In
the shadow of House Bill 2, which has seen touring acts opposed to North
Carolina’s recent legislation opting to cancel NC shows or play them as benefits
or forms of protest, Duran Duran played its scheduled show at PNC Music
Pavilion Saturday. Frontman Simon LeBon announced early on
that it would be a mostly politics free night. It wasn’t until the encore that
he encouraged concert goers to sign the Equality NC petition to demand the repeal of HB2. The petition will be presented to the general assembly on April 25.
Before
that moment Duran Duran simultaneously honored its dance and rock heroes and
played up its current album “Paper Gods.” The latter meant, as bassist John
Taylor indicated in his interview with The Observer a few weeks ago, that some
hits would be sacrificed (that left “Union of the Snake,” “The Reflex,” “Skin
Trade” and the minor late `90’s hit “Electric Barbarella” out of the set).
The
theme of coming full circle kicked off when Nile Rodgers and Chic jump-started
the party as the support act. The uber-producer and guitarist (who pops up doing
both on “Paper Gods”) not only led his group through its own disco-era hits,
but touched on some of the biggest songs he produced for other artists. Rodgers
instructed NC to sing louder than crowds in other states during Diana Ross’ "I’m Coming
Out." The crowd erupted. "I'm Coming Out" kicked off a medley that included “Upside
Down” and Sister Sledge’s “We Are Family.” The group later launched into David
Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” to honor another artist Rodgers worked with.
It
ended its set with Chic’s biggest hits “Le Freak” and “Good Times.” For the
latter around 30 fans, who were pulled from the audience based on their
enthusiasm and dance skills, lined up with the band to help put an exclamation point
on the set.
Chic
may have been a support act, but its finale was met with a wave of
screams that
could rival those at a Taylor Swift or boy band concert (imagine a giant flock of birds from “The Birds” coming toward you).
In
its youth Duran Duran were a “Tiger Beat” pin-up favorite, but its audience is
largely forty and over now (although its crowd Saturday started at about age
6).
Original
members LeBon, Taylor, keyboardist Nick Rhodes, and drummer Roger Taylor (now
having been back in the band longer than he was the first time around) took the
stage to the title track of its latest album “Paper Gods” backed by a handful
of additional musicians and two very active leather-clad backup singers who
added soulful power to “Come Undone” and “Danceophobia.”
It
front-loaded the set with crowd-pleasers “Wild Boys,” “Hungry Like the Wolf,”
and “View to a Kill” (complete with a bloody, risqué video reminiscent of the
banned “Girls on Film”) before zipping back into new material with “Last Night in
the City.” There wasn’t really a lull when the group jumped into recent
material, which is normally reserved for beer runs and bathroom breaks. The
40-something women in front of us knew all the words to the new songs too.
Rodgers,
having changed from white to a baby pink jacket and beret, joined Duran for “Notorious”
and 2015’s “Pressure Off.” It was here that the group’s joy – especially evident in the
expressions and body language of Taylor and LeBon – swelled. It took that
momentum into “I Don’t Want Your Love” and its cover of Grandmaster Flash and
Melle Mel’s “White Lines,” which together may have weirdly been the performance’s
highlight due to the band’s energy.
Like
Chic, Duran Duran paid tribute to Bowie seguing into “Space Oddity” via
“Planet Earth” with a photo of `70s Bowie projected behind it.
LeBon,
who struggled slightly during “View,” had stretched his vocal chords
enough throughout the set to tackle the high notes on “Ordinary World” with
ease.
He and Taylor sported actual Duran Duran graphic tour t-shirts with black
light catching trousers, while Rhodes and Roger Taylor chose more subdued black
suit pieces with sparkles.
It
ended the set “Girls on Film,” which wasn’t an exact replica of the old single,
but a slightly redesigned version.
LeBon
began the encore with his anti-HB2 speech, encouraging Carolinians to sign the
online petition. Given that Duran Duran’s music – like a lot of the acts that
emerged from early MTV (Prince, Michael Jackson, Madonna) – has never been
confined by color, gender, or any other lines, his plea was fitting as was the
choice of “Save a Prayer.”
But
the seriousness was short-lived as it ended the set with “Rio” beneath the
image of that first album cover. With references to its biggest `80s hits,
influences like Chic and Bowie, its withstanding non-discrimination message,
and a heavy portion of the set devoted to newer material, it was a well-rounded show that
truly encompassed who Duran Duran was and is. Now if only it could have fit in
a few more oldies.
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