Duran Duran at Terminal 5 was an experience. Not exactly one I would ever wish to have again, nor one I can say I entirely relished as it was happening, but it was indeed an experience.
Much has been said about Steve Aoki and his minion ...of ardent admirers. I will not pass judgment on taste in music. (That would be most hypocritical). I will say this: I have been a fan of DD since high school, since THEY became a band and I heard them for the first time. I have loved to dance since as far back as I can remember. And honestly, I would have loved to have danced on that big floor with DD playing, however that was IMPOSSIBLE. Not, I might add, just because of the crush of humans, but because I could not get my footing while standing in the remnants of green slimy frosting, and cheap “champagne”.
I completely understand DD stretching their musical legs to encourage a new generation of fans. I understand that finding relevance in an ever changing musical landscape must be a most daunting and challenging endeavor. Whereas DD seemed to have won the lottery in collaborating with Mark Ronson and his amazing talent and vision, they have tried in the past to assimilate to a musical sound they thought they needed to embrace, without a great deal of success. Before anyone starts hating me for that, DD themselves will admit to some fledgling attempts to “blend”, so to speak into a musical “nowness”. What I don’t understand is why, with the brilliant electronic talents of Nick Rhodes, and mastery of Mark Ronson, why they would need further collaboration to reel in a new fan base. I might be very naïve about this. The remix of HLTW is fun, different and danceable. New anything from DD is a gift as far as I am concerned. BUT, I digress. It was the mixing of two VERY different fan bases at this show that didn’t go as well, for this fan, as I imagine the band had hoped for. (Presuming of course, my enjoyment of the show was what they were going for.) Maybe it was the lack of knowledge of what I was getting into, prior to the gig. Maybe it was that I was wearing white to a food fight. I can’t be sure which of the myriad of the evenings exasperating experiences left the most indelible image in my head. I know I was shoved, elbowed in the head, and crushed by kids dancing like pogo sticks on crack. Not really my thing…
I LOVED hearing the few songs by DD, and being up close, a rarity for me. I LOVED meeting some new Duranie friends. I was intrigued watching John Taylor and Dom Brown looking down at the mayhem and laughing. I suppose I would have laughed just as hard from that vantage point. But I am closer in age to them than I am to the Aoki bunch. At the end of this personal debacle I will embrace the fact that my “VIP” status... (LOL), got me this free ticket, and I heard and saw DD while covered in green slime. I will laugh and will say, not proudly but more begrudgingly, that I was at some sort of crazy rave and a DD concert broke out. I am VERY happy to have it behind me, to have salvaged my pants, shoes and shirt that I thought RUINED forever, and to have spent a hot NYC night doing something a little different. (Even if that different thing is something I will NEVER do again.)
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| I really look MISERABLE in this shot! |
