After 40-plus years of stunning clips and hits (yes, and a few misses), Duran Duran are on another hot streak.
The British pop-rock outfit’s 15th and most recent album, 2021’s Future Past, was both a critical and commercial success, earning a No. 3 debut in the U.K., their best chart performance since 2004.
Then, in late April, Duran Duran heard its name called out for the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame class of 2022, after dominating the fan ballot. The band was a first-time Rock Hall nominee this year despite years of eligibility. Come Nov. 5, DD will be accepted among the all-time greats of contemporary music.
So it shouldn’t have come as a surprise when Duranmania returned to London’s Hyde Park on Sunday (July 10), where Simon Le Bon and Co. dished numbers from across their career, from “Planet Earth,” their debut single from 1981; their comeback hit from 1993 “Ordinary World,” which the band dedicated to the people of Ukraine; through to “Invisible,” “Tonight United” and several other Future Past songs.
Long-time collaborator Nile Rodgers opened for the group, and joined his friends on stage to perform “Pressure Off” and “Notorious,” which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 back in 1986.
