Nevertheless, pretty much everyone was on their feet to welcome the band’s entry onto the stage of Birmingham’s largest city-centre venue, which was ushered in by an extravagant film beamed onto the array of huge screens above the performance space that was more reminiscent of astronauts climbing into a rocket in advance of blasting off into the Great Unknown than a group of Dorian Gray-like 60-somethings with more than a few catchy tunes to their name. Then again, there didn’t seem to be many under the age of 50 in attendance and so, maybe being expected to stand up and even dance for the whole of their intoxicating set was a bit much to expect. The Utilita Arena was completely sold out, even if it had been converted into an all-seated area for the evening.
Tonight, however, they were in a venue that was a bit more telling of their status in the music world. The last time that Duran Duran played a headline set on home turf was almost two years ago for a couple of intimate shows in the rather smaller 1,500 capacity O2 Institute.
The high point was playing the opening of the Commonwealth Games and we are proud of being a Birmingham band.” He really didn’t need to labour the point though, as some 15,000 locals were eating out of his hand from the opening salvo of “Night Boat”, “Wild Boys” and “Hungry Like the Wolf” from their over 40-year repertoire, all the way through to the barnstorming “Rio” that eventually closed the show. “Ordinary World”, for instance, was introduced by Le Bon stating, “It’s been quite a year.
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