Duran Duran — evergreen kings of new romanticism take Prague back to the eighties on a wave of massive radio hits (2026)
Duran Duran (support act: Vesna)
Wednesday, 24 June 2026, 8:00 PM – 10:50 PM
Prague // O2 Arena // Czech Republic
And here it is! Another ‘tourist’ gig review — what you might call an ‘own-ticket’ review, a proper fan’s old-school affair.
Annual trips to the land of beer — the Czech Republic — never get old. Quite the opposite. Prague? You can explore it endlessly and never get to the bottom of it. And when you’re on holiday in the Czech Republic, it’s well worth spicing up your evenings with a decent gig or two — which is exactly where a trip to see eighties new wave and new romantic icons Duran Duran comes in, with Prague confirmed as a stop on their current European summer tour.
At eight in the evening, Czech girls Vesna took the stage. Their home crowd knows them well. The rest of us who’d come for Duran Duran had to die waiting a full hour before the icons arrived. The music leans heavily on electronics, samples and synths, with some room for bass guitar, and the drums only briefly grazed the skins. All eyes were mainly on the energetic lead singer, who kept the crowd engaged — and the audience more than once hinted that the music, drawing on folk tradition (those Slavic-sounding motifs and rhythms), wasn’t lost on them. Lyrics entirely in Czech. Still, you could spot a fair few sour faces in the crowd that didn’t bother hiding the fact that their souls were suffering. Look, the girls were perfectly decent, the sound was fine. They made the most of the opportunity, which only adds to their credibility going forward.
Then at ten past nine — for real! An intro with a taped symphonic arrangement of new single Free To Love, and then — bang! What? From the “Arena” live album? Is There Something I Should Know? — a track Duran Duran had slowly been bringing back into the set since 2023, which your reviewer had never heard live before. Ahh! A massive stage, enormous backdrops. The bigger the stage, the more Duran Duran come into their own. The bigger the stage, the better they command it. Eight musicians in total. Incredible. Le Bon, who’ll be turning nearly 68 at the end of October this year, sings better in his mature years than he ever has. He was outstanding! Even across those four repetitions of the notoriously tricky chorus in A View to a Kill, he was right there every time — powerful and vocally authoritative. Not a single weak moment in Le Bon’s performance. Add to that his stage agility, his trademark moves, the gestures, the looks that lock onto fans, his general rapport with the crowd — and the fact that he’s completely lost the belly that was still quite visible in Pula two years ago — and it’s honestly remarkable what shape this legendary singer is in today. Vocally and physically. Even that famous transition into Hungry Like the Wolf, where Roger Taylor pulls off an almighty rolling fill at the end of the mid-eight section — right at the top of the final chorus run — was perfectly timed (in Pula, Le Bon was slightly late on that cue). In short: the opening run built around Is There Something I Should Know? — where the band immediately handed the chorus to the crowd (the song’s ending cleverly worked out, a mature upgrade on what’s on the studio-cut “Arena” album) — rolled straight into the first peak with The Wild Boys, which always hypnotises the crowd into a full-on trance (the whole arena singing their lungs out), then through a golden-age-of-Roger-Moore-and-James-Bond moment with A View to a Kill, and into the first real crowd-participation segment as Le Bon asked the audience if they knew what wolves sound like (satisfied, the lot of them — but hungry for howling) and the band launched into Hungry Like the Wolf! That opening blast was a full atmospheric peak in its own right.
Then comes the section that dials back the opening frenzy. First up, the single INVISIBLE — one of the stronger tracks from the last studio album “Future Past” — then a turn towards the “Dance Macabre” experiment and Duran Duran’s obsession with covers, as the band tackle Electric Light Orchestra classic Evil Woman (Le Bon keeping the game and the crowd interaction going perfectly), and then into “Rio” classic Lonely in Your Nightmare — a song you wish they’d play in full (in the “Rio” album version) instead of breaking it into Super Freak.
Then come the things that simply have to be at every Duran Duran show (The Reflex, Ordinary World, Come Undone)! The Reflex has never sounded this good live to my ears — though in fairness, I’ve only seen Duran Duran at open-air venues before. The sound was top-notch. We were standing on the left as viewed from the stage. Nick Rhodes was diagonally to our right (Roger Taylor was set up at the back left, with the stairs to the upper platform in between). Rhodes was the furthest from us, yet his keyboards were crystal clear and in excellent balance with the rest of the soundscape (especially with Dom Brown’s guitar). But here’s the thing. Without the funky drive of Duran Duran’s backbone — the incredible John Taylor, who turned 66 just four days before the Prague show (exactly 14 days older than Steve Vai, who played Prague with BEAT six days earlier — 18 June 2026) — and without the incredibly precise and most ‘grounded Duran’, Roger Taylor, the whole thing wouldn’t grab you half as hard live! Add both backing singers — who delivered brilliantly, frequently stepping into lead roles (especially Ana Ross in Come Undone, and both singers in Notorious, Evil Woman and White Lines, while Le Bon could quite comfortably stretch out vocally between the two of them as early as the pre-chorus of opener Is There Something I Should Know?) — and of course saxophonist Simon Willescroft, who has spent years providing the full arrangement upgrade to most Duran Duran classics in their live incarnation, and the whole thing earns the superlative of genuine concert masterclass.
John Taylor picked up a plectrum for the first time during the White Lines cover and kept it in hand for the latest single, the nostalgic retro eighties funky disco-pop gem Free To Love — for which Nile Rodgers had once again been involved in the arrangements. The track works perfectly in a Duran Duran set alongside the classics. Somewhere mid-way through Planet Earth he somehow lost the pick. Watching his fluid bass playing — the slap fills, the cleverly musical lines — is a pleasure in itself. Very few bassists come close. After Planet Earth, as things started to feel like they were heading towards a finale, Le Bon went through a thorough round of individual band introductions — not forgetting to give Nick Rhodes the ‘shoulder pads’ rider — then whipped the crowd into roaring in unison “Play the fuckin’ bass, John!” as he introduced the legendary bassist.
The party continues with the “Astronaut” wake-up call (Reach Up for the) Sunrise, followed by classic Girls on Film, which the band seamlessly segues into the Talking Heads cover Psycho Killer — where Le Bon once again showed off his shrewd vocal chameleon skills, pulling off a pitch-perfect take on David Byrne’s idiosyncratic vocal style. The encore delivered the two expected and much-missed hits from “Rio”. First Le Bon stepped to the front with an acoustic guitar — the fantastic ballad Save a Prayer, where the band always manages to conjure something mystical — followed by the grand finale, the ultimate closing funky detonator: the unforgettable Rio, which never fails to give you goosebumps!
Packed with high-voltage energy from the first second to the last. Perfect sound, perfect tightness, and through it all that organic warmth delivered in large part by both Taylors! A show that flew by in a flash. One of those concerts that’s a perfectly decent length — an hour and three-quarters — yet still too short. The setlist this time around was laser-focused on the biggest hits! Not even New Moon on Monday was left out (in the more recent “Dance Macabre” version). Die-hard devotees would probably like a few more curve balls in the setlist, but there were quite a few of those at the Pula show two years ago, so I’m not going to split hairs here.
The band has confirmed autumn dates for a new European tour, while still in the middle of the current summer European run. They’ll be close to Slovenia on 11 July 2026, when they play the enormous forecourt of the Doge’s palace Villa Manin in Codroipo (near Udine). That show is completely sold out, but if you have a ticket, trust me — the fascination with these timeless new wave and new romantic eighties pop icons will not disappoint! The Prague show was, to put it modestly, completely insane!
Just one more thing to add to the review. This tour needs to become a new Duran Duran live album!
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Edita Klemen
Duran Duran – setlist:
1. Free to Love (symphonic instrumental version) – taped intro
2. Is There Something I Should Know?
3. The Wild Boys
4. The James Bond Theme (orig. John Barry) – taped intro
5. A View to a Kill
6. Hungry Like the Wolf
7. INVISIBLE
8. Evil Woman (orig. Electric Light Orchestra)
9. Lonely in Your Nightmare / Super Freak (aka “Super Lonely Freak”)
10. The Reflex
11. Ordinary World
12. Come Undone
13. New Moon on Monday (“New Moon Dark Phase” version)
14. Notorious
15. White Lines (Don’t Don’t Do It) (orig. Grandmaster Melle Mel)
16. Free to Love
17. Planet Earth
18. (Reach Up for the) Sunrise
19. Girls on Film / Psycho Killer
—encore—
20. Save a Prayer
21. Rio
