Seattle Show!

Today is a good day to be a Duranie!  While I wasn’t at the Seattle show last night, it seems that most fans there and far were excited from the reports coming from the show!  Obviously, I’m thrilled to pieces that they played and that the tour is underway!!!  It is going to be a LONG 27 days until I get to see them play in Chicago!  Even though I wasn’t there, I have heard and read about some reactions and I have a few, too, based on the setlist and on pictures and videos I have seen!

First, I haven’t read or heard a bad review of the show.  Of course, yes, I would expect most of the fans to be excited about it but I know that there would be some fans who would criticize if that’s how they felt.  On top of all the positive fan reports, I have also read one newspaper review, which was all positive.  Of course, that article reported that the crowd really got into the hits, which may or may not be true.  I wasn’t there so I can’t say.  John’s tweets about the show seemed to indicate that he thought it was a great show!  Thus, by all accounts, it sounds like it was all good and I couldn’t be happier for them, for the fans there and for the rest of us!!  It is SO good to have our band back!

Of course, the typical conversation around Duran shows include discussion about the setlists, the clothes, and the stage setup.  One thing I have heard about and seen is that there are 3 large screens on stage.  It does not appear that there is much of a background beside the screens but I can’t be sure.  Some people’s reports have mentioned specific images and the news article pointed out that the screens often showed footage of the band’s history.  Obviously, it is hard to appreciate something like these large screens with various footage from ust youtube videos.  You must see it in person.  Again, this just makes me want to see them more!  I can’t wait to see what footage they chose for the various songs.  I think back to their Broadway shows with the release of RCM and I really thought that some of that footage was extremely well done and definitely enhanced the song.  I know that many of us felt that way about the anime during Careless Memories during the ’05 tour.  I’m hopeful that this is the case with these screens now.  I do wonder if they will limit the setlist possibilities somewhat.  Guess only time will tell that…

Beyond the screens on stage, I have also seen some discussion about the clothing choices, Simon’s in particular.  It appears that he is wearing some sort of blue snakeskin shirt at the end of the night.  People don’t seem to be fans of it and I have to agree.  It doesn’t look like something that I would like but it may grow on me.  I couldn’t really see much of what the rest of the guys were wearing.  John and Dom seem to be in all black with John’s jacket seeming to be of a similar shiny material as Simon’s shirt, but no where near as obnoxious.  Although, it appears that Simon is also in all black during some of the show as well.  The thing that I really noticed is that there didn’t seem to be a theme, a uniform at all.  Maybe there is and I can’t tell based on what I have seen so far.  It is still different than the uniforms of the RCM era.  Maybe they aren’t as worried about such things these days. 

This leads to me to the most commonly discussed element of any Duran show:  the setlist.  **This is the notice that I will reveal some of it.  If you do not want to know so that you are surprised at your show, please stop reading now.**  Many people were curious about what songs they would play after both the UK rehearsal shows, when they played more obscure material, and after Simon’s vocal problems.  Well, the good news is that the show was full length at 20 songs.  They played some of the new songs that haven’t been played much, including Before the Rain, Leopard, and Other People’s Lives.  I was a little surprised that they didn’t play Too Bad.  I LOVE that they played Before the Rain, though.  I suspect that there might be tears for that one as that song is very personal to me.  The fact that they started the show with that one will just enhance it.  In terms of more obscure songs, though, they didn’t do many.  In fact, I might say that the only one was Tiger Tiger.  I wasn’t expecting Tiger Tiger, Secret and Shadows all on the same night but I was expecting at least two.  Roger even asked about those two on facebook today.  I have some hope that one or both will appear at some point.  Of course, I will always hope for Late Bar even if I know that is never going to happen.  Thus, they stuck to mostly hits as was expected.  I really wish that they would retire HLTW, AVTAK and CU.  I was glad to see Planet Earth and Sunrise.  Wild Boys was a surprise as I figured that might be too challenging, vocal range wise.  Relax in the middle of Wild Boys was even more surprising.  That said, I would LOVE a JoSi moment in the middle of that one!  Ha! 

Anyway, while I might wish for different songs, I’m still thrilled that they are back touring and that the Duran world seems all good as we also learned dates for their appearances on Piers Morgan (October 7th) and Ferguson (October 28th).  Now, I get to anxiously await reports from tonight’s show!

-A