Post by ©DURANMANIA Board Team on Mar 22, 2005 15:59:54 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]Duran Duran should stay on nostalgia gravy train..[/glow]
March 20, 2005 /BY JEFF VRABEL Staff Reporter -for Chicago SUN TIMES
Maybe it was the "Doctor Who" theme music that played before showtime, but when the members of Duran Duran took the stage to maximum dramatic effect Friday night -- hands clasped, heads down, bass rumbling ominously -- they came off looking like time travelers from another age. Which, of course, they are.
Tenacious 1980s pinup boys with a persistent fan base and a new record, Simon LeBon and the various Taylors in Duran Duran played the Allstate Arena about a week after Motley Crue graced the same venue, and they did so with much the same M.O.: lucratively conjuring up the glitzy, glittery glory days (although it must be said that security probably enjoyed a few more snack breaks this time out). When acts of this vintage roll through these days at up to $85 a pop, the chugging sound you hear isn't the rhythm section but the Nostalgia Train at full steam.
But the difference is where the Crue and others in the B-level reunion circle stick slavishly to the greatest-hits template, Duran Duran is touring behind a new album, last fall's "Astronaut," released to middling reviews and not much notoriety but referenced often Friday night. Opener "Sunrise" was a bright jolt of '80s caffeine, subtly upgraded here and there to acknowledge the arrival of a new millennium (the track sported some fiery "Beat It"-sounding guitar by Dominic Brown, standing in for Andy Taylor, who had returned to England to be with his sick father). But the peace-themed "What Happens Tomorrow," which LeBon claimed was penned during the beginning of the bombing in Baghdad, came and went with its mission unaccomplished; far worse was the thudding faux-rap about "Bedroom Toys" that sported slightly less rap flavor than "We Didn't Start The Fire."
Finally, the hits:
It goes without saying that decades-old MTV moneymakers like "Hungry Like The Wolf," "The Reflex" and "A View To A Kill" were delivered with efficient, if workmanlike, energy; the bounding "Save A Prayer," with its burbly Nintendo-worthy synth riff, even worked up a fairly frenetic groove. But it wasn't until the band got the new stuff and a smattering of ballads out of the way and served up an unbroken menu of hits -- "Notorious," "Planet Earth," "Wild Boys," "Girls On Film" -- that they finally worked up a legitimate sweat.
LeBon, for his part, knew his role as purveyor of a particularly cheeseball style of salaciousness, and played it to appropriately garish excess, though his voice often trailed off into something that "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson would charitably call "pitchy." Still, he and backup vocalist Anna Ross slithered all over a nicely slinky "Come Undone" and tore into a rocked-up half-take on "I Don't Want Your Love." (LeBon only gave himself over fully to his messianic-pose impulses during a goopy "Ordinary World").
The rest of the band -- John Taylor on bass, Roger Taylor on drums and Nick Rhodes on keyboards -- seemed to be primed to stick to the music rather than excessively gaudy visuals and fashion tricks; they even appeared wearing decidedly un-retro black suits and judicious hair.
LeBon introduced "Save A Prayer" by lamenting the dwindling percentage of lighters at rock shows these days, then prompted the nonsmokers in the crowd to hold up mobile phones in the absence of fire -- it was only a matter of time before someone thought of that; it's just surprising that it was these guys. But the image was misleading -- cell phones are so 2000s, and the Duran Duran boys know they remain at their wildest when they're partying like it's 1985.
original article: www.suntimes.com/output/rock/cst-nws-duran20.html
March 20, 2005 /BY JEFF VRABEL Staff Reporter -for Chicago SUN TIMES
Maybe it was the "Doctor Who" theme music that played before showtime, but when the members of Duran Duran took the stage to maximum dramatic effect Friday night -- hands clasped, heads down, bass rumbling ominously -- they came off looking like time travelers from another age. Which, of course, they are.
Tenacious 1980s pinup boys with a persistent fan base and a new record, Simon LeBon and the various Taylors in Duran Duran played the Allstate Arena about a week after Motley Crue graced the same venue, and they did so with much the same M.O.: lucratively conjuring up the glitzy, glittery glory days (although it must be said that security probably enjoyed a few more snack breaks this time out). When acts of this vintage roll through these days at up to $85 a pop, the chugging sound you hear isn't the rhythm section but the Nostalgia Train at full steam.
But the difference is where the Crue and others in the B-level reunion circle stick slavishly to the greatest-hits template, Duran Duran is touring behind a new album, last fall's "Astronaut," released to middling reviews and not much notoriety but referenced often Friday night. Opener "Sunrise" was a bright jolt of '80s caffeine, subtly upgraded here and there to acknowledge the arrival of a new millennium (the track sported some fiery "Beat It"-sounding guitar by Dominic Brown, standing in for Andy Taylor, who had returned to England to be with his sick father). But the peace-themed "What Happens Tomorrow," which LeBon claimed was penned during the beginning of the bombing in Baghdad, came and went with its mission unaccomplished; far worse was the thudding faux-rap about "Bedroom Toys" that sported slightly less rap flavor than "We Didn't Start The Fire."
Finally, the hits:
It goes without saying that decades-old MTV moneymakers like "Hungry Like The Wolf," "The Reflex" and "A View To A Kill" were delivered with efficient, if workmanlike, energy; the bounding "Save A Prayer," with its burbly Nintendo-worthy synth riff, even worked up a fairly frenetic groove. But it wasn't until the band got the new stuff and a smattering of ballads out of the way and served up an unbroken menu of hits -- "Notorious," "Planet Earth," "Wild Boys," "Girls On Film" -- that they finally worked up a legitimate sweat.
LeBon, for his part, knew his role as purveyor of a particularly cheeseball style of salaciousness, and played it to appropriately garish excess, though his voice often trailed off into something that "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson would charitably call "pitchy." Still, he and backup vocalist Anna Ross slithered all over a nicely slinky "Come Undone" and tore into a rocked-up half-take on "I Don't Want Your Love." (LeBon only gave himself over fully to his messianic-pose impulses during a goopy "Ordinary World").
The rest of the band -- John Taylor on bass, Roger Taylor on drums and Nick Rhodes on keyboards -- seemed to be primed to stick to the music rather than excessively gaudy visuals and fashion tricks; they even appeared wearing decidedly un-retro black suits and judicious hair.
LeBon introduced "Save A Prayer" by lamenting the dwindling percentage of lighters at rock shows these days, then prompted the nonsmokers in the crowd to hold up mobile phones in the absence of fire -- it was only a matter of time before someone thought of that; it's just surprising that it was these guys. But the image was misleading -- cell phones are so 2000s, and the Duran Duran boys know they remain at their wildest when they're partying like it's 1985.