The Ultra Chrome Latex and Steel Tour : Concert Review
John Cutcher attended an Ultra Chrome Latex and Steel show in New Orleans and reported back for Cherry Lipstick.
set list: (from setlist.fm)
Medazzaland
Big Bang Generation
Hungry Like the Wolf
Who Do You Think You Are
Electric Barbarella
A View to a Kill
Out of My Mind
Save a Prayer
Be My Icon
Buried in the Sand
Come Undone
Anyone Out There
Friends of Mine
Careless Memories
Secret Oktober
Ordinary World
Rio
The above concert review originally appeared in Cherry Lipstick Volume 2 Issue 5 : December 1997.
By the time of the next issue, the Medazzaland era had hit real trouble. Medazzaland flopped in the USA and the album's release in Europe was postponed. The tour did not make it to Europe. The front cover of Volume 2 Issue 6 emphasised the problem.
Cherry Lipstick readers had these views on the delay and the album itself (available on expensive import from selected stores):
“The decision to hold back the album in Europe for 6 months is an indication of a desperate band.”
“The band have sunk back to the depths of the Liberty era.”
“If Duran didn’t keep going into hiding maybe the general public would warm to them.”
“At least in the live department Duran are finally listening to the fans’ needs (I can’t wait to hear Friends of Mine live again).”
“This is their finest Duran album yet… I love the experimentation”
“There are some good ideas for tunes, but the arrangements and presentation are absolutely dire… this is not authentically Duran Duran”
“This is the experimental album… a more cohesive album than the Wedding Album and that can only be good.”
“Big Bang Generation isn’t that crap but it’s still got that boppy sad thing about it.”
"Who Do You Think You Are? is a cross between Oasis and some cheesy American rock band.”
“Every time I spin this CD it cruises up the hierarchy of Duran Duran albums… right now only Rio stands in its way…. Nick really carries it off and the music is wonderfully rich and mysterious”
“If Medazzaland has a classic that will, say, be guaranteed on any forthcoming Decade II it is Big Bang Generation. It really is the dog’s testicles.”