Duran Duran Live in Paris!
- Adam Wilson
- 59 minutes ago
- 3 min read
“I’ve been living in Paris for over 8 years now. But there’s only place that makes the Eiffel Tower look like a big piece of metal and that is Bournemouth. If you don’t believe me, just ask Duran Duran. Because in the time I’ve been here they’ve not visited once, but no tour would be complete without a detour down to Bournemouth.”
J.R. Kiss, Cherry Lipstick June 2001
And so it came to pass that Duran returned to Paris - just 2 hours from their home country – in triumph. Why it had taken so long since 2008 to be there when the crowd was so passionate and excited to see them is something to ask their marketing team about. A full house, a big yet intimate venue, and a band on a roll, looking exuberant and lifted by being in unfamiliar surroundings.
For those more jaded by the set list, it mattered not to a crowd who had rarely seen it. This included Mr J.R. Kiss, my companion for the night. Mr Kiss is the Cherry Lipstick OG who fell out of love with the band during the reunion years, and returned to the Duran crowd for the first time since 2000 when we had seen one of Warren’s last shows on the UK Pop Trash tour. He was blown away by Nightboat as the opening song and most of the rest of what followed. He was delighted to hear Come Undone as he had said before “I hope they play that.” From the eyes of babes we experience the world anew.
Our Parisian day had been suitably Duran-focused up the Eiffel Tower, on the look out for suspicious blind beggars and parachutes. The only casualties were our sore legs as we walked up to the second stage. Our step count shot up further by a dodgy metro line, but we got to see the Duran bus at the back of the venue. (Hey, all of those old fanzine tour stories featured problems with travel arrangements, so this one is no exception).
In the bar before the show we chatted with locals. One was going to her first show and been given a playlist to get in the mood by a well-meaning, but possibly over-ambitious, friend. I hope she was not too disappointed not to hear Too Late Marlene. A couple had come over from Belgium as they had enjoyed the recent Antwerp concert so much. I saw them later near us – sat down stoically throughout the gig. Anther younger couple asked what we were doing and needed explaining to them that Duran Duran were a British band from the 1980s. They had never heard of them. What do they teach in schools these days? Tsk.
Simon was on great form, with some lengthy but fun song intros. He sensibly told a story from their first show in Paris in 1981, which may explain why any autobiography of this will need extensive fact-checking: he said someone did a Tarzan swing across the stage (how?), during Hungry Like The Wolf (impossible), which left him “on my arse” for two minutes (highly unlikely). He then did a great intro for Notorious which got the crowd excited, but then said, “oh wait, we’re doing Invisible next” (presumably because the back projection was all queued up). Evil Woman was introduced with the line “It’s got misogynistic lyrics, but we like the song.” 30 minutes later he did not introduce Hungry Like The Wolf in the same way. It was a missed opportunity not to introduce The Chauffeur by saying, “This ones in French”
Evil Woman was the low point of the evening, It’s a trudge, and would have been better replaced by New Moon On Monday. It left the crowd – who had presumably come to see Duran Duran play Duran Duran songs – with FOUR cover versions in the set list. Psycho Killer was the only one that went down well.
The setlist featured 10 songs from the first two albums, and no complaints about that. Fun fact – the only songs NOT played from Duran Duran and Rio in the last 3 years are To The Shore, Sound of Thunder, My Own Way and New Religion. Here’s hoping.
Of course it all ended with Rio and a very happy crowd. And a very happy Mr Kiss. He does not intend to wait 25 years to see them again. Even if it is in Bournemouth.
