In recent years there have been a number of artists that exploded in the 80’s and 90’s on tour. Sometimes it is purely a cash grab and the audience can tell. Phoned in performances with little enthusiasm from the artists. Then there are the shows by bands that clearly still love performing. At their August 30th Calgary show – one of only 2 Western Canadian stops on their Paper Gods tour – Duran Duran displayed the latter. It was clear from the moment that they stepped on stage that Simon Le Bon, Roger Taylor, John Taylor, (Keyboardist Nick Rhodes had to leave the tour for family reasons, replaced by MNDR) and the band were having an absolute blast.
Walking on a backlit stage with fog, the band kicked off the show with the title track of their 2015 Paper Gods album. The show featured only 4 tracks from the new album, so immediately it was into the 1984 track Wild Boys and the massive Hungry Like A Wolf. Simon Le Bon still oozes charisma and at 57 is still a remarkably handsome man. Something that the many in the audience that plastered their rooms with Duran Duran posters likely appreciated. Vocally he was strong, even hitting the high notes on a beautiful rendition of Come Undone with no issues.
The classics kept coming with songs like Ordinary World having every person in attendance singing along. Planet Earth was mixed with Space Oddity while a picture of David Bowie shone on the screen. In seemingly no time at all the main set wrapped up with incredible versions of The Reflex and Girls on Film.
Le Bon had the audience shine their flashlights – having replaced the lighter as the go to ‘light up the arena’ gimmick – for Save a Prayer before wrapping things up on a high energy fun note with Rio.
Was Duran Duran the best show of the year? No? Does it matter? No? Music is many things to many people, and sometimes that is simply the memories. We tie songs into aspects of our lives and memories. The audience was clearly in love with every second of the show. Whether it was a tie in to their teens, a specific instance that a song brought them back to, or sharing the music with friends, family or their kids the show was clearly special to those that bought tickets. In the end that is all that matters.
Midway through the show the band brought opener Nile Rodgers on stage for Notorious and Pressure Off. Rodgers is recognized as having produced or been involved in the creative process of many of the greatest songs of all time and his opening set with Chic was a reminder of those. From Diana Ross’ classic I’m Coming Out to David Bowie’s Let’s Dance it was a spectacular set of songs that prepared the audience for a night that would prove to be nostalgic and memorable.
