December 18, 2000
Duran Duran: London Wembley Arena
Their survival is largely due to their incredibly loyal following from the '80s...
You'd think that at some point in the last twenty years, Simon Le Bon would've learnt to sing. Instead he ploughs his own flat furrow that is complemented by the crowd's raucous terrace chanting. More embarrassing, perhaps, is the 42-year-old singer, dressed in an ice white suit, shaking his le bon bons like he's still a '80s jetset playboy. Both of these crimes, however, pale into insignificance when Duran Duran cover 'White Lines (Don't Do It)'.
When Le Bon says that their new album is rather appropriately called 'Pop Trash' and fishes for a sympathetic rebuff from the audience, he is rightly denied. Duran Duran may still be a going concern in terms of releasing new material, but their survival is largely due to their incredibly loyal following from the '80s. They were by no means the biggest pop act of the '80s - they only had two Number One singles - but their fans caused 'Durandemonium' to make them appear the biggest.
These fans want the hits and they get them in the form of a frantically rocky 'Hungry Like The Wolf', an even more thunderous 'Wild Boys' and the stadium rock of 'View To A Kill', all of which in their delivery suggest that John and Andy Taylor were right when they formed The Power Station in 1985. They do play a few more hits, but not enough to please this child of the '80s. Still, ask any member of the crowd and they'd tell you it was fantastic. Being a Duranie is a case of selfless love.
Ben Clancy
Images: Awais
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