Post by BassEcho on Dec 18, 2008 0:47:17 GMT -5
Duran On Autopilot At Foxwoods Show
By THOMAS KINTNER | Special to the Courant
December 14, 2008
Duran Duran was among the most successful 1980s Europop bands, and it remains one of today's most successful 1980s Europop bands. Still plying its trade with the same sorts of driving, synthetic anthems of its heyday, the band came to the MGM Grand Theater at Foxwoods in Mashantucket Friday night with a robust program heavy on past hits and new material that sounded an awful lot like them.
Always a source of arch, posturing dance music, the band kicked off the evening with a new number that fit that mold, "The Valley," as singer Simon Le Bon ladled percussive vocals onto its mechanical pop. His swaggering vocal manner matched the blustery designs in which the group specialized, whether the pulsating 1982 hit "Hungry Like the Wolf" or a performance of the new "Red Carpet Massacre" filled with rock shouting that sounded as if it came more out of habit than any actual exuberance.
Four of the band's original five are currently in its lineup, their chunky electronic pop rock bolstered primarily by Dom Brown on electric guitar as they followed a backbeat looped by keyboard player Nick Rhodes on the jaunty "I Don't Want Your Love." Brown ladled glossy sizzle onto the punchy "A View to a Kill," the theme for a James Bond film that was eight installments (and three James Bonds) before the current one in the series.
Le Bon spent much of the show snapping at lyrics, working by rote as he hammered at the stout "Notorious" and sounding as stiff as his acoustic guitar strumming in the hearty ballad "Save a Prayer." He appeared to be dealing with a persistent cough, which may have explained the lack of finesse with which he delivered the synthesizer-slathered flow of "Come Undone" and the thumping repetition of "Is There Something I Should Know."
Bass player John Taylor anchored a comparatively loose hop across the lively favorite "The Reflex," and helped supply a plump backbone as Le Bon offered a fun, carefully rhythmic cover of Melle Mel's "White Lines (Don't Do It)." Following a hard-swinging roll through "(Reach up for the) Sunrise," Le Bon barked the set to an end with the vigorous "The Wild Boys."
Economical throughout, the show's only solos of any note came briefly during band introductions in an encore of "Girls on Film," which detoured toward its tail into a deadpan snippet of "Papa was a Rollin' Stone." A straightforward rendition of "Rio" capped the show, in a package as inflated as anything else on a dance card built to run on cruise control.
By THOMAS KINTNER | Special to the Courant
December 14, 2008
Duran Duran was among the most successful 1980s Europop bands, and it remains one of today's most successful 1980s Europop bands. Still plying its trade with the same sorts of driving, synthetic anthems of its heyday, the band came to the MGM Grand Theater at Foxwoods in Mashantucket Friday night with a robust program heavy on past hits and new material that sounded an awful lot like them.
Always a source of arch, posturing dance music, the band kicked off the evening with a new number that fit that mold, "The Valley," as singer Simon Le Bon ladled percussive vocals onto its mechanical pop. His swaggering vocal manner matched the blustery designs in which the group specialized, whether the pulsating 1982 hit "Hungry Like the Wolf" or a performance of the new "Red Carpet Massacre" filled with rock shouting that sounded as if it came more out of habit than any actual exuberance.
Four of the band's original five are currently in its lineup, their chunky electronic pop rock bolstered primarily by Dom Brown on electric guitar as they followed a backbeat looped by keyboard player Nick Rhodes on the jaunty "I Don't Want Your Love." Brown ladled glossy sizzle onto the punchy "A View to a Kill," the theme for a James Bond film that was eight installments (and three James Bonds) before the current one in the series.
Le Bon spent much of the show snapping at lyrics, working by rote as he hammered at the stout "Notorious" and sounding as stiff as his acoustic guitar strumming in the hearty ballad "Save a Prayer." He appeared to be dealing with a persistent cough, which may have explained the lack of finesse with which he delivered the synthesizer-slathered flow of "Come Undone" and the thumping repetition of "Is There Something I Should Know."
Bass player John Taylor anchored a comparatively loose hop across the lively favorite "The Reflex," and helped supply a plump backbone as Le Bon offered a fun, carefully rhythmic cover of Melle Mel's "White Lines (Don't Do It)." Following a hard-swinging roll through "(Reach up for the) Sunrise," Le Bon barked the set to an end with the vigorous "The Wild Boys."
Economical throughout, the show's only solos of any note came briefly during band introductions in an encore of "Girls on Film," which detoured toward its tail into a deadpan snippet of "Papa was a Rollin' Stone." A straightforward rendition of "Rio" capped the show, in a package as inflated as anything else on a dance card built to run on cruise control.
