Duran Duran Heats Up the Crowd at Pacific Amphitheatre

by Cindy Robinson

Fresh off their performance in London’s Hyde Park at the opening of the 2012 Summer Olympics, Duran Duran returned to the Pacific Amphitheatre over the weekend to close out the Orange County Fair’s summer concert series. The sold out show brought legions of fans in to see the band perform on the final leg of their All You Need Is Now tour.

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The hot August night only got hotter as the band launched into a tight set of their greatest hits including early tracks such as Girls on Film, Planet Earth and the only occasionally dusted off fan favorite, Careless Memories, which sent the crowd of hard-core Duranies into a frenzy. Duran Duran continued the journey through their 30 year career thrilling the audience with 90’s gems like Ordinary World, Come Undone and the Grandmaster Flash cover, White Lines.

The set was also heavily peppered with tracks from their latest album, All You Need Is Now including the title track, audience favorite, Girl Panic! and the Man Who Stole a Leopard.

The band continues across the United States throughout the month of August with the remaining dates listed below:

• August 15, 2012 Tulsa, OK, Duran Duran at The Joint inside Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa, OK
•  August 17, 2012, Memphis, TN, Duran Duran at the Memphis Botanical Gardens in Memphis, TN
•  August 18, 2012, Biloxi, MS, Duran Duran in Biloxi, MS at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino
• August 19, 2012, Atlanta, GA, Duran Duran at Chastain Park in Atlanta, GA
• August 21, 2012, Durham, North Carolina, Duran Duran at DPAC in Durham, North Carolina
•  August 22, 2012, Portsmouth, VA, Duran Duran at Telos Wireless Pavilion in Portsmouth, VA
•  August 24, 2012, Mashantucket, CT, Duran Duran at MGM Grand at Foxwoods
•  August 25, 2012, Atlantic City, NJ, Duran Duran at Revel Ovation Hall in Atlantic City
•  August 26, 2012, Pittsburgh, PA, Duran Duran at Stage AE in Pittsburgh, PA
•  August 28, 2012, Kettering, OH, Duran Duran at the Fraze Pavilion in Kettering, OH
•  August 29, 2012, Highland Park, IL, Duran Duran at Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, IL
•  August 31, 2012, Orillia, ONTARIO, Canada, Duran Duran at Casino Rama Entertainment Centre
•  September 01, 2012, Orillia, ONTARIO, Canada, Duran Duran at Casino Rama Entertainment Centre

Check Ticketmaster to see if there are any tickets left for your city. They put on a great live show you don’t want to miss!

Duran Duran have also just released their latest concert movie, A Diamond in the Mind out now on Blu-ray/DVD chronicling the first part of their All You Need Is Now Tour.  The Blu-ray/DVD is available via Amazon.com and the live audio CD is out now on iTunes.

The band will take some well deserved time off after the tour wraps up at the end of the summer before heading back into the studio with producer Mark Ronson sometime next year.

In the meantime, fans can catch bassist John Taylor out on the road later this year promoting his auto-biography, In the Pleasure Groove: Love, Death, and Duran Duran which is scheduled to be released in the United Kingdom in late September followed by an October release in the United States. You can pre-order the book now online, watch the Duran Duran Facebook page or follow John on Twitter to see which cities he will be visiting to sign copies of his book.

Another Honor for Duran Duran – Headlining the Olympics

by Jade Robledo

It is a GREAT time to be a Duranie. That is, a fan of Duran Duran.

First there was the release of the artwork for their upcoming DVD / CD, A Diamond in the Mind. Then there was the first date of the South American leg of the All You Need Is Now tour, a date in which the band was joined on stage by popular Brazilian singer Fernanda Takai for a duet of “Ordinary World.” Now the news from this morning.

It has been announced that Duran Duran was selected to perform at the opening ceremonies for the 2012 Summer Olympics to be held in London on July 27th. As the United Kingdom consists of four different nations, it was decided that the opening ceremonies should consist of live performances from an act representing each part. Duran Duran were chosen for England, with Snow Patrol representing Northern Ireland, Stereophonics selected for Wales and Paolo Nutini on behalf of Scotland. Each act will perform a “greatest hits” set in front of 60,000 fans in Hyde Park, and countless others watching throughout the world.

For those who may want a bit more than one of their many hit songs from the past three decades, the tentative release date for A Diamond in the Mind is set for July 10th, 17 days before the Hyde Park show. Filmed at MEN Arena in Manchester, England on December 16th, the DVD / CD set showcases the band’s critically acclaimed 2011 release, All You Need Is Now, along with their older hits.

If you are lucky you will be able to catch the band live. Their upcoming dates can be found on their official site.

Win a Trip to see Duran Duran in Austin, TX at SXSW

by Cindy Robinson

Southwest Airlines, Urban Outfitters and Thrillist have teamed up to offer a lucky winner and their guest a VIP trip to Austin, TX and two badges to South by Southwest (SXSW) 2011 Music & Film Festival to see the best new bands out there along with guest appearances and concerts by Ozomatli, the Strokes, possibly Snow Patrol and Duran Duran.

Duran Duran's Nick Rhodes

Duran Duran are currently doing promotional appearances around the globe to promote their latest album, All You Need Is Now, which is currently available in a 9 song EP on iTunes with a physical CD Deluxe Edition due out in the USA on March 22nd. The band will embark on a world tour in March including a stop at SXSW on March 16 to headline the Time Out showcase at Stubb’s  and give a Featured Interview at the Austin Convention Center on March 17.

The band has also scheduled a stop in Los Angeles to visit the Tonight Show with Jay Leno on March 22nd. Limited tickets are available now for the TV show taping via the Tonight Show’s site.

Go to Thrillist’s contest page to sign up now! The winner will receive a VIP Trip to Austin during the SXSW Festival , March 14th-19th, featuring:

• $500 Urban Outfitters Shopping Spree
• (2) Roundtrip Tickets to Austin on Southwest Airlines
• (2) Music Festival Badges
• (5) Nights Deluxe Hotel Accommodations
• VIP Access to Thrillist Austin’s Party @ Antone’s
• Guaranteed Access to UO’s “Live in Austin 2011” Performances
• Dinners at Thrillist-curated Restaurants
• Lifetime Subscription to Grooveshark Anywhere

Duran Duran announce UK tour dates

by Cindy Robinson

Duran Duran are set to return to the stage with a number of tour dates set for May this year. The British band have revealed 11 dates where they will be performing across the UK. It’s the bands first tour of their homeland in a few years and looks to be a sellout. Fan club pre-sales begin later this week via the bands site.

The band featuring Simon le Bon, Nick Rhodes, John Taylor and drummer Roger Taylor will begin their worldwide tour with a handful of special performances in the USA including the The VH1 Pepsi Super Bowl Fan Jam on February 3rd, in Grand Prairie, TX and the famous Southern California Coachella festival on April 17, 2011.

Duran Durans new album is called All You Need Is Now (produced by Mark Ronson) and is available now on iTunes. An extended edition physical CD is expected in March 2011. The 80’s hitmakers still have a massive fan base and have remained popular through the decades with great albums like the Wedding Album in the mid 90’s with the massive hit Ordinary World and more recently with the Astronaut album. Their new album All You Need Is Now looks destined to be another of their smash successes craftily blending sounds that could easily have come from their early hit album Rio while incorporating a modern twist to the music.

The full dates are as follows:

• 18th May 2011 Newcastle Metro Radio Arena
• 19th May 2011 Glasgow SECC
• 21st May 2011 Birmingham LG Arena
• 22nd May 2011 Nottingham Capital FM Arena
• 23rd May 2011 Liverpool Echo Arena
• 28th May 2011 London The O2 Arena
• 30th May 2011 Brighton Centre
• 31st May 2011 Bournemouth International Centre
• 1st June 2011 Cardiff International Arena
• 3rd June 2011 Manchester MEN Arena
• 4th June 2011 Sheffield Motorpoint Arena

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Duran Duran Shares New Single FREE on iTunes!

image courtesy of iTunes and Duran Duran

British band Duran Duran is offering up there latest single, All You Need Is Now for FREE via iTunes today! Hurry and download your copy now because it may be a limited time offer. The band will release their 13th studio album, All You Need Is Now via iTunes on December 21st, with a longer CD version available to fans early next year.

The Mark Ronson produced album has been generating a lot of buzz with talk that the super producer has taken the band back to the sounds of their Rio album.

Their last release, Red Carpet Massacre, seemed to be just that, a Timbaland massacre as he turned it into something he would put out rather than enhancing the sound of Duran Duran. To be fair though, the album did translate better as a live show.

Duran Duran has already begun some European promotion of the album with American promo slated to begin this week. They will be launching a full scale tour in 2011 to support All You Need Is Now. The 1st single has a catchy chorus and early previews of the album indicate it will be a strong album for Duran Duran definitely taking us back to the days of Rio and My Own Way.

The band is also running a contest via their Twitter. They recently tweeted these instructions “Tweet what you love about All You Need Is Now using #aynin. 5 tweeters will win the album FREE on Dec 21. Must follow this account to win.”  

 

 

Simon le Bon