MUSIC FRIDAY: JPX catches Duran Duran

Two weeks ago I caught The Cure in Boston and I found myself in the odd position of having an extra ticket. It was a single floor seat that I had purchased a year prior, before the tour was re-scheduled. While scrolling through Craigslist I found a post from a guy that basically said, “Will trade Duran Duran floor seat ticket for a Cure floor seat ticket”. How random. I thought, “what the hell”, I’d rather get something for the Cure ticket than eat the $100 I spent on it. So Wednesday night I returned to Boston to catch Duran Duran’ and their “Red Massacre” tour (apparently they have a new album out).

Okay, you can start peppering me with the usual insults that tend to emerge any time I acknowledge that I like 80s music. I don’t care. I was a teenager in the 80s and that’s what I identify with. Furthermore, Duran Duran holds a special place in my heart because it was the first concert I ever saw in 1984 (with Octo). Funny aside, in 1984 we didn’t really understand the whole “encores” thing and we later found out that we left the concert 30 minutes before it ended! I mean, hey, the band left the stage so the show must’ve been over, right?

I made good time and got to the Agganis Arena early. Prior to the start of the show I strolled around the arena to see what souvenirs they were pushing these days. Hmm, “official program for $40?” “a tee shirt for $100”

That’s right, they were actually selling a tee shirt for ONE-HUNDRED FUCKING DOLLARS!!!

After passing on a $6.50 cup of warm beer I settled into my seat, which was one of the best seats I’ve ever had in a concert. I was pretty much center and fairly close to the stage. The opening band was called “Your Vegas”. I remember this because the lead singer never failed to remind us of this fact. While they performed there were about 100 people in the arena and after each song the Your Vegas dude kept thanking us and telling us what a “fucking awesome” crowd we were. Your Vegas is a U2-ish rip-off band that played a tight, adequate set. I rarely care about opening bands and generally experience annoyance because by time the opening band leaves the stage I know it’s going to be another 30-60 minutes before the main act comes out

Ah, but in anticipation of the “wait”, JPX came prepared with a Boston Metro and a Boston Pheonix to peruse. AS I flipped open the Pheonix, I was delighted to see that there was a good review of The Cure show I caught. Mere seconds into reading the article, my Duran Duran concert experience was ruined (well almost). At that precise moment 3 drunk women ages 39 to 50s sat in their seats, which happened to be next to me. Almost at once they began looking at me, whispering, giggling, etc. They were clearly having some sort of raunchy conversation. One of them, with the visage of old pavement and heavy beer breath, remarked loudly “I should watch what I say, he’s just a boy”, or something like that. Another one of the women asked me, “How old are you?” My hear sank into my crotch as I realized that I was about to be held hostage to small talk with strangers (think about a chatty person sitting next to you on an airplane, only drunk). When I told her I was 38 they started in on me. “No way! You look younger!” Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse she asked a stranger in front of us, “Doesn’t he look younger than 38?” “What do you do for a living?” When I told them I was a psychologist one of them said, “You can diagnose us, we’re all crazy!” I sarcastically said, “Well, I’d say substance abuse is somewhere in your diagnostic profile.” This was met with loud shrieks of laughter. In fact anything I said was met with loud shrieks of laughter. And on it went. At first I was nice. I had a frozen smile on my face like Woody Allen listening to the awful comedian in Annie Hall. Then I kept desperately trying to read my Cure article to give them the hint. “What are you reading about?!” “You’re reading about The Cure? I love 80s music, are they still around?!” They continued to whisper and giggle, clearly trying to get me to hook up with the third woman, a 39-year old Weeble. In fact, they switched seats so she could be next to me. The loud, drunken questions continued until, thank God, Duran Duran took the stage. The Weeble kept dancing and bumping her chubby ass into me for about 30 minutes. She asked me if I wanted to get a beer with her and I politely told her “no”. Eventually, after completely ignoring her, she snd her friends moved to better seats somewhere else in the arena and my concert experience was saved. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m an exceedingly private person and when my anonymity is disrupted it puts me in a foul mood.

So how was the show? The last time I saw Duran Duran was 25 years ago, and not a whole lot has changed. The stage show was a little less extravagant and the boys are all older, but it was pretty much status quo. There were a few new songs peppered into the set that didn’t do much for me, but their standards were there as well. As long as I get to hear “Girls on Film” and “Rio” I’m happy. They only played 11 songs before the first encore. I was spoiled when two weeks ago The Cure played 38 songs over the course of 3 hours.
Set List: Agganis Arena - Boston, MA - May 28, 2008
THE VALLEY
RCM
NITE RUNNER
HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF
PLANET EARTH
FALLING DOWN
COME UNDONE
SKINDIVERS
THE REFLEX
SAVE A PRAYER
VIEW TO A KILL

ESET:
LAST CHANCE/ ALL SHE WANTS/ WARM LEATHERETTE/ I DON'T WANT YOUR LOVE/ SKIN TRADE/ TEMPTED

NOTORIOUS
GIRLS ON FILM
ORDINARY WORLD
SUNRISE
WILD BOYZ

E:
RIO

Blue Silver World Tour - 1983/84 (first concert JPX and Octo ever attended)

Remember when they looked cool?

Is there something I should know?
Hungry like the wolf
The Reflex
New moon on Monday
Union of the Snake
New Religion
The Seventh stranger
The Chauffeur
Save a prayer
Planet Earth
Careless Memories
Rio
Of crime and passion
My own way
(I'm looking for) Cracks in the pavement
Girls on film

Now that’s a perfect set list in my book!