*Updated on july 2*: just in from ddm - great video Duran vs Ronson, watch it! *Updated on july 1* from The Daily Star | Ronson says: "I'm going to be playing guitar with Duran Duran, who are a really tight band and who have been playing together for about 25 years. "It's pretty surreal. Simon is going to sing 'Stop Me' with Daniel Merriweather and it's bizarre to hear this voice I've known since I was 10-years-old singing our song." |
The 32-year-old hopes the performance leads to further collaborations with Duran Duran in the future.
He added to Britain's Daily Star newspaper: "I really want to nail the guitar parts. We've been rehearsing solidly in the lead-up. This is a really special gig." The star also said Tim Burgess from The Charlatans is planning to head to France on the Eurostar to see the concert, which will be filmed for British TV station Channel 4.
The producer, who will play guitar with the 80s pop band at the 'Smirnoff Experience Paris' show, admits he is terrified about messing up in front of lead singer Simon Le Bon. Mark said: "I'm really pretty nervous.
June 28 | photonews: Promotional shoot for upcoming Smirnoff Experience by Brick Lane. Simon in the last blog he wrote for dd.com said: "Mark has put together an hour of Duran Duran mega mix, complete with breakdowns, segues and - sweet Jesus - new bits..."
"Now, pay attention, young man!" [best photo caption by NineTails]
June 28: Thanks to our friends Francesca Labonne who just sent me these very nice photos of the guys hanging around Amsterdam. The pics actually are a reportage of what the band did on june 20 in Amsterdam, It was John's birthday so the band wanted to celebrate him and also relax a bit. Here you go with the nice photo report...
The band left the hotel in the morning and went away by cars [maybe for some shopping too? check out Nick's bags!] but they also enjoyed a little walk trough the typical Amstedam canals.
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The
photographer, Stephanie Pistel, was there to immortalize the band, they
probably did a photo session hanging around the wonderfull city and
hopefully we'll see some new posed pics soon. |
...and then the guys stopped to the canals and they all jumped on board of a boat to have a little party in honour of John Taylor who celebrated its 48th birthday!
It seems the guys really enjoyed their stay in Holland... That's what Roger said in a recent dd.com blog:
"Looking out of the window as we pull into the station in Amsterdam, I’m being transported back to my 19 year old self, that’s when I last arrived at this train station. I was with my great friend Jeff Thomas (who went on to become one of the early singers in Duran Duran). Jeff was obsessed with European life and travel, and we both wanted to live out the promise of the Kraftwerk song ‘Trans Europe Express’ and the European dreams of early Ultravox and Simple Minds songs. We boarded the train in Birmingham and as we stepped out into the continental bustle of Amsterdam we seemed to be entering a whole new world. I had never been outside of my native country and at that point I think I realised that I wanted to broaden my horizons beyond my small town world. We stayed for a week in some run down youth hostel beside a street full of shop windows that contained dubious looking ladies bathed in red light …later that year I joined Duran Duran, who could have foreseen what the next few years would bring and that I would be returning nearly 30 years later under such different circumstances? That’s the thing about being on the road …you are constantly re-united with a segment of your past in different cities and hotels across the world…sometimes things that you want to remember…others you don’t.
June 28: Extended interview on ITV to Duran Duran's Simon Le Bon and Roger Taylor. Birmingham's most successful band will come back home soon so they get interviewed by ITV Local [Midlands] in the London studio where the band is currently rehearsing for the Mark Ronson show and the remainig dates of the Red Carpet Massacre World Tour. Should we expect the announced live version of Election Day and some more obscure gemms maybe?
watch the video here [click full screen, video quality is good!]
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June
28:
On june 25 Nick Rhodes, society personality Tara Palmer-Tomkinson and
fashion designer Philip Treacy attended in London the chic bash Tatler
Summer Party in association with Jaguar in the capital's boutique
Hempel hotel [in the first picture Philip Treacy, Guest, Nick Rhodes
and Tara Palmer-Tomkinson] |
June 28: On accesshollywood.com there's a video of the guys in Las Vegas attending Beatles Love by Cirque Royal [I already reported about this on may 14, scroll down a bit]. From the site: "Rock legends Duran Duran were awestruck after seeing the "Beatles Love" by Cirque de Soleil at the Mirage in Las Vegas"
watch the video here
June 27: There's a nice Roger Taylor interview on liverpooldailypost.co.uk. Roger says: "People remind us of these things [eta: Duran Duran anniversaries] every so often, but we are such a forward-looking group of people that we tend not to look back and say: ‘Hey, the Rio video was made 25 years ago – let’s celebrate it’. “That was then and this is now. The eighties were great but we are all about the next project.” [...] “We are always aware that we have to not pigeon-hole ourselves in that 80s pop revival mode,” Roger adds. “We try to work with contemporary producers as well – we just worked with Timbaland and Justin Timberlake, and it is very important to keep your head in where we are. “The great thing is they have come to us, we haven’t been chasing people. We met Justin and Timbaland just as the band re-formed. Justin presented us with a Brit award and then turned up at our after-show party with his posse.” Read the full interview here. [photo: Roger Taylor in Brussels on june 18 2008, pic taken and manipulated by Salvo ].
June 26: As promised here are the scans of the LifeStyle Monthly magazine from Uk [june 2008 issue] with the John Taylor interview. An extract from the article: "After their Uk tour Duran move onto North America for the final leg. And then what? " A family vacation", John says, "And then we'll just see what comes along. I don't have a fixed agenda as then I won't be disappointed."
download the cover and article
June 26: Simon Le Bon and Roger Taylor [in a London Studio where the band is rehearsing] discuss with Sky's Matt Smith the Mark Ronson collaboration for the Smirnoff experience that will take place in Paris at La Cigale on july 2 2008.
*Updated on June 26*: I just added a wonderful two pages article from the german magazine Bunte issue n°26 with some very nice pics of the couple dancing on stage with the band! download a scan right here
June 25: Briatore's wedding has a full coverage on both, Hola! [from Spain] and Hello! [from Uk] magazines. From Hello magazine's website: "Flavio Briatore and Elisabetta Gregoracci wed in lavish style in Rome with celebrity guests". Thanks to Carmen for the Hola! scans: picture 1 picture 2 picture 3
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June 25: I just got these very nice pics taken in Copenhagen on the 22 and 23 of june from my very good friend Guy Hoffman [photographed with Nick on the left], a Duran fan since the early days that I met so many years ago in London when we were kids and used to hang around the studios. Guy attended the Duran Duran show in Copenhagen and also met the guys who were so kind to pose for pictures and sign autographs to all the fans who were there. He took these nice candids and also told me that "the guys rocked the KB Hall, everyone was clapping and singing during the whole show". It's not too hard to belive him! Concert rewiews [in danish] with pics here and here , a John Taylor interview is here on the left: Nick and Guy |
June 24: There are a lot of tidbits and mentions about Duran Duran as special guest at the Flavio Briatore's wedding in most of the italian magazines this week. I'm posting just the ones that include a Duran Duran picture. Plus there's a very nice 2 pages article on Tv Sorrisi e Canzoni magazine about the upcoming Duran Duran 7 dates tour in Italy, including a competition to win tickets for the concerts. download the scans here:
Tv sorrisi e canzoni . Di Pił . Oggi . Diva . A
June 23: I just arrive from a quick trip to Belgium to attend the Duran Duran show at Cirque Royal on june 18. It took me few days to give an update as I had to solve a problem on the server first [or maybe I was just too lazy to get back to the *computer thing* since here in Italy it's starting getting hotter!]. Well, here I'm again anyway. The Brussels show was a very good one, Simon [who was suffering a big cold] sang perfectly and I didn't actually notice any problem in his voice! Not even technical problems during the show... strange if you think that the band arrived in Brussels very late [4.30 pm] by train from Cologne and they didn't actually reharse, they just went to the hotel then straight to venue at around 8,00pm. Well, the only problem i noticed during the show was Simon being a bit out of tempo in Papa Was a Rollin' Stone, but that one doesn't count as isn't a Duran Duran song! Nice setlist, including Simon mentioning the band's ex-guitarrist Warren Cuccurullo introducing one of his favourite songs "Come Undone" wich he said was created while Warren and Nick were working on a remix of another Duran Duran song.
Dom is the man! He really rocked the house, this guy is fitting in really well and he seems to enjoy being on stage with the guys. Just wondering if the band will ever ask him to join them in the studio for the next album and get him involved in the creative process as he's a very talented guy ...and on a personal level, he's a really down to earth guy! Hightlights of the whole experince: wonderfull lights, John having a great time reacting to an ethusiastic audience, Simon mentioning Warren on come Undone, Temped and Wild Boyz [wasn't Wild Boys?!] wich they both rocked Le Cirque Royal, the *po po po po po po po* chorus [a line from a White Stripes song that football fans here uses to sing during the football matches] that the audience sang to get the band back on stage for the encore and the band actually playing an impromptu on that chorus for few minutes, amazing!
After the show I had a drink at their hotel and both Roger and Simon stopped to say hello while the other band members went to sleep. Simon actually sat down at my table to say hello so we had quick chat. He told me that he's really looking forward to the Italian tour and I especially mentioned how is important that a huge band like Duran Duran plays in the south of Italy [Reggio Calabria] where international pop-rock band hardly comes [and they also do it for free], I told him that is gonna be massive! Talking about the south of Italy he also mentioned being on the Stretto di Messina on a boat some years ago and we also remembered when the band came to Sicily 21 years ago. The chat included also few comments on the Briatore's wedding [he mentioned how hard was for Nick to be there] and some less important things not worth reporting as it was just a relaxed chat. The next day the band left at aroung 1,00 am to Amsterdam, I spoke again to all of them and shared the moment with some other nice fans from Belgium and France so everyone got pics and autographs. I made sure to give John and Nick a printed copy of duranasty.com... John started to look trough the hundreds of pages and colorful graphics up on the site and he was truly amazed, he keep on watching/reading it also in the car. Nick told me that for sure he'll look to the printed version [i gave the to band] and the website too! Cool, isn't?! [all photos in this report are taken by Salvo]
download a new desktop theme with some Duran Duran live pics I took in Brussels!
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*updated on june 15*: Check out the video report [on the right] about the wedding from Sky TG24. At minute 1:04 you'll see the guys! You can also watch the video in bigger size on its original webpage here sky Tg24
June 14: Pictures taken this moring when the *Duran Duran family* arrived at the Santo Spirito di Sassia Church in Rome | Duran Duran will play a live show tonight for the newly wedded Flavio Briatore and Elisabetta Gregoracci at the Torcrescenza Castle. [More about this news in the Quick and Brief section of the site].
June 12: Duran Duran make Louvre history and help the museum raise $2.6 Million | On june 10 Duran Duran performed at Louvre's pyramid as part of the biggest fundraising event ever held on the Paris museum. The band played for 45 minutes for free on a podium beneath the Louvre's glass pyramid, with seven huge crystal chandeliers lent by Baccarat hanging over their heads. Proceeds will go toward renovating a Louis XV drawing room, originally created for the Hotel Villemare, which will be featured in the Decorative Arts Gallery. Singer Simon Le Bon said he hoped the show had "put a smile on the Mona Lisa's face". The performance marked a first for both the band and the museum, which has never before allowed a pop concert to take place in its grounds or buildings. Le Bon added: "It was a great honour for us to be asked to perform at this prestigious event in one of the most beautiful and historic buildings in Paris and for such a worthy cause to the arts. "We are all great lovers of the arts and have visited the museum's works many times. Helping to raise funds for this incredible institution is a tremendous for all of us." More articles on the event here, here, here, here, here and here.To celebrate this huge event there's a new splash-intro picture on duranasty.com's index and it will stay up for a couple of days only so make sure to save it. Enjoy!
download a great desktop theme of Duran Duran and their wives at Louvre!
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Duran Duran believe they’ve got the perfect catalogue of party hits to headline Glastonbury June 12: Full pages articles with pics on the Uk tablois Daily Star of june 11and Daily Express of june 6! From the Daily Star: "Wild Boy bassist John Taylor told me: “Festivals are something that we’re developing. Nobody asked us to do any until V in Australia and it was a very different vibe.” Duran Duran believe they’ve got the perfect catalogue of party hits to headline Glastonbury but are still waiting for the call. John, 47, admitted: “I’d love to do Glastonbury one day. But we’ll probably be in our 60s when Michael Eavis gets around to inviting us. “The Earth will be frazzled and there’ll be dust storms on the Pilton farm by then probably.” [...] look out for an Arctic Monkeys remix of new Duran Duran tune Skin Divers soon. The Brummie bass man added: “The drummer Matt Helders did it. I spoke to him and he really wanted to play drums on our track so that’s what he’s done. He’s a nice lad, knows his stuff.” download a scan of the Daily Star here download a scan of the Daily Express here |
If you want to download a clean version of the above picture to use as desktop theme just click here
June 7: Thank You message from Nick on duranduran.com | "Nick would like to thank everyone for their kind messages of support - and in answer to the many questions we have had over the past few days, donations will be accepted under the name of Roger Bates to The British Heart Foundation: bhf.org.uk Thank you".
June 6: from duranduran.com | Duran Duran have been forced to cancel their upcoming show in Nice, France, originally scheduled to take place on Thursday 12 June, 2008, because of the unexpected death of keyboardist Nick Rhodes’ father at the end of last week. All tickets are fully refundable at point of purchase.
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Condolences to Nick We are very sorry for your loss. Deepest sympathy, condolences and love to you and your family. Some of us had the pleasure to meet Mr. Roger Bates when Duran Duran were on tour in the Uk, he was always so nice to all the fans and a very supportive and proud father. Nick, our thoughts are with you and your family. |
June 6: Yasmin and Simon le Bon attended The Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts on June 4, 2008 in London. The couple looked beautiful as usual.
June 3: I just got these great pics taken about one week ago from simonalways who just returned from the Bahamas with a bag full of great Duran-memories to share. I don't usually post fan reports but this one seems so exclusive as our friend met the guys on the beach [!] and took some cool pics too! Here is what she has to say about her Bahamas trip to see the band at Atlantis - Paradise Island, Bahamas on may 24. "It was just like attending a Duran Duran convention all weekend and how we kept running into them! I met Simon Le Bon at the beach, Nick Rhodes was there too and so was Simon Willescroft [the current Duran Duran Sax Player]. I was not as nervous meeting Simon this time, although it was quite different being in a bikini at a beach [with wild wind blowing your hair every where] and meeting your idol you know?! kind of sureal actually! I also met Dom right before the show Saturday night, saw Simon at Club Aura and met also Roger with his wife Gisella at Nobu. Some fans also met Nick and John at the Fish Aquarium in the Royal Towers and they were just excited about the fish that they were messing around like little boys! Below some pics taken at Club Aura. click here to get a larger version of the above postcard with the beach photos.
The show itself was shorter than your typical show [no Electro Set and no "The Valley" either! They kicked off the show with Hungry like the Wolf and Planet Earth] but the whole experience was incredible as the atmosphere was more like a big Private Party in a Ballroom, very festive and everyone dressed up! There were so many beautiful people there, all glitz and glam and Simon mentioned that too! He said something like there are so many beautiful people here tonight in such a beautiful place! He said we smell good too! Definitely a very unique and fun experience seeing them in that setting. The band sounded great and they were very happy to be there!
June 2: Despite the rain, and a very sad news affecting the personal sphere of the band, Duran Duran played their 2nd of two shows at Central Park Summerstage in NYC on May 31. Once the band came on it started raining for about 30 mins. They all seemed to be in great sprits and full of energy on stage, very professional considering all. The band dedicated The Chauffeur in honor of Katy Krassner's wedding [who just got married]. This was the last of the 22 dates North American Tour and their 36th show since the Red Carpet Massacre World Tour kicked off in new Zealand back in march. These two months on the road have been incredible for all the fans who attended the shows and the band of course. The shows have been critically acclaimed as you can read in the many prestigious newspapers reviews posted here over the last months. Now it's about time for the guys to return to their families, rest a bit and recover energies to play some more shows in the good Old Continent. The european tour will kick off in Nice/France on june 12 and it will go on untill july. The band might add some more dates in agoust. [below some more photos from the New York show]
