Making an ordinary world a little brighter, Duran Duran are one of the biggest names in music, and are set to undertake a tour spanning the UK. Rachel Rees looks into what we can expect from their Cardiff concert.
Ahead of hosting the highly-anticipated Olympic Games in August 2016, Rio also looks set to be the word on everyone’s lips for an entirely different reason this autumn. Swapping dancing on the sand for singing on the stage, Duran Duran promise to bring a typically archaic carnival atmosphere along with them when they blaze into Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena on Monday 30 November in true indomitable fashion. The iconic band which once famously epitomised the unapologetically loud and proud spirit of the 1980s with their catchy tunes and even more eye-catching -or should that be eye-watering- videos, are back for their latest UK tour.
It’s not just Nick Rhodes’ startlingly bleach blond side swept fringes that have people sitting up and taking notice of this quartet once again though. Their latest album may be entitled Paper Gods, but these four men have shown time and again that they are made of far tougher stuff, having survived for more than thirty years in a notoriously cut throat industry only to emerge triumphant once more, ready and eager to reclaim their place at the forefront of modern British pop culture. Produced with the help of legendary guitarist John Frusciante, of Red Hot Chili Peppers fame, and boasting collaborations with the likes of Mark Ronson, Mr Hudson and even -rather surreally it must be said- Hollywood’s best known wild child and criminally (pun very much intended) bad driver, Lindsey Lohan, this album is already the band’s most successful offering for more than two decades, having charted at #10 on the Billboard Top 200 charts back in September.
Like their lead single Pressure Off suggests, this former New Wave band can definitely afford to take it easy now as, with this latest addition to an already impressively long list of accomplishments flying off the shelves, they have proven beyond all doubt to both themselves and their critics that they are just as capable of hacking it in this new millennium as they were in the last one.
Alongside their more recent material, undisputed classics such as Hungry Like The Wolf and Girls On Film are sure to raise the roof and have the audience swaying nostalgically in their seats, while A View to a Kill – a song which was helping spur 007 on to beat the bad guys long before Adele or Sam Smith had learnt to talk, let alone warble- is as deliciously bold and brassy as ever, still retaining all the swagger and majesty that characterises the infamous Bond, James Bond, himself.
Though the band has gone through more reincarnations in the thirty plus years since its inception than its members have industrial-sized tubes of eyeliner, the impervious vocal talents of lead singer Simon Le Bon show no signs of wear and tear and have helped ensure that the quintessential Duran Duran sound remains as familiar and timeless as ever. Ably aided and abetted by Nick Rhodes on the keyboard, Roger Taylor on the drums and John Taylor (no relation to Roger although both are similarly tanned and appear to be aging suspiciously well) on the guitar, this is one boy band for whom an increase in age definitely hasn’t coincided with a decrease in either talent or global appeal.
Swinging by the Motorpoint for one night only, if you want to see what all the fuss is about for yourself then don’t waste time sitting around trying to Save A Prayer and instead get online and save yourself a seat.
Duran Duran, Motorpoint Arena Cardiff, Mon 30 Nov. Tickets from £59. Info: www.livenation.co.uk
photos STEPHANIE PISTEL