Post by ©DURANMANIA Board Team on Mar 17, 2005 11:05:07 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]Duran Duran's reflexes not that sharp...[/glow]
By Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain News
March 17, 2005
Ken Papaleo © News
Simon Le Bon, lead singer of Duran Duran, performs Wednesday night at the University of Denver's Magness Arena. Guitarist Andy Taylor was missing from the band's lineup - his father had taken ill in England
Some music fans have a theory that the music you listen to as you come of age - particularly stuff that was popular when you were in high school and college - is the stuff that resonates with you the rest of your life.
Duran Duran disproved that theory on Wednesday night. In a performance that bogged down in mid-show, the reunited band gave fans a good blast of '80s nostalgia - right down to singer Simon Le Bon's skinny-tie suit - but little emotional substance.
To be fair to the band, it wasn't quite the reunion that fans had hoped to see. Le Bon stopped the show a couple of songs in to explain that guitarist Andy Taylor had to leave the tour earlier this week when his dad took ill back in England.
Good for Taylor for knowing where his priorities lie - and kudos to guitarist Dominick Brown, who stepped in and played those parts magnificently.
But save for shining through on a few big hits - Hungry Like the Wolf had a particular jolt of electricity to it - the band tended toward polite versions in a cross-section of its catalog. It's hard to believe that back in the day, at the height of hysteria caused by Tipper Gore and the Parents Music Resource Center, these guys were considered some sort of threat to decency.
It's interesting that Duran Duran songs that are two decades old sound so modern. It's a testimony to the band's production and arrangements from their '80s heyday - or an indictment of the lack of imagination of modern-day producers who are recycling that sound.
(Reach Up To -The) Sunrise, the best song off their new album Astronaut, sounded great live, even if it is basically a rehash of their earlier hit, The Reflex.
Other material off the new album, however, isn't nearly as strong - Nice, Bedroom Toys, What Happens Tomorrow - and unfortunately, they featured much too much of it. For long stretches of songs, you saw a lackluster band with no sense of personality.
Le Bon's occasional inquiries to the crowd such as, "What did you get for Christmas?" often came off as forced non sequiturs.
The older material was hit-and- miss. One of Duran Duran's best songs, Save a Prayer, was oddly plodding and dull, with the choruses failing to generate any heat. The band's latter-day hits - Ordinary World and a nice take on Come Undone - actually came off much better than its bigger hits.
At press time, the show had picked up steam, with the band running through a string of bigger hits and getting the arena on its feet.
By Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain News
March 17, 2005
Ken Papaleo © News
Simon Le Bon, lead singer of Duran Duran, performs Wednesday night at the University of Denver's Magness Arena. Guitarist Andy Taylor was missing from the band's lineup - his father had taken ill in England
Some music fans have a theory that the music you listen to as you come of age - particularly stuff that was popular when you were in high school and college - is the stuff that resonates with you the rest of your life.
Duran Duran disproved that theory on Wednesday night. In a performance that bogged down in mid-show, the reunited band gave fans a good blast of '80s nostalgia - right down to singer Simon Le Bon's skinny-tie suit - but little emotional substance.
To be fair to the band, it wasn't quite the reunion that fans had hoped to see. Le Bon stopped the show a couple of songs in to explain that guitarist Andy Taylor had to leave the tour earlier this week when his dad took ill back in England.
Good for Taylor for knowing where his priorities lie - and kudos to guitarist Dominick Brown, who stepped in and played those parts magnificently.
But save for shining through on a few big hits - Hungry Like the Wolf had a particular jolt of electricity to it - the band tended toward polite versions in a cross-section of its catalog. It's hard to believe that back in the day, at the height of hysteria caused by Tipper Gore and the Parents Music Resource Center, these guys were considered some sort of threat to decency.
It's interesting that Duran Duran songs that are two decades old sound so modern. It's a testimony to the band's production and arrangements from their '80s heyday - or an indictment of the lack of imagination of modern-day producers who are recycling that sound.
(Reach Up To -The) Sunrise, the best song off their new album Astronaut, sounded great live, even if it is basically a rehash of their earlier hit, The Reflex.
Other material off the new album, however, isn't nearly as strong - Nice, Bedroom Toys, What Happens Tomorrow - and unfortunately, they featured much too much of it. For long stretches of songs, you saw a lackluster band with no sense of personality.
Le Bon's occasional inquiries to the crowd such as, "What did you get for Christmas?" often came off as forced non sequiturs.
The older material was hit-and- miss. One of Duran Duran's best songs, Save a Prayer, was oddly plodding and dull, with the choruses failing to generate any heat. The band's latter-day hits - Ordinary World and a nice take on Come Undone - actually came off much better than its bigger hits.
At press time, the show had picked up steam, with the band running through a string of bigger hits and getting the arena on its feet.