The List
23 July 2009
4 stars
‘We are Duran Duran!’ shouts Simon Le Bon, legs spread, hips thrown forward, blonde highlights dipped backwards. ‘The band designed to make your nipples harder!’ Cue hysteria from thirtysomethings who scribbled Mrs Le Bon over school jotters, and man whoops too. The new romantic pin-ups were the foppish peacocks it was always OK for boys and girls to like - Andy Warhol, Beck and Franz Ferdinand have all outed themselves as huge DD fans, charmed by their camp mix of frills and laddishness.
Tonight they weren’t about to let a torrential rainstorm get between them and their fans. Bursting on with ‘Wild Boys’ and an apt ‘Hold Back the Rain’, Le Bon strutted, pouted and crotch-thrust through the set. ‘Rio’, ‘Ordinary World’ and a spectacular revisit of ‘White Lines’ would have raised the roof, if there was one. Overlooking a couple of painful dirty-dancing-drunk-dad moments, they still behaved like synthpop heroes. Climaxing with a Bond medley and version of ‘Girls on Film’ bigger than their one-time perm-quiffs, they sent the ponchoed-crowd home dancing into the fire.
Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh, Thu 16 Jul