Post by jt60 on Jul 15, 2009 7:09:17 GMT -5
mylifebeach.blogspot.com/2009/07/duran-duran-concert-and-band-review.html
Duran Duran - Concert and Band Review (Costa Mesa/OC Fair - July 11, 2009)
On July 11, 2009, I had the privilege of seeing Duran Duran in concert. I had never seen them perform live before, unless you count their recorded live performance on Palladia. This 80’s mega-band knows how to bring it and here’s my story.
I remember hearing Duran Duran when I was in junior high school. The girls couldn’t stop talking about them. Most of them were in love with Simon Le Bon because of his looks and his voice. Even the parents in my private school seemed to like them because they didn’t sound or look scary. However, I never really listened closely to them and dissected them until recently.
Before the concert, my experience with the band was partly related to their greatest hits albums. First, I had heard their Decade album in high school and in college. Now, I have been listening to their Greatest album and nearly all of the 19 songs on it are excellent. If they would have performed all of those songs in the concert, I would have been overjoyed. However, they skipped a few of my favorites like Reflex, New Moon on Monday and All She Wants Is in exchange for some songs that were unknown to me. They may have been newer songs and they weren’t bad.
When I revisited Duran Duran’s music several months ago, I was listening for cool bass lines to teach one of my bass guitar students and I was not disappointed. In fact, in most of their songs, John Taylor’s chops are off the hook. If you’re unconvinced, then listen to songs like Save a Prayer, Rio or Girls On Film and you’ll hear how the bass is absolutely instrumental (no pun intended). It brings alive otherwise simple songs and makes them quite magical. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything like the bridge in Rio where we have a dualing bass guitar and saxophone. Very, very cool and unique.
Besides Taylor’s talents, Duran Duran has a very charismatic and handsome lead singer in Simon Le Bon. In the 80’s and 90’s, these fellas experienced a sort of Beatlemania because of their music and charisma. Not many bands can say that. Not to mention, they packed the entire Universal Ampitheater in Costa Mesa last night – which was 28 years after their first album was released. People of all ages were there, although most looked between 30-50 years old, dancing and rocking out to 90 minutes of music, separated by a pause before the encore.
While Duran Duran’s electric guitar work isn’t very difficult to play, it is cool and catchy. They have found a way to do a lot with a little. Using timely effects and hum-able melodies, they’ve found a recipe for smoothness. The handful of notes in the intro/main hook on Girls On Film sound magnificent, almost like a futuristic laser gun. I found and tabbed the guitar intro to Ordinary World in a few minutes, but it will always be a beautiful melody that’s fun to hear and play. The back and forth between the melodic notes in “Is There Something I Should Know?” will have you humming their melody well after the song ends. It’s that kind of vibe that Duran Duran knows how to produce so well.
The keyboards follow a similar pattern of relatively simple, yet cool with interesting special effects. Nick Rhodes knows how to usher in a new mood with his effects and hooks. While a keyboard solo would have been awesome, the concert showcased his skills and the less is more theme. A couple of their songs that were unknown to me sounded a lot like Depeche Mode – which is a good thing, of course.
The lyrical content reminds me of a happier Robert Plant, often telling stories of girls, relationships and the quest for love. It’s very difficult to summarize their catalog of messages in a paragraph, but Simon is quite a storyteller. I Don’t Want Your Love (to bring me down) is pretty self-explanatory. We catch a glimpse of the modeling industry in Girls On Film. And who can’t recall the video on MTV with Grace Jones and Simon Le Bon running through the jungle? Rio celebrates the beauty of a woman with colorful language. Seriously, if you’re a guy and these songs don’t bring a smile to your face, you might want to check your pulse.
During the concert, most of their song changes were seamless. There was a nice flow between them, but a couple parts were a little rough. For instance, while the band was introduced mid-song, the audience didn’t seem to know when or where the song came back in. I think they could also have used a few dramatic pauses here and there. The audience was in the palm of these guys’ hand and they could have easily built a crescendo of feeling and sound at several points, but instead opted for flow and an album-like experience.
While Simon seems to have a mid-range voice (think somewhere in between Robert Plant and Jim Morrison), this is part of his appeal. Most guys don’t sing much or have amazing voices. Keeping things in the middle makes Duran Duran vocals easier to sing than Maroon 5 or Led Zeppelin, for example. Le Bon’s falsetto worked nicely in Ordinary World. While the album version has a voice over with two of his voices, the concert rendition didn’t seem forced or lacking. The softer and slower intro to A View to a Kill worked nicely as well. The crowd immediately knew the song and we were drawn in from the beginning. When the music came in, we were ready to rock!
Finally, the last item of note from the show was the stage lighting and stage presence. I found it interesting that a fairly bright light was on Simon for most of the show while a slightly lesser light was on the bassist. An even lesser light was shining on the guitarist. While they stood in a line – bassist, singer and guitarist, it produced a curious effect.
Duran Duran is an amazing band with a fantastic catalog of hits and they don’t seem to be slowing down at all. Carry on, boys! I hope I get to see you again very soon.
Posted by Jason Gastrich at Tuesday, July 14, 2009
NAT
Duran Duran - Concert and Band Review (Costa Mesa/OC Fair - July 11, 2009)
On July 11, 2009, I had the privilege of seeing Duran Duran in concert. I had never seen them perform live before, unless you count their recorded live performance on Palladia. This 80’s mega-band knows how to bring it and here’s my story.
I remember hearing Duran Duran when I was in junior high school. The girls couldn’t stop talking about them. Most of them were in love with Simon Le Bon because of his looks and his voice. Even the parents in my private school seemed to like them because they didn’t sound or look scary. However, I never really listened closely to them and dissected them until recently.
Before the concert, my experience with the band was partly related to their greatest hits albums. First, I had heard their Decade album in high school and in college. Now, I have been listening to their Greatest album and nearly all of the 19 songs on it are excellent. If they would have performed all of those songs in the concert, I would have been overjoyed. However, they skipped a few of my favorites like Reflex, New Moon on Monday and All She Wants Is in exchange for some songs that were unknown to me. They may have been newer songs and they weren’t bad.
When I revisited Duran Duran’s music several months ago, I was listening for cool bass lines to teach one of my bass guitar students and I was not disappointed. In fact, in most of their songs, John Taylor’s chops are off the hook. If you’re unconvinced, then listen to songs like Save a Prayer, Rio or Girls On Film and you’ll hear how the bass is absolutely instrumental (no pun intended). It brings alive otherwise simple songs and makes them quite magical. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything like the bridge in Rio where we have a dualing bass guitar and saxophone. Very, very cool and unique.
Besides Taylor’s talents, Duran Duran has a very charismatic and handsome lead singer in Simon Le Bon. In the 80’s and 90’s, these fellas experienced a sort of Beatlemania because of their music and charisma. Not many bands can say that. Not to mention, they packed the entire Universal Ampitheater in Costa Mesa last night – which was 28 years after their first album was released. People of all ages were there, although most looked between 30-50 years old, dancing and rocking out to 90 minutes of music, separated by a pause before the encore.
While Duran Duran’s electric guitar work isn’t very difficult to play, it is cool and catchy. They have found a way to do a lot with a little. Using timely effects and hum-able melodies, they’ve found a recipe for smoothness. The handful of notes in the intro/main hook on Girls On Film sound magnificent, almost like a futuristic laser gun. I found and tabbed the guitar intro to Ordinary World in a few minutes, but it will always be a beautiful melody that’s fun to hear and play. The back and forth between the melodic notes in “Is There Something I Should Know?” will have you humming their melody well after the song ends. It’s that kind of vibe that Duran Duran knows how to produce so well.
The keyboards follow a similar pattern of relatively simple, yet cool with interesting special effects. Nick Rhodes knows how to usher in a new mood with his effects and hooks. While a keyboard solo would have been awesome, the concert showcased his skills and the less is more theme. A couple of their songs that were unknown to me sounded a lot like Depeche Mode – which is a good thing, of course.
The lyrical content reminds me of a happier Robert Plant, often telling stories of girls, relationships and the quest for love. It’s very difficult to summarize their catalog of messages in a paragraph, but Simon is quite a storyteller. I Don’t Want Your Love (to bring me down) is pretty self-explanatory. We catch a glimpse of the modeling industry in Girls On Film. And who can’t recall the video on MTV with Grace Jones and Simon Le Bon running through the jungle? Rio celebrates the beauty of a woman with colorful language. Seriously, if you’re a guy and these songs don’t bring a smile to your face, you might want to check your pulse.
During the concert, most of their song changes were seamless. There was a nice flow between them, but a couple parts were a little rough. For instance, while the band was introduced mid-song, the audience didn’t seem to know when or where the song came back in. I think they could also have used a few dramatic pauses here and there. The audience was in the palm of these guys’ hand and they could have easily built a crescendo of feeling and sound at several points, but instead opted for flow and an album-like experience.
While Simon seems to have a mid-range voice (think somewhere in between Robert Plant and Jim Morrison), this is part of his appeal. Most guys don’t sing much or have amazing voices. Keeping things in the middle makes Duran Duran vocals easier to sing than Maroon 5 or Led Zeppelin, for example. Le Bon’s falsetto worked nicely in Ordinary World. While the album version has a voice over with two of his voices, the concert rendition didn’t seem forced or lacking. The softer and slower intro to A View to a Kill worked nicely as well. The crowd immediately knew the song and we were drawn in from the beginning. When the music came in, we were ready to rock!
Finally, the last item of note from the show was the stage lighting and stage presence. I found it interesting that a fairly bright light was on Simon for most of the show while a slightly lesser light was on the bassist. An even lesser light was shining on the guitarist. While they stood in a line – bassist, singer and guitarist, it produced a curious effect.
Duran Duran is an amazing band with a fantastic catalog of hits and they don’t seem to be slowing down at all. Carry on, boys! I hope I get to see you again very soon.
Posted by Jason Gastrich at Tuesday, July 14, 2009
NAT
