1 September 2023
Last August, Duran Duran was set to open their U.S. tour at Mystic Lake Casino Amphitheater but a rainstorm forced the British pop stars to cancel the show. They had much better luck Thursday at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand, with clear skies and temps in the low 70s making for a gorgeous night to see an outdoor show. (If the forecast holds, unfortunately, Thursday will stand as the final ideal weather night of this year’s Fair.)
Nile Rodgers and Chic opened with a typically joyous, thrilling set that included both Chic classics (“Le Freak,” “Good Times,” “Everybody Dance”) and songs Rodgers had a hand in crafting for other artists like David Bowie’s “Modern Love” and “Let’s Dance,” Diana Ross’ “I’m Coming Out” and “Upside Down” and Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky.” British indie pop band Bastille felt like an odd choice on the bill and they came across like a Big Lots Coldplay.
The temperature in the Grandstand spiked when Duran Duran took the stage as all the Gen X ladies in the crowd got hot flashes gazing at bassist John Taylor. Taylor, of course, was a major heartthrob for fans back in the day, a fact confirmed by the amount of face time he got when MTV-era magazine covers and articles flashed on the screens during “Is There Something I Should Know?”
Lead singer Simon Le Bon’s voice remains surprisingly strong, save for a creaky “Ordinary World” when he needed an assist from his backup singers, and overall the newly crowned Rock and Roll Hall of Famers sounded fantastic. (It was kind of hilarious, though, how high Taylor’s bass was in the mix.)
The current tour celebrates both the band’s (belated) 40th anniversary and their 15th album “Future Past.” For the former, the guys took a deep dive into their 1981 self-titled debut album, which is darker and more goth than I had remembered. They opened with the moody “Night Boat” and later hit “Friends of Mine,” “Careless Memories” and a particularly exhilarating “Planet Earth.” For the main set closer “Girls on Film,” they slipped in a bit of Calvin Harris’ “Acceptable in the 80s” to fine effect.
As for the new album, well, it’s better than one might expect from a band like this more than four decades in. Actually, its two predecessors, “Paper Gods” and “All You Need Is Now,” are worth a spin as well. Yet only two modern era DD songs made the cut, “Give it All Up” and “Anniversary.” Originally a duet with Tove Lo, a backup singer filled in for the sprightly “Give it All Up.” “Anniversary,” meanwhile, is one of the strongest tracks on the new record and features a sly nod toward INXS near the end. (Personally, I would have loved to hear one of the group’s Giorgio Moroder collaborations, “Beautiful Tonight” and “Tonight United.”)
But beyond some canned stage patter from Le Bon, Duran Duran put on one heck of a show for a glowing crowd of 12,816. And the group just announced a surprise new album “Danse Macabre” coming out for Halloween. Duran Duran isn’t done yet.
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