Even if you were more a disciple of their supposed “rival” Spandau Ballet, you had to be more than a little glad Duran Duran stopped by the country to reacquaint us with their music. It’s not everyday relics from the 80’s come to help dig up old memories and take many of us back to the days of acid wash jeans and embarrassing hair. (Then again, these days, it’s more like every other week).
For a while there, it didn’t seem like Simon Le Bon and his crew still had it in them to attract enough fans to troop to Araneta Coliseum. At around 8pm when VJ’s from MTV climbed up the stage for the usual opening spiels, the number of empty seats was uncomfortably high. The folks who did turn up were mostly guys in their mid-thirties and up, many of them with bald patches and noticeable guts.
Sandwich tried to work up the crowd with a trio of their hits, but the audience was less than enthusiastic. It was another 30 minutes after Raimund Marasigan et. al. exited the stage that the lights dimmed once again and the crowd got to their feet to welcome Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, Dominic Brown and John and Roger Taylor. They opened with a couple of songs from the new album, the dance rock-oriented Red Carpet Massacre. Apparently unfamiliar with the new material, the audience responded with nothing more than polite applause. Le Bon sensed this and shouted to the crowd, “Are you hungry?”
This of course was the cue for one of their biggest hits, “Hungry Like the Wolf.” The sassy frontman was looking more than a bit pudgy, but you couldn’t say anything about his vocal prowess; he may have considerably lessened and toned down his trademark performance twirls, but the man sounded almost exactly like he did in their records two decades earlier. And for fans expecting to go on a genuine nostalgia trip, that’s more than what they hoped for.
The band did newer songs like “Come Undone” and the title track from the new album, but undoubtedly, it was their classic hits that garnered the loudest hoots of applause and approval: “View To A Kill,” “The Reflex,” “Girls On Film,” and “Wild Boys.” And while we must give credit to the entire band for its great rapport among themselves and with the audience, Le Bon showed that he still hasn’t lost his touch for showmanship. Echoing the stoic, demure attitude of the crowd at the beginning of the show, Le Bon started the concert in a suit and tie, but eventually took off his jacket, loosened his tie and untucked his shirt altogether. And as the concert progressed, you didn’t think about the wet armpits and the sweaty face; he was putting on a show, and what a show it was.
While there were reports of a shaky start to their current world tour in Australia, they certainly didn’t show any of that here. Age might be catching up to them, but Duran displayed, quite convincingly, that they are far from hanging up their instruments and calling it a day. And a Coliseum-full of middle-aged New Wavers is forever grateful.
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