Durannies, Unite!

Omigod, Duran Duran was in town, and I was so excited to finally see them! Duran Duran is one of my two favorite bands, the other being U2 (see "SlumBook" blog entry).

My first chance to see Duran Duran was in, maybe, 1989 or 1990. Both Mike Francis and Duran Duran were performing in Manila a few weeks apart, and my Mom made me choose -- you can only go to one. My then-boyfriend and I liked "Let Me In" and "Friends", so, I chose Mike Francis. Well, come to think of it, it's a good thing that I picked Mike Francis over Duran Duran because I don't think Mike Francis is ever coming to the US since he's not even known here. But with Duran Duran, you'll have a couple of chances. Ha!

When I received an announcement from Live Nation (or was it Ticketmaster?) that Duran Duran was coming to town, my eyes opened wide -- you'd think I just saw a huge "Sale 75% Off!" sign. Hahaha. I was anxious that I made sure I bought good-seat tickets a couple of weeks early.

D(uran)-Day! My husband, Joey, grudgingly accompanied me to the concert. As we walked down the aisle of Dodge Theater to look for our seats, I said to Joey, "are these great seats or what?!". I was so pleased with myself that I had to practice restraint from jumping up and down in excitement. Sounds OA, but it's true -- I kid you not!

Front act was a cool up-and-coming band from London called Your Vegas (I wish they had more creativity in coming up with their band name). The lead singer sounded very much like Bono. Joey and I agreed that the band will go a long way -- they were very good! They received thunderous applause from the audience.

At last, Duran Duran!

Save for Simon LeBon's heavy mid-section, John Taylor's lolo look (gosh, he's only in his 40s and he already looked so old), Nick Rhodes' odd hair color (he didn't look like the same flirty Nick I used to know ... as if!), and the missing Andy Taylor, everything was still the same -- the music was unique, the songs were great, and the energy was electrifying! To his credit, Roger Taylor looked like he didn't age at all.

Buying tickets for those seats didn't actually work much to our advantage, except for a closer view of the performance. From start to end of the Duran Duran show, everybody was standing. My feet hurt from standing for 2 hours straight.

My favorite Duran Duran song is "Save a Prayer". Pardon the pun, but God knows what the reason is (I honestly don't). Maybe it sounds so solemn? Blame it on their cool MTV filmed in Sri Lanka! I also like "A View to a Kill" because it's so kick-ass (James Bond ... my ultimate world-class spy fantasy!), and "The Chauffeur", one of their less-popular songs with a risque video.

So how was Joey, you ask? I couldn't keep him from singing at the top of his voice and even making some (subtle) dance moves. He enjoyed himself immensely, singing along (and mind you, his lyrics were correct, this time), then saying to me, "It's my first time to hear that song!". He just wouldn't shut up (singing). At the end of the concert, I told him he was such a fake -- he absolutely loved the show and Duran Duran.

We had the "Decade" disc in our car CD player for the next two weeks.