Now that’s a Duran Duran concert. After being disappointed by the stilted show on Broadway to launch the band’s “Red Carpet Massacre” album, I was a little worried about the Durans, but it’s all worked out fine.
They ditched the blander bits from the new album and stitched the better songs into their sure-fire set of hits, which made everything sound better. “Falling Down” sounds better after “Planet Earth.” “Skin Divers” sounds slinkier between “Come Undone” and “The Reflex,” especially now that Simon LeBon does the rapping instead of a tape of Timbaland. And the electro mini-set, where they channel Kraftwerk reworking “Last Chance on the Stairway” and “I Don’t Your Love” while pitching in a hot cover of The Normal’s “Warm Leatherette,” is still a thrill – though the expanded “Girls on Film” still beats it.
For two hours, LeBon, bassist John Taylor and keyboardist Nick Rhodes made a strong argument for why the new romantic pioneers deserve to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next year and why Durannies still treat them like it’s 1984 and “The Reflex” is ta-na-na-na-ing out of every radio in sight.
SETLIST: The Valley / Red Carpet Massacre / Nite Runner / Hungry Like the Wolf / Planet Earth / Falling Down / Come Undone / Skin Divers / The Reflex / Save a Prayer / View to a Kill / Last Chance on the Stairway / All She Wants Is / Warm Leatherette / I Don’t Want Your Love / Skin Trade / Tempted / Notorious / Girls on Film (w/Papa Was a Rolling Stone) / Ordinary World / (Reach Up for the) Sunrise / The Wild Boys // ENCORE: Rio
PHOTO: Anna Ross and Simon LeBon at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park.