Duran Duran

Did I ever tell you about the time I saw Duran Duran live?

It was back in 2010. Me and the same person I saw Mr Hudson with went to see Mark Ronson. You'll probably remember that this was around about the time that he'd shaken off the shackles of being 'that guy with the trumpets who produced black to black'. It was a brilliant gig, the stage looked like a cross between a spaceship and an 80's disco. Support came from Rose Elinor Dougall*, and that's all i'm going to say about her.

Mark Ronson had a bit of a bad hairdoo at this point

The show itself was amazing, that girl from MNDR was playing keyboards and seemed like the coolest person in the world up on that stage (whatever happened to MNDR?). Mark gave a full hour + set that was packed full of hits, including the odd cover that wasn't off version, such as a new Ronsoned up cover of the OC theme tune. He was joined by Spank Rock who was our MC for the night, who did a fantastic job rapping Mark Ronson songs such as 'Ooh Wee' and 'Bang Bang Bang'. He was able to fill in the parts that the original rappers did with ease and had a real charisma and energy on stage.

Even when Mark's planned DJ set fell through due to malfunctioning equipment, it didn't matter because they were able to launch into an amazing performance of 'Bang Bang Bang' which was more special as we were seeing it performed with the same special guests it was recorded with and it was still a new song and fresh in all our heads.
Not long after things got even better, because to sing 'Record Collection' one of the best songs off the self titled Mark Ronson recor
d, was Simon Lee Bon himself. And then if that wasn't good enough on walked the rest of the band to play 'Girls on Film' and 'Rio' even after they left the gig stayed good, with that guy from The View coming on to sing 'The Bike Song'

I thought i'd tell you all about this because its something to be proud of really, having seen Duran Duran playing on home turf. It means that I've seen both the old legends and up 'n coming newbies from Brum. For us it was a complete surprise and judging by the crowds reaction it was for everyone else, even though it said the'd be guesting online. I saw the rest of the band hanging out round the back of the venue after that but no Simon, oh well. It was an amazing gig though so next time Mark Ronson announces a gig in Birmingham I'll be there in a flash.



On another note I also got to see the original singer of Duran Duran playing at one of Rick Green's 'Great Unsigned' nights and that's all i'm going to say about him*


* I don't mean to be nasty by writing either of those sentences, which is why i don't want to say anymore, neither were bad performances but I don't want my honesty to seem like i'm slagging people off

pics from 
http://thehearingaid.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/mark-ronson-and-business-international.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gigjunkies/5036939077/