DURAN DURAN // OPEN AIR THEATRE, SCARBOROUGH
Wild Boys Duran Duran Bring 40 Years of Hits to Yorkshire’s Finest Coastal Arena
★★★★★ (5/5)
DURAN DURAN PERFORMING AT SCARBOROUGH’S OPEN AIR THEATRE - 17.09.2021
PICTURE BY: | JOHN HAYHURST AT SNAPAGIG.COM
Surprisingly it has been 40 years since Duran Duran released their debut album and so it must be prime time for the sixty somethings to get back out to their live fanbase with a few live dates – Isle of Wight Festival and then British Summertime Festival in Hyde Park London – both postponed due to Covid and rearranged for later.
They need a bit of rehearsal though, so a hastily booked 2 dates in a small 1500 venue (for them) in Birmingham will get them show ready for us tonight, and then they headline the main stage at IOW21 a few days later.
This is the finale to the 2021 summer season for Scarborough’s Open Air Theatre and what a great session it has been – despite the obvious pandemic related setbacks. It has been so good to see folks enjoying live music again here and tonight the fans have travelled from all over for a New Romantics party celebration.
I would never claim to be a New Romantic although I did buy ‘The Reflex’ on 12” picture disc back in the day, but Duran Duran were certainly recognised as one of the most iconic bands of that era, and pre Blur/Oasis it was always Duran Duran/Spandau Ballet that were the rival bands people argued about. The clear winners of that match were on stage tonight, showing impeccable form and style, and still promoting new music as they prepare to release latest album ‘Future Past’ on October 22nd. Meanwhile Spandau Ballet are left with the scraps of the 80’s retro festival circuit and celebrity gogglebox.
This is not just a run through of the first album though, as they choose to open with their latest single ‘Invisible’. At first glance they bounce out on to the stage looking very trim and fresh, Simon LeBon may have added a few pounds during lockdown, and only close up can you see the natural wear and tear of a 40 year career – lets face it we have all aged since 1981, and some of the attendees here weren’t even born then. The key members Simon LeBon, John Taylor, Roger Taylor (not related) and Nick Rhodes are supplemented by two backing singers, a saxophonist, and guitarist Dom Brown who has been filling the Andy Taylor slot on and off for quite some years now. To say they have had limited opportunity to play recently, it sounds remarkably tight and professional and LeBon’s voice is definitely up to par. They play a couple of big hits early in the set to get the crowd really hyped up – ‘The Reflex’ and Nile Rodgers produced ‘Notorious’ both sounding truly epic, and I can only imagine BST in Hyde Park will go nuts if Rodgers steps out on stage with them next year.
Throughout tonight the band produce an age defying display of big songs with huge smiles on their faces, knowingly confident that this crowd will sing all the words back – Simon even tries to get them to join in with ‘Tonight United’ another new slice of ‘Future Past’ but it is the more well known hits like ‘Save a Prayer’, ‘Planet Earth’ and ‘Girls on Film’ that really lift the imaginary roof off (it’s open air – there is no roof!!).
‘Ordinary World’ takes on new meanings and LeBon does a nice intro to the tune which gives it extra poignancy. A mix of ‘Girls on Film’ and the Calvin Harris ‘Acceptable in the 80’s’ worked really well, although most people here were laughing at the “I’ve got love for you if you were BORN in the 80’s” refrain – some people clearly changing it to 60’s or 70’s!!
Even during their slightly dodgy cover version of Grandmaster Flash’s ‘White Lines’ they get the audience to put their hands in the air, for the “Get Higher Baby” bit, it felt a little like panto season had started early – but we were seriously past caring at that point, it was a party after all.
With tons of confetti spewing out into the arena, and some huge beachballs brought out for ‘Rio’ this was a masterclass in how a forty year old band should play an arena – leave a little in the tank for the encore, and end on your biggest crowd pleaser. There were a couple of omissions though – ‘Is There Something I Should Know?’ and ‘Hungry Like The Wolf’ but you can’t have everything if the curfew is 10:30pm.
A brilliant end to a fantastic season here in Scarborough and I can’t wait for May 2022 when we can come back and do it all again.
