At New Hampshire Debut, Duran Duran Disappointingly Dabble; But Fans Didn’t Seem To Mind
MANCHESTER, NH — One of the world’s most famous British pop bands played New Hampshire for the first time in their illustrious four-and-a-half-decade-plus career, but, unfortunately, compared to past shows, it was a slightly disappointing affair.
Duran Duran’s performance in Manchester at the SNHU Arena was the last show on a short seven-gig tour this year with stops off the beaten path — in places like Verona, New York, Allentown, Pennsylvania, and the Queen City, as well as Madison Square Garden on Halloween and Mohegan Sun on Oct. 25, expected venues for larger bands. Duran Duran also has a show booked in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Dec. 30.
Saturday’s show featured a shorter-than-normal setlist and muddy sound — John Taylor’s bass playing was a thudding blur of morass for most of the night. But there were also some soaring moments, especially the two songs from the fantastic so-called Wedding Album from 1993.
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The lower points of the gig did not seem to be a big deal to the throngs of a packed SNHU Arena, though.
A mix of aging Gen Xers, the younger side of Boomers, parents and their kids, and some Millennials, too, could be seen dancing in the aisles to many of the band’s biggest hits — “Hungry like the Wolf,” “Wild Boys,” “Notorious,” “Union of the Snake,” “A View to A Kill,” “Planet Earth,” and “Save A Prayer” and “Rio” for an encore. Only a few calls of “I love you, Simon,” could be heard in the crowd. Some late arrivers were also a bit on the annoying side, including four people sitting next to me who arrived for the last two songs of the set and stayed for the two-song encore.
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Why bother?
It could also be a bit of snotty on my part, too, having seen Duran Duran so many times now that if the show is slightly off, it’s noticeable.
The show in Boston in September 2023 was simply stronger even though there were only three more songs played, according to the band’s online setlist link (the band played “Careless Memories” and “(Reach Up For The) Sunrise” for that set). The free show at City Hall Plaza in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1999 was a tight dozen songs with the then-three-person lineup (singer Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, and Warren Cuccurullo, the former Missing Persons guitarist) and was easily the best time I’ve seen them.
Of course, not everyone can perform at the same level they did in their 40s.
But the mid-destruction of “Lonely In Your Nightmare,” mixed with a cover of Rick James’ “Super Freak” from the “Danse Macabre” album, seemed like a disservice to both songs and did last year, too (and I can say that as a massive fan of both songs and probably one of the only kids in Concord who listened to KISS 108 or owned a 7-inch of “Super Freak” in 1981). As was the “Girls On Film”/”Psycho Killer” medley. Adding “Evil Woman,” the ELO single, was new and kept with the Halloween theme. “White Lines,” a highlight of every set, was a bombastic mess, with the band seemingly not knowing where their mates were during the song’s performance.
Big songs missing?
“Skin Trade,” the spectacular second single from “Notorious,” and “Is There Something I Should Know” would have filled the setlist hole. “Too Much Information,” still timely in 2024, and another great track from the Wedding Album, could have been slipped in. As would the sillier side of the band (see “Lava Lamp,” “Hallucinating Elvis,” and “Electric Barbarella”). Or how about a medley of “White Lines,” the Sly & the Family Stone classic, “I Want To Take You Higher,” and “911 Is A Joke” by Public Enemy, all featured on the “Thank You” covers album? The set at Madison Square Garden featured 25 songs, but Manchester only gets 17? (Mohegan Sun had 23 songs).
C’mon.
At the same time, the hits were flawless and stood the test of time many decades later, proving The Fab 5 were excellent pop songwriters and performers and not just about the “Duranies” (the screaming girl fans of the early 1980s). “Come Undone” and “Ordinary World” from the Wedding Album were amazing. The latter was dedicated in Manchester, as it was in Boston, to those who had lost their lives in conflicts around the planet (like Gaza and Ukraine, which received a stronger response from the audience). Those two songs continue to be worth at least part of the price of admission (and did you see those ticket prices?! Yikes!).
Was the band jetlagged after performing in NYC on Halloween, supposedly flying back to London to see the Cure Friday night, and then hopping again over the pond to get to our little neck of the woods, which is the rumor? Maybe. And it’s understandable, considering the Cure’s show was supposedly spectacular. At the same time, New Hampshire deserved a bit more, me thinks.
Unlike the show 13 months ago in Boston, which featured excellent openers Bastille and Nile Rogers & Chic — who offered a power-packed performance of his most famous songs and a medley of hits you never knew he wrote, the Manchester gig offered Darling Chuck, a DJ, who competently mixed a slew of hits from the ‘80s as fans began to enter the facility. She did a great job to a sparse crowd, quickly knowing when to pull something like a Genesis song after OMD’s “If You Leave” from “Pretty In Pink” and having fun with call-and-response with The Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me.”
While she was fun, if you’re not going to have an opening act, you had better not skimp on the tunes, especially when Connecticut and New York got more. Thank you.
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