Tuesday 02 May 2023.

Monday 01 May 2023. DURAN DURAN live at The 02 Arena. Duran Duran play the first of two shows at The 02 Arena on their UK arena tour. They will be promoting their 15th studio album 'Future Past'. Support comes from ex Scissor Sisters front man JAKE SHEARS. I have seen Duran Duran around 20 times since 1981. 3 times in 1981 at Hammersmith Odeon on the back of the success of their debut album. 6 times in 1982 at Hammersmith Odeon on the back of the success of their second album 'Rio'. Even though i was working security , i managed to tape one of these 1982 shows, which i still have. All these 9 shows i worked front stage security , and for the 1982 shows it was full scale DuranMania as they needed a police escort each night when leaving the venue. Duran Duran still have four out of their five original members. According to Billboard, Duran Duran have sold over 100 million records.They achieved 30 top 40 singles in the UK Singles Chart (14 of them top 10) and 21 top 40 singles in the US Billboard Hot 100. The band have won numerous awards throughout their career: two Brit Awards including the 2004 award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, two Grammy Awards, an MTV Video Music Award for Lifetime Achievement, and a Video Visionary Award from the MTV Europe Music Awards. They were also awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2022. --------- They are selling tour programmes outside the entrance, at a whopping £35 a pop. When you add that to the front blocks ticket prices at £125 each...yikes! Tonight is a near sell-out show , as just a couple of unsold blocks at the back of Level 4. We end up missing Jake Shears as he came on early as it was a Sunday. DURAN DURAN arrived on stage at 8.40pm and played for 1 hour 50 mins. We have great seats on the floor, around 25 rows from the stage. The production is fantastic with loads of big screens showing live footage and pre-recorded images. Frontman Simon Le Bon looked great, echoing the ‘sailorboy’ look of his younger self back in the New Romantic days, with a sparkly silver jacket, white trousers and a blue and white stripy T-shirt, while Nick Rhodes, set back stage right in an elevated position, was proper dapper in a very sparkly jacket. The setlist was pretty much a superb greatest hits set, plus three tracks from the new album. They are joined by two female backing singers, and a sax player on a few tracks. Sooo many great singalong songs played tonight, in an excellent show. Full DURAN DURAN setlist played tonight... Night Boat The Wild Boys Hungry Like the Wolf INVISIBLE Tape - The James Bond Theme (John Barry song) A View to a Kill Notorious GIVE IT ALL UP Last Chance on the Stairway Is There Something I Should Know? Friends of Mine Careless Memories Ordinary World ANNIVERSARY Planet Earth (with band intros) White Lines (Don't Don't Do It) (Grandmaster Melle Mel cover) The Reflex Girls on Film / Acceptable in the 80's Encore: Come Undone Save a Prayer Rio --------- 10.40pm to 12pm. Around 100 guests at the afterparty. All of Duran Duran turn up here, and are friendly and chatty to all, although Simon Le Bon knocked back a couple of females who wanted selfies by politely say ' sorry not tonight, as if i do one , then there will be too many , and i need to speak to a few friends here'. Guests here included.... SIR TOM BAKER - Bespoke Soho Tailor who has dressed many bands ,including Duran Duran. Tom told me he has done 21 outfits for Martin Gore (Depeche Mode) for their current world tour. BOY GEORGE BRIAN COX - Brian is best known however as the unofficial 'face of science' in the UK. He has hosted dozens of BBC programs and TV specials on everything from the solar system to the science of time. ROB HALLET - legendary live music promoter , who is promoting this tour with his company ROBOMAGIC. Hallett was introduced to the live music industry as a teenager promoting gigs in a local pub in Brighton. After meeting Malcolm McLaren, then manager of the Sex Pistols, in London, Hallett went on to arrange shows for the punk rock band. In the 1980s, Hallett worked at Derek Block Agency whose clients included Duran Duran, Adam Ant, Talk Talk and Dexys Midnight Runners. Hallett arranged Duran Duran's first ever gig at The Marquee Club in London, when they were still an unsigned band, a moment he counts as his first big career break.He was lauded by The Times as the music mogul who discovered Duran Duran and in 1983, at the age of 22, he toured with them in Japan. Complimentary Lanson champers, wines and beers for all the folks here.

Posted 2nd May 2023