I saw Duran Duran’s live concert on Friday. I have been excited and nervous about this for several months now. When I announced to my boss and my coworker that I was one of the lucky people with tickets to the sold out show, they said, “That’s embarrassing.” I LOL’ed. “No. We mean it. Don’t tell anybody!”
That’s the problem with a band called “The Pretties Boys in Rock” during the 80s when they were super popular. The magazines called them The Fab Five. And I remember arguing with my girlfriends who was the best looking. My favorite has always been Nick Rhodes. What can I say? I have a thing for guys with mascaras. Except Clockwork Orange… The other girls would always come back with John Taylor. Oh yes. That man (boy?) was gorgeous, with a square jaw that was perfectly chiseled. It makes you shiver just thinking about it. Curiously it was never Simon. Just seemed to be too obvious an answer to claim that your fav is the lead singer. Duh. Ho-hum. So we continued to fight between the Bass guitarist and the keyboardist.
I was apprehensive also because, well, I am a realist. How often when you are reunited with your childhood love do you find that present reality matches up to the memories you have been keeping in a vault?
When I got to Chicago Theatre, it became clear to me that I was not the only one there to relive my youth. I have never seen so many middle-aged women dressed “correctly” for a rock concert in one place. The ladies knew why they were there and they came prepared. There were so many women dressed in their rock regalia, complete with black stockings, chokers, pink (or purple or whatever) hair, and tattoos. Lots of tattoos. Almost everyone was wearing boots. I even saw a pink boa.
What would their teenage daughters have said?…
It was kickass and uplifting. Fuck those young girls who think WE should behave OUR age. But it was also depressing at the same time. I know I know. I have issues. But it made me sad to reflect on why I was there. To relive my youth. To grasp at something that was not there any more.
Fortunately I very quickly consumed four cran-vodkas and I was my ol’ spunky self again. (You’ve got to know I am being a bit sarcastic about the whole being spunky part…)
If you just google, you will see that Duran Duran has fully embraced the 21st century and social media, and that means they are all over Twitter. Not only was live Twitter stream with the hashtag DuranLive projected on the screen before the show started, in the middle of the show, there was an official Twitter session!
Nick, can I wear your red scarf for 5 seconds?
#duranlive
Someone tweeted the girl in front of me is crazy. Am gonna assume that’s not me since im no longer a girl
#duranlive
In the end, it was awesome. It was awesome not because they reminded me of the gorgeous boys that they once were. I am not saying they are not handsome any more. They still are. If you’re born with great bone structures, unless you totally fucked yourself up with drug and alcohol, time will be kinder to you than to the rest of us. John Taylor for one is still rocking that square jaw. *shiver* And of course, I swear to god, even from the back of the theatre, I could see Nick with his mascaraed eyes and his red scarf being all fabulous and sexy. They put on a great show with great energies, and boy, can Simon sing. In fact, I came home and watched some of their old performances from the 1980s, and I think Simon sings even better now. There is experience in his voice and performance. Like matured wine. Yum. And John can still rock that bass. And Nick… Well. Nick lives forever. (You’ve got to allow me to retain some shameless teenage fangirl crushing…)
Of course, knowing most of the lyrics and being able to sing along made this an even more awesome night. I was glad I went and lived through some time-space discontinuum phenon: It’s surreal to see your band crush perform live on stage, even if there was a 25-plus-year time gap.
For one night the crowd shared a communal experience. We sang. We danced. We screamed. We partied with our teenage selves.
(And in my usual, annoying way, I have to add this:) Then we went back to our normal lives. Most likely in the suburbs. Hopefully this stays with us a bit longer…
Pictures of poor quality below and video compilation of even poorer quality after the jump.
So awesome to read this and see the pictures. Of course, you already know I was also a Nick girl. 😉
Wicked Shawn recently posted…11 Minutes
I was willing to share a large city apartment with as many members of the fab five as I could get. I will say that original guitarist Andy Taylor was my least favorite so if he didn’t want to cohabitate that was okay with 14 year old me.
dufmanno recently posted…Good Bye Yellowbrick Road
Sigh. You know that after the Police left me wounded and heartbroken in a haze of tour bus smoke that Duran Duran soothed my schoolgirl pain. I was a John Taylor gal myself and I had the brown fedora to prove it. I spent two of the best nights of my teenaged life jumping up and down at Madison Square Garden in the 80s. Then one last blast at Brendan Byrne Arena in NJ which was a STADIUM. The screaming was so loud you couldn’t hear the music. I threw my underoos and my training bra
dufmanno recently posted…Good Bye Yellowbrick Road
Hi AofA, so glad you had fun! Reminds me of how I would feel if I ever got to go to a Springsteen concert!
I love me some Duran Duran and I think there is no shame in it. I wish I could have gone with you. I’m more than a little jealous.
Unknown Mami recently posted…Fragmented Fridays
Kick-ass and uplifting? That sounds like a pretty good time to me. (As for the “act our age” business, they can act their age and we ARE acting our age!)
BigLittleWolf recently posted…The Nature of Obligation to Yourself (And Your Spouse)
I related to your Duran Duran shame. As a teenager, I fell in love with Elton John. I was uncool. It was the 1990s.
But that didn’t stop me from telling all of my friends about him, and buying all of his music (of course, the bootlegs, too) dating back to the beginning of his career, and decorating my room with posters of a gay British pop star in his late 40s, and attending every concert in a 10-state radius.
When you love something or someone uncool, you have to OWN it. People from high school that I’ve bumped into as an adult still tell me they remember my obsession with Sir Elton. I take that as a compliment.
alonewithcats recently posted…Less is more. And amore.
Sweet.
Years ago I went to a Supertramp concert, (as you did) along with all those hanging on to the past. My experience was a total failure. The crowd was all cheering and screaming to hear the good ol’ tunes. They had another plan set out for the night, as they played exclusively stuff from their new album. Stuff nobody knew, nor cared for. We didn’t sing. We didn’t dance. We left the stadium feeling older than when we walked in.
I’m glad your experience was positive!
Nikki Rules recently posted…Things I’ve Never Done
Oh MAH GAHHHH!!! You lucky dog, you! I love the video montage – you can hear everyone singing right along. I’m a Depeche Mode whore myself, but I loved Duran Duran. And, yes, I was on the John Taylor bandwagon…but I sooooo remember Nick’s “pout” in all of the videos! What fun!! Glad you got to re-live a piece of the past – that’s good stuff every now and then.
The Reckmonster recently posted…A bird shit on my head
That is so fun! My friend was a huge Duran Duran fan while I was all Billy Idol is god! So we fought over who was the prettiest but we secretly loved them all. Billy was our first concert, her parents in tow…I have seen him 7 times over the years and every time I celebrate my inner rebel. My daughter went to see him last week for the first time and this is what she texted…his abs are beautiful. I wish I were from the 80’s but then I would be old like you!
Yes, she loves me. And now Billy.
Jeane recently posted…It does seem such a waste to chop off such a pretty head…but I’m dedicated, people!
Don’t hate me, but I had to google to remember what they looked like. Of course, you’re a little younger than me. But I say, what’s wrong with re-living your youth every once in a while? It’s not much different than getting together with old friends and laughing about things you did when you were young and silly. Only difference is now you’re a bit older and silly. I fervently hope I never lose the ability to throw myself into an experience. I hope that for you, too.
secret agent woman recently posted…JesusWeen!