Duran Duran brings new album, and some old hits, to Broadway

[CrazyFan]

Duran Duran brings new album, and some old hits, to Broadway
November 3 2007


Duran Duran put its fans' loyalty, and patience, to the test at the official opening of its Broadway run on Friday.

At each of its 10 shows at the Barrymore Theater on 47th St., the band is spending the first hour playing songs from its new album, "Red Carpet Massacre." But since the disk won't be out until the final day of the run (Nov. 13), no one in the audience has heard a single note before the curtain rises.

After that stretch, the band takes an intermission (this is Broadway, after all) then comes an arty electro set. Then (at last!) some hits.

Then again, the middle-aged Durans have already proven themselves to be an improbably durable unit. They're the last group standing from the movement that launched them - new romanticism - in the early '80s. (Anyone seen Steve Strange lately? Adam Ant?)

Fans paid up to $150 for the privilege of seeing these shows - and all 10,000 tickets have been sold.

The irony is, the new stuff has it all over the homely hits of old. The double Durans received a huge upgrade by collaborating on the disk with one of the hottest and smartest producers of the moment: Timbaland. The sound he conceived draws on the band's synthetic and dance roots but gives the group a steely new sense of propulsion and a streamlined approach to melody.

Live, the group recreated the sound in a way that both glistened and throbbed. It was far catchier and cooler than skeptics might guess.

For the brief electro set, the group tried to link itself, unconvincingly, with far hipper music than its own, covering Kraftwerk's "Showroom Dummies" and The Normal's "Warm Leatherette."

The string of the group's own hits that followed sounded no more fluid than they did back in the band's awkward early days. Duran has always had a strained and gawky approach to melody, qualities unaided by singer Simon Le Bon's thin and whiny voice. Le Bon only added to the creakiness with his unsure, sometimes glum, stage presence.

Then again, the Durans deserve kudos for challenging the faithful so far into their lives and for linking up with a producer who has made them sound so much better than they ever have.
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