DURAN DURAN/TERENCE TRENT D'ARBY

Welcome Back My Friends

Island Ear newspaper
August 29, 1993

By Marina Zoqbi

For some of us jades, skeptical types who've spend the past several years steeped in angst-ridden, non-mainstream rock, Duran Duran's '93 "comeback" show was a not unwelcome reminder of simpler, pre-Sub Pop times. Actually, its heavy concentration on early '80s hits was a bit puzzling in light of the band's well-received current self-titled LP and accompanying new respectability, but after having fallen into disrepute in the late '80s, perhaps they were, understandably playing it safe.

Terence Trent D'Arby, in the midst of his own little comeback, opened the show. The clean, well-behaved audience was slow to respond, finally warming up towards the end of his hour-long set. D'Arby held nothing back, dancing snakily across the stage and throwing himself into splits when he wasn't playing guitar. He and his band moved easily from slow and soulful ("Who's Loving You") to slaming ("She Kissed Me") to hard funk (K.C. and the Sunshine Band's "Get Down Tonight"). The set ended with D'Arby sitting at a keyboard for a moody, powerful rendition of "Sign Your Name", a definite showstopper.

The familiar opening synthesizer blips of "Planet Earth" heralded the arrival of Duran Duran, as the curtain opened on a colorful, multilevel stage set featuring ramps, various-shaped TV monitors and a telephone booth, among other things. A rhythmically reworded "Hungry Like The Wolf" immediately followed, indicating the general gist of things to come. The band sounded better than ever: Simon LeBon's vocals were impressively strong throughout; bassis John Taylor, keyboardist Nick Rhodes, guitarist Warren Cuccurullo and touring drummer Fergus Gerrand were nicely supplemented by backing singer Lamya and a three piece string section. The hits (and Lamya's appropriately themed costume changes) kept coming. After a striking "View To A Kill", LeBon introduced the poignant "Ordinary World" - Duran's first hit in many years - dedicating it to optimists. Never one for posing coolly, the singer was dramatic and wildy energetic throughout the show - an endearing ham. Recent single "Come Undone", show-casing Lamya's delicate-to-penetrate pipes, was followed by the surprise crowd-pleaser of the evening: a pumped-up cover of Grandmaster Flash's "White Lines"(!)

A somewhat laid-back "Girls On Film" was balanced by "The Reflex" - ebulient and infectious. "Notorious" was the show singalong, while a grand, sweeping "Rio" drew the biggest crowd celebration. There were a few baffling moments propwise: What was the significance of the headgear and wires attached to LeBon during "UMF"? After encoring with a sway-worthy "Save A Prayer" and the new single "Too Much Information", the band closed with "Wild Boys", during which LeBon "escaped" shirtless through an on-stage fence, jumped into the audience and ran up and down aisles causing considerable hysteria. The song ended on a confusing note, as the stage lights never came on again. Where'd the band go?

Though an entertaining show overall, it would been nice to hear more of the four new songs. Then again, where the hell was "Is There Something I Should Know?"