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Duran Duran sound survives mixing old, new
Date: THU 12/04/97
By BRUCE WESTBROOK
Big-hit bands of the '80s have a challenge: Sustain long-held appeals while changing with the times. Otherwise, they're just
oldies acts. Britain's Duran Duran is straddling that fence ably, as shown by its 95-minute show for an almost full Aerial
Theater at Bayou Place Tuesday night.
After earning '90s legitimacy with a popular album and tour in 1993, the former MTV darlings squandered that momentum in
1995 with a follow-up disc of cover songs and a tour of raw reinvention.
But the new Medazzaland album restores a classic Duran dance-rock style while also venturing into electronic industrial
sounds, and this new tour offers the best set list Duran has brought to the stage.
Yes, the threesome (backed by a session drummer and bass player) performed their old hits, from Girls on Film and Hungry
Like the Wolf to A View to a Kill and a celebratory final encore of Rio. And all were rendered with faithfulness to the original
recordings, unlike the last tour's bizarre interpretations.
But Duran also eschewed many other hits - notably from its funky Notorious album and its bland Reflex era - to introduce
more than half of its solid new disc. More importantly, the group revived shrewdly chosen album tracks from its past. That's
when this show really took off after a slow start.
Fueled by Warren Cuccurullo's muscular guitar work and Nick Rhodes' crisp keyboards, two little-known early-'80s
rockers were especially effective: the edgy Friends of Mine and the breakneck, rousingly emphatic Careless Memory.
Having glided through the set's start, front man Simon Le Bon also warmed to this material, singing with fierce vitality and
adding graceful arm movements and mild theatrics to his repertoire of prissy prancing.
Even more surprising was the first encore number: the obscure Secret Oktober, delivered in a dreamily dramatic style and
with handsome lighting (unlike the overdone, blinding back-lighting of much of the show).
The best new songs were Out of My Mind (movie theme from The Saint) and the dynamic anthem Who Do You Think You
Are, though Le Bon diluted its potency with his static stance. In showmanship, there's a happy middle ground between
hamminess and inertia.
Crowd favorites included the middle hits - neither oldies nor new songs - such as 1993's Ordinary World and Come
Undone. But the transcendent song of fan-band bonding was the old Save a Prayer, which Le Bon dedicated to the late
Michael Hutchence of INXS.
A song about a one-night stand might seem odd for such a dedication, but this strong ballad had fans waving arms and
brandishing lighters as if the show were an '80s love fest.
Even so, Duran 's continued survival says more for the group's sustained songwriting craft and musicianship than for any
nostalgic penchant or dated sex appeals. They may remain natty and naughty pretty boys at heart, but that doesn't mean they
aren't pretty good.
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