devil May Cry« was based on him, while Nick Rhodes on keyboards still sports the obligatory ‘canary’ hairdo and the wiry Roger Taylor still pounds the drum kit with the same zeal as three decades ago.
The dark, slow »Before The Rain«, a track from the latest album »All You Need Is Now«, was picked as the warm-up, with scenes from the Russian October Revolution rolling across the screen while it played. The long-time devotees, to their delight, weren’t left hungry for long, as the very next moment the eighties golden hit »Planet Earth« delivered exactly the atmosphere everyone had been waiting for, with the crowd breathing as one with the band members and their touring companions. The brilliantly executed »A View To a Kill« stirred up even more delirium, the song most music and film fans have remembered since the mid-eighties as the theme of the last James Bond with Roger Moore in the lead role. Le Bon wowed everyone with his expressive vocal approach and kept the audience involved the whole time. It came off as a bit grotesque, though, that it took him three tries, after two Croats, to find some hero from Slovenia, who ended up on stage reciting a little something in a childish voice. Then again, that wasn’t Le Bon’s last ‘entertaining’ interlude of the night. The eternal nostalgics and incorrigible romantics got another infusion of new romantic brilliance through the superbly delivered golden standards »The Reflex« and »Hungry Like The Wolf«. A slightly funny mishap hit Nick Rhodes mid-show: the guy mixed up the running order a bit and started playing the opening bars of the evergreen »Save a Prayer« when it was actually time for »Girl Panic!« from the current record. Le Bon just gave him a weird look, saying »what the hell is goin’ on«, and they quickly pulled themselves together and played a proper version of a generally pretty average song, which got a little spice from entertaining projections of glamorous models, among them Simon’s wife Yasmin.
So the gentlemen of Duran Duran still swear by the occasionally somewhat kitschy glam and pomp of the fashion world, while, it seems, they’ve left the post-gig excesses behind now that they’ve reached their mature years. »Save a Prayer«, which came up right after, was another triumphant moment of the night, taking many in the crowd back to the eighties in spirit. The sound near the mixing desk was decent the whole time, perfectly solid and satisfying, which is definitely a big achievement for Križanke. »Come Undone« and »Ordinary World«, the only Duran Duran hits from the nineties, reminded us of »The Wedding Album« (1993), which was a rare commercial success after the end of the eighties. The confidently delivered »Astronaut« (2004) classic »(Reach Up For The) Sunrise« likewise reminded the crowd of another one of those rare Duran Duran standards worth mentioning that were created after the golden era ended.
The pompous »Notorious« was also among the better-played classics of the night. The concert hit its peak, pretty much as expected, with the ever-fiery standard »Wild Boys«, into which the old foxes slyly worked the main motif of the Frankie Goes To Hollywood classic »Relax«, which ended up working surprisingly well. It was nice to hear Duran Duran pay tribute to this cult new wave band, which today, apart from a handful of gourmets and nostalgics, is almost completely forgotten and released only two albums in its career. The only big complaint goes to the absolutely overstretched »Girls On Film« in the encore, which they needlessly dragged out into a dance number with crowd chanting and lengthy introductions of the band members and guests. The final triumph of eighties nostalgia came with the big closing number »Rio«, a mega hit that turns exactly thirty years old this year. While it was played, rocket explosions and all sorts of carnival imagery ran in the background, spicing up the end of an excellent concert night in a lively way.
The new romantic legends’ show at Križanke, despite not-so-promising expectations, delivered in every way and surprised even the biggest skeptics, who may have wrongly assumed that the legendary band wouldn’t give it their all for the ‘Balkanites beneath the Alps’ and squeeze out their best. In their first-ever show in front of a Slovenian audience, which included plenty of Croatian and Italian fans, Duran Duran were in great spirits, and the handful of technical glitches during the set, especially when it came to certain vocal performances, ended up barely worth mentioning. And everyone who spent the best years of their youth in the eighties finally got the first-class get-together they’d waited so long for with some of their main musical heroes, who took them back once more to simpler, far more innocent times long gone.
Setlist
1. Before the Rain
2. Planet Earth
3. A View to a Kill
4. All You Need Is Now
5. The Reflex
6. Come Undone
7. Safe (In the Heat of the Moment)
8. Girl Panic!
9. Save a Prayer
10. Notorious
11. White Lines
12. Ordinary World
13. Hungry Like the Wolf
14. (Reach Up for the) Sunrise
15. Wild Boys / Relax / Wild Boys
—encore—
16. Girls on Film
17. Rio
Photo Gallery
