May 30 [evening update]: Thanks to Karen Sutera for this Youtube upload of the guys at Sirius Radio in New York on may 29. Karen says "I had the pleasure of seeing John, Simon & Dom do four acoustic songs at a small Sirius Radio taping. This is a little clip of Box Full of Honey, before security told me to stop recording". The guys played also Falling Down, Save A Prayer and Ordinary World for a future Sirius radio special so keep on checking the radio website for possible video/audio and gallery uploads.

May 30 [morning update]: New interview on papermag.com | John Taylor's answer to a possible release of Reportage follows Simon and Nick's declarations made in recent interviews. John seems now more open to possibilities about a future release of the unedited album. here is what he says: I don't know what will happen to the material we recorded with Andy before we did the Timbaland sessions - there was even artwork and a cover ready to go. If it were up to me I would leak it to a bootlegger! However we have a fairly tight hold on it, and I guess we would all like to see it released at some point in some format. We have to resolve our differences with Andy, and then, who knows. You can read this and more on the new papermag.com/blogs

May 30: You feel brand new, when you come up for air! The next release from Duran Duran is Skin Divers out on June 2nd. Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders has contributed a remix of Skin Divers the second track lifted from Red Carpet Massacre. Helders and Monkeys frontman Alex Turner are rumored to have supplied sampled vocals to the reworked track. The band's spokesman suggests the single and remix might get a special download-only release, perhaps via the iTunes Music Store. In the latest interviews all the Duran Duran guys have mentioned the Helders remix saying that he did a terrific job on the song. Let's just wait and see what happens on june 2! Hopefully the band will get some more radio airplay!

May 29: duranasty exclusive download | A great new cover version of the 1982 Duran Duran classic “Save A Prayer” is on the way. This time the idea behind the brazilian flavoured reprise is bass genius Tony Corizia, an Italian musician who’s worked with many great artists on his album “Basswoodoo”. The disc [Y Records / Delta Dischi, available in physical and download stores] features contributions by Ian Paice [Deep Purple], Maestro Beppe Cantarelli, Nando Bonini, Tim Bennett, and great Milan based gothic/classical singer Barbara Schera Vanoli who actually sings on the Duran song. Tony recently scored a distribution deal in Spain and Greece, as well as a decent exposure in the Italian market. Corizia, who is a great rewarded musician and has collected two covers on Acid Jazz magazine, says: “Save A Prayer” comes from an idea of Weruska, producer Thor’s wife. They are both big fans of the band. She walked in the studio one day with this song in mind and I instantly connected to the possibility of doing something different with it. There’s been loads of cover versions of DD, and this song in particular is so harmonically structured that it has different magical sides to it". Fans of JT’s basslines won’t be disappointed: Tony is a great bass player and he shows it completely in the surprising reworking which involves 5 and 6 string basses as well. For those who are interested in Tony’s background here’s what he says: "I've been playing bass since I was twelve. I've studied at the Bass Tech [Musician Institute] in London with masters Rob Burns & Terry Gregory. I've released two instrumental solo albums, 'Bassology' [on M.O.D.A. Music / Warner Music Italia, 2004-05] and “Basswoodoo”, which is out now on and also do bass clinics for Yamaha. Chek out myspace.com/tonycorizia

exclusive duranasty.com download | Save a Prayer by Tony Corizia [sample]

***Updated*** may 28 [second part interview] » Will anything from Reportage ever see the light of day? Maybe. It's recorded; it's there. It may take five years, maybe ten. You never know. We've got to sort out some things with Andy first. » Is Dominic Brown a permanent member of the band or are you officially a four piece now? He's on this tour with us and he was on the last one. We don't have a written constitution, so to speak. We just keep it nice and easy. He hasn't been writing with us yet. » There are a lot of new places that we want to go to. We don't want to overexpose ourselves. This record is still pretty new. We're not going to rush back into the studio to make a new one. Not for at least six months to maybe a year - maybe longer if the tour carries on. There's a chance we'll come back in September to go to some of the places we didn't go this time. part two here

May 28: there's a 2 parts interview to Simon Le Bon on pollstar.com. Earlier this month, as the tour got rolling on the West Coast, Pollstar got to chat with Simon. In part one of the interview, he talks about touring and the state of the music biz today. Part two is coming tomorrow [with questions on the lost Duran Duran album and what the future holds] so keep on checking pollstar.com.

Q: How has the business changed, touring especially, since you started?
A: Well there are a lot more places to go; the world's gotten a lot bigger as far as touring is concerned. When we started off, we played England mostly, America, Canada and Europe - a bit of Europe, but not all of it. You couldn't play shows in Italy or Portugal, because there was no way you were going to get your money out of there. It was all run by a Mafia. We went down to Australia and did some stuff there, but you'd never go to places like Manila. You wouldn't got to Eastern Europe, the Balkans. You wouldn't go down to South America. And all of these places now are really great. There are great crowds there and people who want to see the band. And it works for us; it's logistically possible to put a tour on and go to those places and come out of it looking good.

read part one here and part two here

May 28: A very good interview to Nick Rhodes - the band's only continuous member from its inception as an art-school project in 1978 - spoke with Express about songs from "The Red Carpet Massacre," the group's future plans and [again] Andy Warhol.

» Express: It seemed to me, reading about Duran Duran, that you took off pretty quickly. You got a manager after showing someone one of your first demo tapes, right?
» Rhodes: Pretty much. I started the band when I was 16. By the time I was 18, we had a record deal, some lineup changes, wrote a lot of songs, played a lot of shows. The thing going around Birmingham, where we were based at the time, was that every time we played a show, we had a different singer. We sort of did, for a few months. We were young, had a lot of energy — and you keep at it and keep at it until you get what you want.

» Express: How did art school influence the band?
» Rhodes: Well, actually, John [Taylor] was at art school and I was going to go to art school, but I was 16, the age you would go, and we formed the band. That was my art-school project. His art college was the first place we ever played. We did a lot of things out of there: made flyers, designed the logos, found a place to play, met kids that were interested in going to see an experiment. I always think of it as an ongoing art school project — with every record, with every tour, with everything we do. It's something that comes from art school: We wanted to use and merge all the elements of art: music, graphic design, video, fashion, even architecture, with the stage shows and the sets in videos. You know, the photos, the artwork for the albums and on and on and on. We're still pretty good on any kind of design. The artwork for the new album, "The Red Carpet Massacre," we did it ourselves.

read the full article here

May 27: The interview to John Taylor released by the Washington Post has been also published on yesterday edition of The Buffalo News with the headline: At 30, Duran Duran shows it’s far from over the hill. Dowload a scan of the article here and a new desktop theme made of fantastic pictures of Duran Duran live in Philadelphia taken by Sue Grace here

May 25: [happy birthday to me!]: On yesterday edition of The StarPhoenix from Canada there's an article with the nice headline "No boredom on Duran Duran tour". The article is based on the recent John Taylor interview published on the The Washington Post. Download a scan of the article here. Above pics taken by xrayteduranie [the picture on the left shows John wearing an Obama tshirt during the recent Us shows]. Below an extract of the interview:

John Taylor has been playing the same bass lines with Duran Duran for three decades. So it’s natural to ask: John, are there ever nights when you’re not sure you can soldier through yet another performance of Rio? “I haven’t felt like that in a long time,” he says during a phone call between gigs on Duran Duran’s U.S. tour. “We’re feeling really good about who we are right now. And it’s such a privilege just to go out and get to [perform] . . . I think you have to kind of surrender to what you are. I just try to play it better than I have ever played it before.” [...]

As he talks about Duran Duran’s responsibility to give the fans their money’s worth at every show, his tone becomes more animated, almost urgent. When John Taylor is selling, buying is hard to resist. “We need to have those people rolling out of that show saying, ‘That was so much fun. We had such a good time,’ “ he says. “We can’t afford for people to be coming out and saying, ‘Eh, I don’t know.’ Because they just might not come again. So we’ve got to be giving our best game right now.”

May 24: Update with three new Duran Duran interviews! John Taylor has been interviewed by the The Washington Post, he says : “There is something fundamental about a live performance and the magic of the lights going down, whether you’re playing to 100 people or 100,000 people,” he says. “The principle of that entertainment has not changed. And it will never change. That, to me, is why I do this. Because that excites me.” You can download a scan of the article here. Simon Le Bon has been interviewed by the Boston Herald: "People are buzzing about the mini electro set in the middle of the show where whole band jumps on synthesizers. Simon: The electro- shock therapy? Oh, it’s got this great impact visually and sonically. It makes the show feel like a three-act event. I’d tell you more but it needs to be a surprise". You can download a scan of the article here. The best article comes from inrich.com. It's a good Q&A with Nick Rhodes full of news on the upcoming Duran events, Arcadia, Andy and Reportage! You can read some of the the most interesting questions below [or the the full article here]. *editor note: Nick in this interview confirms the hope and desire to release Reportage one day, as reported here on 21/5*

Q. Do you think the tracks do you did for "Reportage" [the album the band recorded with original guitarist Andy Taylor and then scrapped] will ever be released in some form? I hope so. At the moment, it’s sitting in a vat of dry ice somewhere. It was a really strong album. It was never quite finished, so we’d need to do some cosmetic work on it. But the songs are intact. What happened [with ‘Red Carpet Massacre’] was by accident, not by design. We thought we’d do a couple of extra tracks [for ‘Reportage’] with Timbaland and we ended up with another album worth of material that seemed very fresh. The other album is much more an indie rock record. It took us a good year of our lives to make it, so it would be a pity to let it go unheard. I’d like it to surface one day.

Q. What is the band's relationship with Andy Taylor these days? Do you talk at all? Sadly no. It’s like a divorce case. It’s one of those things where common sense doesn’t always seem to prevail and you have to deal with whatever through the lawyers.

Q. What are your thoughts on the book he's working on [Taylor’s "Wild Boy" is due in August]? Do you see it as unnecessarily airing dirty laundry or as a story that you think people should hear? I don‘t know what he’s writing, but I just hope it’s all the truth. I wouldn’t have a problem with any of it if it’s true. But if it isn’t, well, that will mean more lawyers!

Q. Do you think we’ll ever hear anything else from Arcadia [the side band of Rhodes, LeBon and Roger Taylor, which released one album, "So Red the Rose," in 1985]? There’s not much unreleased stuff. There’s one instrumental song that didn’t make it to the album, so that needs to be mixed and restored. There are a couple of things we should restore it to their full length and put out a disc of the remixes with lots of photos that we’ve never used. It’s funny because record labels, they’re trying to cut down on packaging. But I’d like to make it something glorious.

Q. What's the plan for the year? Will there be another single from “Red Carpet”? Where will tour go after the July dates in England? Because everybody seems very confused about what to do with the record, all we want to do is get more people to hear it. We’re on a bit of a campaign, so we’ll look at it and see what the best thing to do is. We’ve got some terrific dance versions of some of those songs for clubs. I’d love to go to radio with something, but we need to go from a position of some strength. But we’ll continue the tour until mid-August, then reconvene in September for a South American tour. We might come back and do some more North America dates and then it will be December. We’re going to look again at China for next year and then it’s time for a new album.

May 23: I don't usually post news on Yasmin Le Bon but this one is worth reporting for the positive message about Iran that Yasmin gives to the world. I'm talking about an article appared on the new Corriere Magazine from Italy out today [it's a supplement magazine of Corriere della Sera - of one of the most important national newspapers]. In the half page article Yasmin says that she would like to dedicate herself to the Middle Eastern diplomacy, as we all know Yasmin was born in Oxford and her father is iranian. Yasmin also says that she would like to return to Iran just to show everybody that Iran isn't a country made only of bloody-thirsty fanatics. The journalist closes the article saying "Morrisey is trying to play a show in Teheran, maybe she could try to bring her husband's band to Iran before Morrisey does it". Less important, about the picture in the article... it was taken in june 2007 at the Raisa Gorbachev foundation party. If you are curious to know more about Yasmin and browse trough pages and pages full of wonderfull Yasmin Le Bon [and Simon] pics then I highly reccomend the wonderfull yasminlebon.net an unofficial but very professional Yasmin Le Bon site.

download a scan of the article from il Corriere Magazine here

May 21: Reportage update | According to a very reliable source from Jakarta who has been very close to the band during they stay in Jakarta [back in april] the band really hopes to release Reportage. My source says: "Nick mentioned that they’d really love to put out Reportage with or without Andy but they need to do more work on it…" He seems to be really proud of that record, people think it’s been shelved because it’s not very good but he insisted that it is a good record on its own. Above picture [an exclusive of duranasty.com] photo of the guys in Jakarta taken by a local photographer.

More press from Indonesia Thanks again to my friend in Jakarta who sent pics of these 2 current magazines with reviews of Duran Duran's Jakarta show. The first from left is Trax magazine, the other is the indonesian Rolling Stones magazine. Proper scans of the articles will be up soon.

May 21: Upadate on the recent Us Duran Duran shows.

• Atlanta according to Holly H. on the ddm message boards, Simon has dedicated Ordinary World to a man who is on death row in GA. Local news reports that 7 of the 9 witnesses have recanted their statements, hopefully he will get a reprieve soon.
• UCF Arena in Orlando on May 18, 2008: Orlando metromix gallery
• Mizner Park Amphitheater, Boca Raton on May 19, 2008 miaminewtimes.com gallery and review

Below a picture collage of our Wild Boyz in Orlando - Above pics from Atlanta taken by xrayteduranie.

May 20: This news brings us back to the Tokio show on april 14. Duran played an incredible concert in Tokio and also partyed all night long with long time friend Nick Wood. Thanks to G-Star the band had the Vip room at Le Baron along with Marc Newson's Dom Perignon Silver Ice Bucket and [as already reported back in april] Roger played his deejay set! Nick Wood reports on his blog the fantastic night he spent with the guys in Tokio and some more...

May 20: This news comes from Nick Wood's blog: Simon Le Bon back at syn | Nick says: "It was great to see Simon back at syn studios one last time before we move in June. This place has not only been our work place for 13 years, but also our favorite late night party place when there's nowhere else open, Tsukiji cafe relocates one more time!"

May 20: Up on the CNN website since yesterday this nice Duran Duran interview. Journalist Ralitsa Vassileva talks with the guys about their U.S. tour, the new album and second life. If the video doesn't work keep on refreshing the page, it will show up at some point! And you can always download it [as most of the interesting Duran Duran stuff circulating on the web] on the great audio-video source duranduran.no

May 17: From mirror.co.uk and gigwise.com. It seems that the current financial climate was behind the decision to cancel the show. The bank denied that their was a rift between the two parties.

The Mirror: Duran Duran at war with Deutsche Bank for scrapping gig. Duran Duran are in dispute with one of the world's biggest banks. The 80s superstars were booked for a six-figure fee to perform for Deutsche Bank staff in the summer.But finance chiefs pulled the plug because they felt it would be "inappropriate" during the credit crunch. Angry Duran Duran fronted by Simon Le Bon claim an agreement was broken and are now "considering their options". A source close to the band said: "They rerouted their world tour at great cost to themselves to play the party. Then there's the fee. They're in talks but neither side is budging. They are disappointed." Deutsche Bank's decision to axe the band comes after an order for all staff to cut back expenses. The bank said: "There is no issue between Deutsche Bank and Duran Duran. "The fact they are not playing is purely a result of the economic climate."

Gigwise: Duran Duran are furious with Deutsche Bank after the organisation reneged on plans to hold a private concert with the band, according to reports. The veteran group were due to be paid over half a million pounds for the gig later this summer. But bosses at the bank decided that the concert would not be suitable amid the current credit crunch. Speaking to the Mirror newspaper, an unnamed source said that the band had “rerouted their world tour at great cost to themselves to play the party.” “Then there's the fee. They're in talks but neither side is budging. They are disappointed." A spokesperson for the bank denied that their was a rift between the two parties but acknowledged that the current financial climate was behind the decision to cancel the show.

Live video The Chauffer May 17: New Youtube upload of the Corgan-Duran performance of The Chauffer in Chicago. Thanks to kerri who took the above pictures at this show and to shytowngirl for the video upload. Enjoy!

May 17: Special thanks to Vincent Stachovic who went to the game last Tuesday and took these great and exclusive pictures of Simon attending the baseball match and singing the 7th inning stretch at Wrigley Field.

special gallery here

May 15: just in this great and [full of details] interview to John Taylor from BBC news website [source]. John gives an insight into life on tour, and discusses their plans for a one-off show with Mark Ronson.

I try to stay in bed until 10, but I'm a serious coffee addict so the idea of coffee gets me out of bed at 9:30-ish. Then I'll start the day with an internet connection, I might go to the gym, I might have a sauna. We like saunas and steams. Maybe do something to keep healthy. It's pretty civilised really. Staying sharp with my playing is the best formula for having a good time on stage. We might go to the venue at about four o'clock, make sure everything's set up as we like it. Most days there's an hour of press to do, interviews like this, and I try to practice for an hour a day. I try.

Do you still need to practice after all these years?

When you're away from home, it's all about the show. If you don't have a good time at the shows, then touring is miserable. I've found that staying sharp with my playing is the best formula for having a good time on stage.

What's on your rider?

We are so easy, man. We have a sushi selection, we like a certain quality of red wine to be available, we have a room that our roadies set up where we have a practice drum kit and bass and guitar amplifier so the rhythm section can warm up. We love to just play before we go on stage to break the ice.

One of the fun things we're doing on this tour is we've got a little turntable in the dressing room with us, so every day somebody has to go and find some bizarre old vinyl album. It's like a challenge. We've had Tony Bennett, the Jungle Book soundtrack, The Supremes Sing the Liverpool Hits. At the end of the tour we'll have accrued 100 vinyl oddities and we're going to eBay them off for a good cause.

Is there much partying these days?

I'm not a big party head. It takes so much energy. Parties are so much work. People talk so loud and we've just been playing for two-and-a-half hours. You can't do it very often.

How does touring now compare to 25 years ago?

Back when I was younger, there was a duality to life - there was road and home. They were like two separate lives. Today, family and friends are so important and we all try to stay connected in as consistent a way as we can, and in this sense technology has been a friend to the touring musician. I just got Skype two weeks ago when I was in Japan and it's so mindblowing.

Have you been approached to do any British festivals like Glastonbury?

No. I guess I'd like to do it. We just did the V Festivals in Australia. It's something new for us. Comparing a festival to a concert is a bit like eating a buffet as opposed to having a one-on-one candlelight dinner. I've always been a one-on-one candlelight dinner sort of person, but I can see how the buffet is appealing.

What are you planning with Mark Ronson in Paris?

I love Mark, I've known Mark for a long time. I've known his mum and dad and I'm very proud of what he's achieved.

Mark Ronson won best British male at this year's Brit Awards
Ann and [stepdad] Mick Jones - from Foreigner, who raised Mark - are two of the most wonderful people you could ever know. It was always on the cards that Mark was going to be a very special fellow. He's always been a really hard-working super-nice guy, and he deserves everything that he's getting.

At this point we've had several conversations about what we want to do, and his ideas are really exciting. The idea is to create a 30-minute monster Ronson-Duran mash with nods to all and sundry and then play the damn thing live, which is kind of rad, as the Californians like to say. It's a really exciting project. It's good to have these kinds of things that challenge you and shake you out of your complacency.

and here for a good review of the Denver show

May 15: New online interviews to Nick and Simon from two Us websites. Below some interesting questions from these articles. Check them out, especially the Miami New Times wich has a very long interview to Mr Rhodes.

Simon says to Michigan Live: "we're coming like a real classic band"

"We have been rocking the house," "The energy that's coming off this crowd is unbelievable. I haven't seen this in 25 years. It's amazing. "We seem to have moved into a different phase of our career. We had the reunion. But this time, we're coming like a real classic band. They do come to hear 'Ordinary World,' and they do come to hear 'The Reflex' and 'Hungry Like the Wolf,' but it's almost like being in the Rolling Stones." Full article here

---

Nick says to Miami New Times: "we have so much material rehearsed, frankly, we could probably play all night"

Q: How much are you playing live on this tour, now that there are so many additional layers to the tracks? A: As much as I possibly can, but obviously on some of the songs where we now have so many drum parts and what have you, we're running sequences with it. We like to keep as much as possible live. I've got a whole bunch of samplers obviously. What I tend to do is trigger a lot of things too, so I could do with at least one extra hand with this album.

Anna and Simon on may 4, 2008 in Los Angeles. Picture taken by OC Vegan

Q: What additional musicians do you have onstage with you? A: It's really just us. We have a sax player, Simon Willscroft, and we have the lovely Anna Ross on backing vocals for some years now. That pretty much augments the sound.

Q: I read that your stage set is supposedly based on Blade Runner. A: No, not entirely…. Q: Oh, that's what your press kit says. A: Ohhh, bless them. There's elements of the movie in there, because there's always a little element of Blade Runner in most things we do, since it was such a magnificent piece of work. The set is sort of a futuristic cityscape, I suppose, but what we've done that is quite drastically different this time, is that we're decided we're not using any projections. I think that every show I've seen in the last 10 to 15 years has become dominated by projection. I love projection, I think it's a terrific element to a live show, and I'm sure we'll use plenty of it in the future. But we just thought for once it would be interesting to take that away, and draw it back to something where we'd use all kinds of light sources to create moods and environments, and people would have to concentrate on the action going on onstage, rather than hurting their neck by looking up at the video concept. Read it all here

---

"We're always looking for a new way to represent ourselves, that's what keeps it exciting."

May 14: When those pics were just out I decided to not publish any of them on this site. I actually hoped that those bad paparazzi pics of a very tired [for the long trip] band arriving at the airport in New Zealand and the ones of the fully naked Roger Taylor photographed trough the window of his hotel's room, would'nt make into the press and they were going to be forgotten in the archives of some photo agencies [or in the photo archives of some Duran Duran fans!]. Well, I was wrong! an italian magazine called Vip Mese in the new issue has a story titled "At 50 they still give scandal". I just keep on doing what i have been doing untill now here, giving news on the good and also the bad press the band gets around the world. So here you are. Check out this bad gossip italian magazine right here

May 14: The online version of the Interview with Nick Rhodes apparead on Reax magazine volume 02 issue 12 can be read here | below some quotes.

May 14: Internationally renowned yachting photographer Rick Tomlinson will be hosting an illustrated lecture at the Manx Museum [Isle of Man] on Wednesday. He will be talking about his yachting photography which has taken him all over the world since he first set out in 1985 in the Whitbread Round the World Race aboard Simon Le Bon's yacht, Drum. Forty-six photographs of Rick's latest assignment to Antarctica are currently on display in the Temporary Exhibition Gallery at the Manx Museum and this lecture will give the public the opportunity to hear the stories behind these breathtaking images as well as seeing some of Rick's work from his other assignments. The lecture is at the Manx Museum on Wednesday May 14 at 7pm - admission is free and all are welcome. [tel. +44 (0) 1624 648000] from iomtoday.co.im Check out his work here rick-tomlinson.com

Full Planet Earth from Vegas with The Killers on the youtube upload on the left!

News updated on May 14 Duran Duran gets some Love in Las Vegas! Duran Duran's Simon LeBon, Nick Rhodes and Roger Taylor went to see "Love" on Sunday night at The Mirage when they were in Vegas for their own show. look like they had a lot of fun [pic on the right, the guys with the Love cast]

May 12 | *Updated May 13 * Las Vegas May 9 what a night! | Above Duran Duran with Brandon Flowers and Dave Keuning from local hit makers the Killers, who joined Duran Duran for "Planet Earth" in Las Vegas. [Photo courtesy of Hard Rock]. From the thevegaseye.com: The band rocked the hotel on Friday night, bringing, and their full fledged stadium show to The Joint stage treating fans to a nearly 2-hour show for a sold-out crowd of 2,000 people. After performing songs from their latest project along with a mix of greatest hits like “Rio” and “Girls on Film," the band came back for a blazing encore featuring surprise guests Brandon Flowers and Dave Keuning from the Killers. They performed “Planet Earth” which was Duran Duran’s first single ever released back in 1981 thanks to Kimberlyblessing who uploaded on flickr this short but very cool clip of the guys playing Planet Earth live in Las Vegas with long time fans Brandon Flowers and Dave Keuning of The Killers [as reported on the quick and brief section on may 10]. Picture of the Duran guys with the Killers [the full band] have been just posted on duranduran.com at the following link

below some screencaps from the live performance video

more Las Vegas live pictures here1 2 3 4 and here

May 13: Clinton Sparks [the deejay who shared the Dj set with Roger] says on his blog: "this Saturday was another awesome night at Smashtime Saturday's at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Vegas. Method Man came through as well as Carmen Electra and I shared the set this with Roger Taylor of Duran, Duran... How crazy is that??? Tony Wang from the Hard Rock hit me earlier in the week asking me "Do you mind if the guy from Duran, Duran DJs with you?" I'm like "are u crazy? They are pop music icons... of course I don't mind" I'm all about 80's music".

Updated on May 13: More news from Las Vegas just in from Tiggerella who says "Last night we happened to see all the guys go into Body English at the Hard Rock. It was totally packed [and really small] club and about 5 minutes later the DJ goes "Are you ready for Roger Taylor?" So for the next hour Roger DJ'd. Just upon a table, no far removed DJ booth or anything. He really seemed to have a great time drinking beer and rocking the house! So we are out there shaking our groove thing and I turn around to see Simon in the middle of the dance floor. He worked his way up to the front and was making faces at Roger and kind of cheering him on. Then Roger threw in a little bit of Notorious into the mix! After Rogers set the next DJ did a great Duran medley/ mix. never saw John or Nick again after they came in, but Roger, Simon and Dom were in a big booth with the guitarist from the Killers and some of Your Vegas. From thevegaseye.com Body English's guests got a surprise DJ set from Roger Taylor of Duran Duran. Taylor joined DJ Clinton Sparks at the turntables and spun for nearly an hour to a packed house that included Duran Duran band mates Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes, Dave Keuning from the Killers, nightlife queen Amy Sacco and E! "Daily 10" host Sal Masekela.

May 11: Duran Duran will be playing live in Malta on July 26, you heard it here first! The band will perform at the Luxol Parade Grounds. The deal was struck on Friday between the band's management and NnG Promotions, who have been responsible for organising other large-scale concerts featuring the likes of Bryan Adams, Elton John and Roger Waters. Nigel Camilleri from NnG said: "Till this day, Duran Duran are one of the few bands that still garner a following. They still manage to draw the crowds and like Bryan Adams, they appeal to anyone up to the age of 45." Read and dowload here an exclusive article scan from today's edition of The Sunday Times from Malta.

May 10: I just got this email from Andy Taylor trough myspace:

I have uploaded the Myspace player with 6 new tracks, none of which have been on the page before... Don't get me wrong here, but I always found streaming 6 songs at a lo-quality rate, with a flawed download system, all a bit shitty. The network is great, that's how we are here, but the content presentation is limited & frustrating... Equally, i-tunes is difficult in a number of respects, there's to many tunes, it doesn't really generate a profit for the labels, & a huge percentage of the payments don't go anywhere near the artists - 1 billion tunes & the kids still don't [& won't] pay a cent for music... So after looking at the many digital platforms, all of which I found very bland, I decided to indulge in creating my own thing [not all on my own I may add]... My logic was simple, if Iam gonna have digital music available commercially, it made more sense to have my own base with the ability to control what was sold & at what cost. Not having a distributor taking around 50%+ from sales revenue gives the artist a greater margin & therefore the ability to price competitively at preferred rates... But even more fundamental it gives the audience a direct link to their artists... Then... somebody had the bright idea of offering this platform to other artists, & to expand on the idea, so we have, but on the basis that they, the artist, receive 100% of their potential income & we don't take a any. THE 100-SONG PLAYER [yes its huge] & NEW SONGS ... I have loaded up about 70 tracks at a very high quality bit rate to my player, the available space enables you to put up around 100 tracks into a single player, which is cool when you have years of material, some which has never seen the light of day & other which is more familiar... To hear these tracks and to check out the other 40 artists currently testing the site go to...

rockaffairs.com/andytaylor

& then go into songs, blog or events. You can also find out about the new live dates and the festival I am organising. There are no fees or sign-up required, please feel free to roam & enjoy the music/info... & if you are a band or an artist then you can also join for free at rockaffairs.com

Andy Taylor
ATSI - Ibiza
May 2008

Andy Taylor Also Posted some Infos On his new upcoming album Burger Kingdom Track Listing: 1. Moaner Liza Smythe 2. Burger Kingdom 3. Quicksand 4. Visible Target 5. Next In Line 6. You Zombie 7. Undadog 8. Feelin Like Elvis 9. End Of The World 10. Enemies 11. Mad Dogs & Englishmen 12. Come Back The Band: Andy Taylor - Guitar & Vocal, Liam Keenan - Vocals & Piano, Joe Breban - Drums, Mikey Dunn - Bass Produced By Andy Taylor | Written & Arranged By Andy Taylor & Liam Keenan Recorded @ Atsi April & May 2008 Andy also says: this album was played by humans & not recorded on a tempo grid or from a machine

May 10: This amazing news comes from thecheappop.com's second part interview to Nick Rhodes | link to the article here [The full Nick Rhodes interview on thecheappop.com will be posted next week on the site]:

“Election Day” to play in Election Year: Nick Rhodes, longtime keyboardist for Duran Duran, told thecheappop.com that the band plans on rehearsing “Election Day” soon and include it in their current Red Carpet Massacre tour. The song, which the band has never played live, was a big hit on Rhodes’ 1985 side project Arcadia, which featured Duran Duran bandmates Simon Le Bon and Roger Taylor. The band only recorded one album [So Red The Rose, which went multiplatinum], but has never toured together. “Funny enough,” Rhodes told the pop humor website that Duran Duran guitarist John Taylor actually came up with the idea for the band to include it in their set list. “John said recently he’d really love to do ‘Election Day.’ We sort of prepared it and figured out what certain things are and what sounds we need and all these kind of things. We haven’t rehearsed it yet [but] yeah that’s going to be coming into the battalion.” He added, “We like to keep adding things to our repertoire so that we’ve got some choice. We can draw from so many songs now. That one, we haven’t gotten around to.” Looking back, Rhodes said he’s very proud of the Arcadia record and was delighted to find it has held up so well throughout all these years. “I hadn’t heard it for literally about 15 years until a few years ago, and was very pleased with how its held up sconicly and the kind of ideas that we had musically then. I mean we played with some amazing people on that record…Sting, Grace Jones, Herbie Hancock – amazing people.”

May 10, 2001: It's official | duranduran.com announces the Reunion

Simon & Nick announce the next phase of Duran Duran As many fans have speculated over recent months, a profound change has occurred at the heart of the band as the story of Duran Duran moves into a new chapter. The trio of Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes & Warren Cuccurullo is coming to an end; the upcoming Japanese dates will be their last together after which Warren will be bound for America and a new project with his pre-Duran band, Missing Persons. Simon & Nick are to be reunited with original band members Roger, Andy and John Taylor for the first time in 15 years. "It's something we are very much looking forward to. There has always been an incredible chemistry and musical energy when we have got together. We are all very excited about the prospect of seeing what we can create." An album will be scheduled for release some time in 2002 [posted 5/10/2001] [On the left a clipping from The Sun from may 12, 2001]

May 10, 2008 | Editor note: the reunion days have been some of the most exciting of the life and times of duranasty so I thought it was worth to bring back some carelless memories! Can you still remeber the excitement of that day? I do very well! Thank you guys for making it possible, even if for five years *only*, five *fantastic* Duran Duran years i should add.

May 10: Terrific interview to Nick Rhodes from realdetroitweekly.com. Nick talks about the very missed Andy Warhol and more things. Below some interesting quotes from the interview [to read it all go here | thanks to Andre for the link].

when I was about 14-years-old, I decided that I wanted to be either in a band or to make films, and since I wanted to write them and direct [movies], I figured that being in a band was probably a better choice 'cause when you’re at that age, you don’t know so much about life. But I did know an awful lot about music and exactly what I wanted to do, so I was 16 when I formed the band with John and we never knew whether we were ever going to have a successful record or play to a lot of people or if it would all be over a week later. Here we are three decades later, still making Duran Duran records and playing shows.

I look to the Internet and satellite radio; that’s the future, the people to be able to choose what they want to listen to.

May 10: A picture is worth a million words! Birmingham prepare itself to the next Duran Duran show and the Birmingham Mail website puts online a vintage Duran Duran gallery with many pics of the band in their hometown and local fans from the early years till the recent years. The above pictures shows the band in May 1981, local Duran Duran fans line the streets as they wait for their idols and the crowd at Aston Villa football ground in July 1983. Check out the full gallery [thanks to Christian for the link]

birmingham mail picture gallery

Still from the Birmingham Mail this Mark Ronson article titled "I'm going wild with the boys!" He says of the band: "The level to which they combined melody, groove, sonic and style has yet to be outdone.

May 10: that's what John Taylor says in this interview from Las Vegas Weekly. Below the most interesting bits of the quick but intense interview. [thanks to Kelgura for this link]

Duran Duran has been Rock and Roll Hall of Fame eligible for a couple years now. Is that on your radar at all?

To be honest with you, I really don’t give a fuck. I don’t know what the benefit of it is. [The Hall] should be about the unsung heroes of rock ’n’ roll. What’s the fucking point of putting Duran Duran in there? What’s the point of putting, like, The Rolling Stones in there? I think that when they started that thing they weren’t planning ahead; they didn’t realize that if they kept going at the rate they were going, sooner or later they were gonna have to start thinking about Duran Duran [laughs]. That was not on their agenda. And I don’t think we really need anything like that right now. We’ve had more than enough plaudits. We’ve just got to quietly work away. It’s a little bumpy right now. We put a lot into the last album, it came out and nothing really happened with it. So it’s one of those kinds of periods where you’ve gotta walk the walk, where it’s not just about, “Oh, are we gonna quit now because the last album was a flop?” We thought the new record was gonna do a lot better than it has. But we’re really enjoying our playing right now, and that’s what we have to make it about.

[...] From the point of view of the soul of the band, there was something wonderful about that reunion—there was an incredible energy that the five of us had together. But it just didn’t work out. The good news is that the guy we’ve got playing guitar with us, Dom Brown, is an electric blues guitar player cut from a similar cloth to Andy. He comes from that great English tradition of Mick Taylor and Jeff Beck and plays blues-rock as easily as he plays the funk, and I think it’s making the band a little tighter, actually.

May 9: I just got a very nice email from Mark Ziemke editor and co-founder of Ground Control magazine who wants to let all the Duran Duran fans know about the concert review and the great picture gallery up on their site. So check out the article here and a fantastic live-picture gallery here

May 9: Great indepht Nick Rhodes interview on gay.com about the gay world, Duran Duran next projects and of course once again Andy Taylor. Below some interesting questions [thanks to Tin for the link - to read the full article go here].

Although you're admittedly straight, there's always been something very "gay" about Duran Duran in terms of the hair, makeup and fashion.

Where I suppose it all came from is in the 70s, growing up in England, we had a musical movement called glam rock that included David Bowie, Roxy Music and Cockney Rebel -- bands that wore fabulous, over-the-top clothes and good makeup. There was something hugely stylish about it -- a great alternative to the doddering rock bands who would wear jeans and T-shirts and hid behind lights. When we started the original lineup in 1980, the first thing we thought about was "OK, how are we going to present ourselves?" We wanted it to be something we were comfortable with. Once we started experimenting with different clothes at the time, we found Kahn and Bell. They were two girls, Jane Kahn and Patti Bell, the two most exquisite looking peacock girls in all of Birmingham. You saw them 10 streets away, they had such a huge charisma. Once we started wearing all the clothes from that period that they were making, it felt natural, and our identity developed from there. It was post-punk rock -- what people often tainted as street and grungy. But let's not forget the Sex Pistols and The Clash were very art-school and designed by Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood, the cutting edge of fashion at the time. They invented what was to come. And you can blame David Bowie for all the makeup.

What's next for the Fab Five?

Well, we're on tour for the rest of this year. We've done loads of remixes from the new album. The drummer of Arctic Monkeys did a remix of "Skin Diver" and we have a chill-out version of "Night-Runner," which will come out as part of a separate product. Then I imagine we'll go back to the studio and do some more material. We're also working on a photographic book with the history of the band.

And there's been a lot of talk about Duran Duran performing the first-ever concert on [3D online virtual world] Second Life.

We still haven't done that, but we'll finally launch our Second Life universe. It's in testing at the moment. We've designed a whole universe, and I'm sure you'll be thrilled to hear that our most giant building is a lipstick tower. There's always something going on.

May 8: 30 years later, still hungry from lasvegassun.com | there's a very interesting interview to Nick Rhodes wich focuses on the direction the music industry is taking with the illegal download [to read the full article go here | thanks to Kelgura for posting this on the unofficial duran board]. Below the most interesting questions of the interview.

Do you really think the days of the major labels are numbered?

Without a doubt. For me they’re over already. If you look at the deals being done in the last six months alone — Madonna, Jay-Z, U2 — they’re all outside of the label system. And the thing is, a long time ago when record labels used to have a vision it was undoubtedly the major force in the industry. They used to nurture bands and actually helped develop their careers. But they became very lazy in the ’90s, just taking the quick cash from TV performers who’d come out of shows like “Pop Idol” (the British TV show that gave birth to “American Idol”). I think they lost focus completely. They didn’t know what to do with the advent of the Internet. They panicked. They tried to destroy downloading. They spent a lot of time hammering away at Napster when in fact what they should have been doing is saying, “Hey, this is such fantastic technology you have here. How can we make this work together?” I think they were incredibly shortsighted and foolish about everything. So I’m far from surprised at this place we find ourselves in now.

Are artists better off financially with the new direction of the business?

It’s very different now. I think established artists make a lot more from touring than from recording. Having said what I just said, I wish that we could find a sensible solution to prevent illegal downloading. Clearly it’s such an epidemic, a pandemic. But it would be very, very hard to stop it at this stage. But I still believe it is plain simple theft. There’s no doubt about it. Those songwriters, producers, performers, whoever it is, have all worked to create this piece of music and what people are now saying is, “We don’t really care about that. We want it free.” It’s tantamount to walking into a grocery store and filling your bag up with fruit and vegetables and whatever else you want and just walking out.

It’s a complex issue. What’s the solution?

It is very complex and it will be very hard to solve because people now are so used to getting a lot of things free. ITunes is now the world’s biggest distributor of music, which is a good thing, I think. But they pretty much have a monopoly at the moment, which is not such a good thing. It is a tricky situation. It will be interesting to see what happens with the MySpace venture with the major labels. But there will always be something new happening with technology, something that surprises everybody, something that comes from a different place where people have thought things out and it will catch on.

*The Le Bons will celebrate their 23 years marriage this December* May 8: As already reported [scroll down to april 21 news] The Le Bons attended Tim Jefferies and Malin Johansson wedding. Simon wrote a poem especially for the couple and read it during the ceremony. Pics of the wedding are now on Hello! and [many big ones] on the spanish version Hola! [issue n°3327 from may 7, 2008]. Many thanks to the Selsus who provided scans from both magazines.

May 7: Ok ok, I wasn't sure to post this one but hey, we are here to bring Duran news but also to have fun, right?! You've already heard about this Le Bum-crazed fan who jumped on stage at the Concord show [on may 2] and squized Simon's bum... well, now we also have a great quality video proof in case we needed it, thanks to MC Vitry and Melinda LaJaunie who filmed the hilarious, embarrassing and crazy scene.

download the clip and have a laugh!

[right click - save target as]

ibabuzz.com is writes [full article here ]: "It was a true “girl gone wild” moment, only without the nudity, as one young female fan climbed onstage and made a mad dash for Simon Le Bon. The 49-year-old vocalist eluded his pursuer at first, but was finally tackled from behind. She hung on for a few moments, as Le Bon valiantly tried to continue on with his verses, before a security guard wrestled the woman off the stage. Le Bon was apparently tickled, both literally and figuratively, by the situation"

“Ooh,” he exclaimed to the crowd. “She grabbed my [butt].”

May 6: Thanks to Kelgura for posting this on the duran unofficial board | there are some interesting informations about the near future Duran Duran's projects on this interview to John Taylor appaered today on poprockcandymountain.com.

PRCM: What are your plans for after the North American tour?
JT: In June and July we are in Europe. Our families have signed us up for the month of August. We are doing a show in Paris in June with Mark Ronson, which is kind of exciting. He’s doing this sort of remix-medley thing that will encompass a whole bunch of Duran Duran songs, some of Mark’s material and other people’s songs as well. We are thinking about doing something by The Killers or something. I don’t really know where it’s going to go come September. We would like to stay on the road for most of the year. But, who knows?

PRCM: How is touring for you nowadays? Is it harder for you? Is it as enjoyable?
JT: It’s not hard. I really look after myself these days. I don’t put myself through the ringer like I used to. It’s not a lot of fun when you’re not getting any sleep. I try to stay connected with home — it’s very important for me to do that these days. It’s not like I just go off on the road and nobody hears from me. We get along great — the band, really. We enjoy one another’s company and we enjoy playing together. We’re just here to make the show as great as we can on a night-by-night basis.

May 6: from azcentral.com | thanks to Marra who sent me the link to this interview to Simon Le Bon speaking from a beach in Costa Rica during a relaxing day-off before the guys kicked off their North American Tour. Here a couple of quotes:

'80s band Duran Duran touches up its dark roots: "My day is going really wonderfully," the 49-year-old singer says. "I'm in a very hot, beautiful place with a big, bright blue sea in front of me. I've grown myself a mustache, with a big, fat sombrero on my head." "Q: Your voice sounds better than ever on the new album. How do you feel? A: I'm very excited about the new music we've made and the show we're playing. There are lots of things that could be better - me getting more breaks and holidays, I could be getting younger, my kids could be doing slightly better in school. But generally, things in life are very good".

Q: This is your second CD since the original Duran Duran lineup reunited in 2004. What were you aiming for this time? A: We had this great hook-up lined up, and we went there, and Andy Taylor didn't come to the sessions, which led to us and Andy parting company. So the band was in turmoil. We decided that what we could do is concentrate on the job at hand, to make the best album we possibly could under the circumstances. We put all of our energy into that and didn't worry about the negative aspect.

To read the full article click here [main picture of the Le Bons taken in Mexico '05- published by Harpers and Queen magazine in the september' 05 issue]

May 4: Thanks to my correspondent Bret M. [from San Jose-Ca] who took these great pictures at the successful Concord show on may 2, 2008. Our friend captured some great Duran Duran action and energy happening on stage and also some funny moments. Thanks for sharing these with oll the regular visititors of duranasty.com. Here you have a selection of the best shots [28!], so check it out!

concord may 2 2008 picture gallery

May 3: The Times apology to Andy Taylor: On today's edition of the prestigious The Times newspaper there's an apology to Andy on page 4. I post this with a big question mark: Where's the truth? Only the people involved in this story knows. I just Hope they can solve it in the best way for both parts.

From Times OnlineMay 3, 2008

Andy Taylor

An interview with and an article about Duran Duran (The band plays on, The Times Magazine, November 3 2007 and Wild boys always shine, The Sunday Times Culture, November 4 2007), referring to Andy Taylor’s departure from the band, said respectively that he had failed to turn up for a recording session in New York and had “quit” the band, and that he had sent a “blunt message … that he was leaving the band, with immediate effect”. It was also suggested that his departure was “still unexplained”. Andy Taylor’s departure from the band is the subject of continuing legal proceedings, but we wish to make clear that it was not unexplained, that he did not quit, leave or walk out on the band – the Duran Duran partnership was dissolved by the other members. He was unable to get a US working visa to attend the New York recording session due to administrative failures by the band’s management. We apologise and are happy to correct the record.

No, this is not a soap opera, it's just the life and times of duranasty [to use Nick's words]... Link to the The Times on line version of the article is here. Many thanks to Charley who originally posted the news here

May 3: Our down to earth drummer speaks out with thisisnottingham.co.uk about life and his past, present and future with Duran Duran. Below some quotes [To read the full article just click here]

Q: " I notice from your tour schedule that you're on a bit of a break. Are you enjoying having a few days off? A: Absolutely, yeah. We've just done Australia, the Far East and Central America, then we're off to Vancouver next week, so it's good to get a few days at home, pat the dog, kiss the wife???"

Q: Did it require any persuasion to get you back into the band, or were you eager as soon as the suggestion was made? A: It was a real surprise. By the year 2000, I thought: that's it, it's never going to happen again. Then I got a call out of the blue from John. It took me a little while to think about it, but I think I was ready. I don't think anybody needed persuading, as it was one of those things that almost had to happen.

Q: always seemed as if there was an "arty" faction in the band, led by Nick, and a "rock" faction, led by Andy. We particularly saw it when you split into Arcadia and The Power Station. But it seemed that you were the guy who floated between those factions. A: I think you're probably right. It was like being in a gang at school. But that's what made it so creative. It wasn't like you had five Nick Rhodes, all wanting to be like Depeche Mode. You also had Andy in there, who wanted to be like AC/DC. When we went to America, they were ready to accept us because we had a guitar player that could play heavy riffs. And then of course you had John, who was into the disco bass lines. So you had this real clash of musical cultures.

May 2: as reported on duranduran.com the band will tour Italy in july!

July 15th Mantova Palazzo Te’ 40 Euro G.A (Already Announced)
July 16th Roma Roma Rock Festival 30 Euro G.A
July 18th Ravenna Pala De André 40 Euro G.A
July 19th Milano Idr O Scalo 28 Euro G.A
July 20th Jesolo Spiaggia Del Faro 30 Euro G.A - 45 Euro Reserved Seats
July 22nd Napoli Arena Flegrea 30 Euro G.A
July 23rd Reggio Calabria Piazza Indipendenza - Free Admission

Ticket Sales: ticketone.it on sale Thursday 8th May at 10 am local time | Presales will go on sale on May 6, for more details: duranduranmusic.com

May 2: from billboard.com | A Duran Duran photo book is in the offing, according to Rhodes. "We've got a lot of great stuff in our archives from over the years, and I think it's time we put something out," he says. The group also plans to launch a new game at its web site, in which Rhodes says users will be able to create an avatar that can travel around "a virtual world...wandering around these amazing digital structures." It's expected to go up within the new few months. And further on the horizon Rhodes says the group hopes to release "Reportage", the album it scrapped in favor of "Red Carpet Massacre" that features the last work original guitarist Andy Taylor did with the band. "We want it to come out one day," the keyboardist says. "It's a really interesting record... more of an edgy, indie rock album, obviously going back to our earlier roots. There are a lot of songs I'm very proud of that I'd like people to hear." link to the full billboard article

May 2: On yesterday's issue of The Vancouver Sun there's a full page quite positive review of the Vancouver show. Here i just uploaded a scan of the newpaper, so have a good read and enjoy the pics too ;)

May 1: I just got this on my google email allert! It's another exclusive from the Sun: Mark Ronson is teaming up with his idols Duran Duran for a unique live collaboration this summer [link to article] | The Brit winner will work his magic at the Smirnoff Experience Paris on July 2. The editor says "It’s strictly invite only — but I’m giving away a pair of tickets, accommodation and first class Eurostar travel. To be in with a shout of winning simply email the answer to the following question to biz@the-sun.co.uk by midnight on Saturday, strictly over 18s only". Gordon Smart from the Bizzare section of The Sun.

What is the name of Mark’s most recent album?

*Update*: according to Itn.co.uk the Paris show will take place at La Cigale. Together, they will rework versions of some of their classic hits along with tracks from their latest album. Duran Duran's lead singer Simon Le Bon is also expected to appear as a guest vocalist on Ronson's hit album Version. link to the Itn article.

From Bbc.co.uk: Their collaborative concert is invite-only, but will be filmed and shown around the world, according to sponsor Smirnoff. link to the full bbc article.

May 1: [above pictures: the band in Vancouver on the 29th of April] Concert review from thedeadbolt.com: The lights went down somewhere around 8:30pm and the band kicked off their twenty-something song, three act set with three new tracks from Red Carpet Massacre - "The Valley," "Nite Runner," "Red Carpet Massacre" - before launching into their early mainstream hit "Hungry Like the Wolf." As you’d expect, that’s when the place went ape-sh*t. Although I’m willing to bet 90% of the crowd hasn’t heard the new material, you couldn’t tell by the rowdy reception the new songs received. The fact is - their new album doesn’t sound out of place. The band was wise to get the new songs out of the way first since - let’s be honest - almost everyone was there to hear an endless supply of pop-culture hits. Still, Duran Duran sprinkled such new tracks as the Justin Timberlake collaboration "Falling Down," "Tempted," and "Skin Divers" timely throughout the set, which invariably gave fans a break from the intensity of the retro favorites... The only noticeable low points of the night came in the form of back-end, stabilizing tech adjustments. When the band kicked into the title track from the new album, Red Carpet Massacre, Le Bon’s vocals were drowned out by the heavy, unbalanced and reverberating bass. When you’re promoting your new album and title track, you definitely don’t want things to fall off the rails at a time like that. Also, during "Ordinary World" there appeared to be an awkward unevenness to the song that was slightly off-balance and out-of-step with their lone back-up singer... Although the Vancouver show wasn’t quite sold out, the crowd was one of the best I’ve seen from the city in years. Vancouver arena crowds are notorious for being too laid back at times (like spinelessly laid back), but not this one. Full article here

The Vancouver Sun: the band was solid. Le Bon's voice sounds like it's put away carefully every night in a velvet-lined silver jewelry box. He sounds just like he did back in the day. John Taylor made the bass an instrument to watch. Rhodes was mostly blank-faced, but skilled at his many keyboards - regularly signaling to the engineer to adjust his levels. And Roger Taylor was a master at keeping the beats, even if the levels were sometimes off and Le Bon missed his cue once or twice.With just one costume change break, the band played for more than two hours. There were surprisingly few unfamiliar songs interspersed between hits like Reflex, Girls on Film and '90s ballads Come Undone and Ordinary World. The infectious Rio - which I'd been playing in my head for the past week - was saved for the encore, leaving everyone who bought tickets presumably satisfied. Full article here

Vancouver Sun - Picture Gallery here

From The Province April 30, 2008: Young and young at heart dance along to the Wild Boys of Duran Duran: "...Hmmm, a band able to mess around with old material without marring it. A band with a set list loaded with hits and a new album that isn't some pale imitation of past glories. Dang. There might be some substance here after all".

Download a scan of the article here

one more online article about the Vancouver show is here: www.straight.com [duran still worth shagging]

 

back to current news