Sing Blue Silver
Last night was my town's annual night parade, also known as Exhibition Night for the, ah, looser standards if not outright encouragement of people, women in particular, to expose not-normally-exposed-at-least-legally body parts to gather the previously mentioned worthless plastic beads. Normally I would have gone if only to have my second helping of being a rock star.
But I had to keep a 20 year old promise to myself instead. For last night, 80's New Wave icon Duran Duran came to town.
As I think I've mentioned before, I'm a big trance fan. But Duran Duran was my first band the way you have first loves. And unlike some of my female friends at that age & time, for me, it really was about the music. They had a really infectious synth-pop sound, and I'm not talking about just their big hits. Some of my favorites are "Lonely in Your Nightmare", "Careless Memories" and "Hold Back the Rain" (or as my best friend (of the male persuasion) MightySteve likes to call it, "Warp Factor Eight"). And it was Duran Duran's "The Reflex" that introduced me to what a remix really sounded like, not just the same song with just some extra stanzas thrown in.
But back when Simon, Nick, John, Andy and Roger came through on their "Arena" tour, it was a Tuesday and in my house, that was a school night, no ifs ands or buts. And as you might know, the original 5 broke up after that. So while I've seen them any number of times since, I'd never actually seen the original Duran Duran and it was always one of those "if I ever get the chance" things.
Needless to say I had blast. They had a great open stage so there were no truly bad seats, the sound-mixer needs to be given a medal for so perfectly balancing the sound (Tiesto could learn a thing from this guy) and I don't have to tell you what a weird rush it is to hear a song you might not have heard in years, yet know every word to, especially when you walk into the forum going "Gosh, I wish they'd play Hold Back the Rain" and it's the 3rd song... Oh, and the screams, there was some serious ear-piercing going on... "We love you, John!" and so on. But I was surprised by the age mix. I expected to see mainly 30-somethings trying to relive that moment of teenagery (and the "reviewer" in my local mullet wrapper must've sat in a section of them). But I saw plenty of kids who probably were only in their diapers when the Fab Five were last together. (And there's apparently a goth element to Duran Duran I've never noticed, based on these youngins' style of dress. )
In fact the only drawback were the two KnuckleHeads next to me. They simply would not shut up. At first I thought maybe they were just two terribly confused guys who thought they had come to see an arena football game (that was last night) and were trying to compensate by doing some sort of bizarre play-by-play on the concert. But later, I had to wonder whether they really liked Simon because at one point they couldn't stop going on about how Simon had changed his shirt and whether it was a good color for him. Now I don't particularily care if they like Simon or how much, that's their business, but I do care when I pay serious coin to make good on a 20 year old promise and have to listen to them cluck away like a pair of hens. My attempts to quiet them with classic silent "Do You Mind?" gestures were ignored, so I just moved to the other side of my BratSister (who is somewhat more "in your face" about that sort of thing. At one point she's staring at them and making the "yap yap yap" gesture with one hand... I love her brazen willingness to tell people to Shut the Hell Up like that... she's great for parties!)
So, having to choose between a silly parade and keeping a 20 year old promise? A no-brainer. I'd do again every time.
But I had to keep a 20 year old promise to myself instead. For last night, 80's New Wave icon Duran Duran came to town.
As I think I've mentioned before, I'm a big trance fan. But Duran Duran was my first band the way you have first loves. And unlike some of my female friends at that age & time, for me, it really was about the music. They had a really infectious synth-pop sound, and I'm not talking about just their big hits. Some of my favorites are "Lonely in Your Nightmare", "Careless Memories" and "Hold Back the Rain" (or as my best friend (of the male persuasion) MightySteve likes to call it, "Warp Factor Eight"). And it was Duran Duran's "The Reflex" that introduced me to what a remix really sounded like, not just the same song with just some extra stanzas thrown in.
But back when Simon, Nick, John, Andy and Roger came through on their "Arena" tour, it was a Tuesday and in my house, that was a school night, no ifs ands or buts. And as you might know, the original 5 broke up after that. So while I've seen them any number of times since, I'd never actually seen the original Duran Duran and it was always one of those "if I ever get the chance" things.
Needless to say I had blast. They had a great open stage so there were no truly bad seats, the sound-mixer needs to be given a medal for so perfectly balancing the sound (Tiesto could learn a thing from this guy) and I don't have to tell you what a weird rush it is to hear a song you might not have heard in years, yet know every word to, especially when you walk into the forum going "Gosh, I wish they'd play Hold Back the Rain" and it's the 3rd song... Oh, and the screams, there was some serious ear-piercing going on... "We love you, John!" and so on. But I was surprised by the age mix. I expected to see mainly 30-somethings trying to relive that moment of teenagery (and the "reviewer" in my local mullet wrapper must've sat in a section of them). But I saw plenty of kids who probably were only in their diapers when the Fab Five were last together. (And there's apparently a goth element to Duran Duran I've never noticed, based on these youngins' style of dress. )
In fact the only drawback were the two KnuckleHeads next to me. They simply would not shut up. At first I thought maybe they were just two terribly confused guys who thought they had come to see an arena football game (that was last night) and were trying to compensate by doing some sort of bizarre play-by-play on the concert. But later, I had to wonder whether they really liked Simon because at one point they couldn't stop going on about how Simon had changed his shirt and whether it was a good color for him. Now I don't particularily care if they like Simon or how much, that's their business, but I do care when I pay serious coin to make good on a 20 year old promise and have to listen to them cluck away like a pair of hens. My attempts to quiet them with classic silent "Do You Mind?" gestures were ignored, so I just moved to the other side of my BratSister (who is somewhat more "in your face" about that sort of thing. At one point she's staring at them and making the "yap yap yap" gesture with one hand... I love her brazen willingness to tell people to Shut the Hell Up like that... she's great for parties!)
So, having to choose between a silly parade and keeping a 20 year old promise? A no-brainer. I'd do again every time.
posted by The Doctor at Sunday, February 13, 2005
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home