Nearly 2 years after the release of Paper Gods, Duran Duran shows no sign of letting up, returning to the San Francisco Bay Area with a pair of headlining shows including a Friday night at Oakland’s historic Fox Theater.
Oakland’s Uptown District’s “First Friday” found throngs of people celebrating on Telegraph Avenue, largely oblivious to what was going on just past the doors of the Fox where the sold out crowd absolutely packed the house as they waited patiently for Duran Duran’s scheduled 9 PM set as a DJ spun records.
When the band finally took the stage at 10 past the hour to “Paper Gods,” the crowd of mostly women erupted in screams. With the spotlights trained on frontman Simon Le Bon, perched on the riser between the drums and keyboards, the show was finally on.
While Duran Duran’s greatest commercial success came in the ’80s, from the looks of the Oakland crowd, Paper Gods has clearly made an impression. For those that may have been not so familiar with the new stuff, “The Wild Boys” and “Hungry Like the Wolf” quickly sealed the deal for what would prove to be an amazing evening of music.
The party was on and the band seemed to be having as much fun as the crowd, with John Taylor (bass), Dominic Brown (guitar) and Le Bon all making good use of the ample stage and effectively defying age. The looked and sounded great and the spastic lighting, oodles of confetti, and ample use of a giant LED screen only enhanced the party atmosphere.
To sum it all up in one word … spectacular.
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SETLIST
Paper Gods
The Wild Boys
Hungry Like the Wolf
A View to a Kill
Come Undone
Last Night in the City
Only in Dreams
Is There Something I Should Know?
Notorious
Pressure Off
Hold Back the Rain
Ordinary World
I Don’t Want Your Love
White Lines (Don’t Don’t Do It)
Girls on Film
ENCORE
Save a Prayer
Rio
