Duran Duran at Madison Square Garden
Oct. 31, 2024
Review by BARRY LEVINE
Photos by Fran Kelley Twaron and Jon Carmelli
NEW YORK — “It’s a spooky little night,” Simon Le Bon told the audience.
Indeed, the 66-year-old Duran Duran lead singer must have been channeling his inner Johnny Depp pirate — or, perhaps, it was simply him going along with his bandmates’ 19th-century Napoleonic-era naval attire.
Whatever his motivation was, the New Wave music icon was dressed to kill — along with his fellow band members, keyboardist Nick Rhodes, 62, bassist John Taylor, 64, and drummer Roger Taylor, 64.
And like many in the sold-out audience at Madison Square Garden, it was a costume show for those in the crowd and for those on the cobweb-dressed stage as Duran Duran put on a spooky and spirited —and spectacular — Halloween night concert Oct. 31st, a sound and visual ghoul fest in promotion of their 2023 Halloween-themed album, “Danse Macabre,” which included three new original songs, three re-recorded songs from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band’s catalog and six covers.
Having followed these guys since my hair days in the 80’s, I particularly enjoyed some of the Danse Macabre covers they performed — “Evil Woman” (Electric Light Orchestra), “bury a friend” (Billie Eilish), “Spellbound” (Siouxsie and the Banshees) and “Ghost Town” (the Specials).
The 25-song set got going with “Night Boat” and we were then treated to a Halloween arrangement for “The James Bond Theme,” before the house came alive with “A View to a Kill” and their 1982 mega hit “Hungry Like the Wolf.”
Simon wanted to make sure everyone was having fun.
“Did you get your candy corn?” he asked the audience amid his face-painted cronies and the dancing giant ghouls and crazy-headed creatures that would turn up from time to time below stage on the floor.
The boys, accompanied by female dancers that were outfitted in revealing costumes that would have made old Peanuts cartoon character Charlie Brown choke on his candied apple, then kicked it up with the medley “Lonely in Your Nightmare” and Rick James’ “Super Freak.”
Simon was loving it.
“My God, if you can see yourselves from here, you look amazing,” he said from the stage, surveying thousands of oldsters dressed for tricking and treating.
He added with such delight: “I love it! Halloween in Madison Square Garden. Where else would you ever want to be…And here’s a little known fact: Halloween was actually invented seven and a half centuries ago by Nick Rhodes.”
The crowd roared!
Midway through the set, in the No. 12 slot, Classic IV’s cover “Spooky” was performed with backup singers Rachael O’Connor on lead vocals and Anna Ross.
Simon, meanwhile, put on the best costume of the night: a giant silver headdress that resembled a sparkling lampshade that perhaps you’d have found on Liberace’s bedroom nightstand in Las Vegas.
And he did another costume change and came back onstage with a sparkling silver sports coat that was made up with dozens of tiny mirrors.
By the time Simon made band introductions, the joint had reached fever pitch with “The Reflex”, which they first released in 1984 and became their first to reach the top of the Billboard Hot 100.
And I was completely taken with “New Moon on Monday,” the Danse Macabre version “New Moon (Dark Phase).” The reworking of the 1984 smash hit has indeed been a success for this band whose longevity has never tired and always remains a privilege to see perform.
After “Spellbound” in the No. 20 slot, I was spellbound as Duran Duran tore through Grandmaster Melle Mel’s “White Lines (Don’t Do It)” and then “Planet Earth.”
Simon then told the crowd: “So you’re all dressed up and looking fabulous…now I’d like you all to give your best selfie face to the stage, specifically to Nick because he’s going to take your photograph.”
Then with the whirl of a camera shutter clicks echoing across the world’s most famous arena, we were gifted “Girls on Film”, which then segued into a sweeping rendition of the Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer”.
After leaving the stage and then finally after thunderous applause, the band reemerged with Simon asking everyone: “Have we forgotten something?”
For their encore, Simon kicked into high gear and strutted from the right side of the stage to the left as he began “The Wild Boys,” which had been the only studio track on the band’s 1984 live album, “Arena.”
To end the night, and to send the many ghosts and goblins in the audience off into the devilish New York night, of course it was their classic “Rio,” which I don’t care how many times I’ve heard it performed since 1982, still swept me away.
After “Rio” concluded, the Garden became awash in bursts of confetti that delighted everyone and left us with a Halloween treat we’d all remember.
Listen to Duran Duran here:
