Wild Boys? Duran Duran Charms Seoul

Like every other nice Catholic girl in America in 1985, I coveted John Taylor. Had the "Tiger Beat" photo ripped out and stuck lovingly in my notebook...admit it, you did, too...He , and specifically his blond rocker locks, captured our imagination...I got a chance to see Duran Duran this week, and get a glimpse of how the pretty boys of rock are aging...John can still play a funky bassline but can he still make a woman squeal?
Once he leans back and starts playing, the answer is yes. Simon still struts around with a lot of cheesy bravado, which reviews have described as everything from "sexual tension" to "hamminess" to "dorkiness." Simon is still flashy pretty; he must have good hair and make up people helping him with that. One can see why he has fans among women and men who appreciate that look.
..more later...
Well, I'm back to give the boys another five minutes of my thoughts. The concert was a fun and unique experience that gave a much needed pick-me-up to my intense work week. It started out in typical expat fashion...we got confused. Our tickets said "Olympic Stadium" and we asked a Korean friend for directions. We arrived in the area earlier, stopped for a snack, and smiled, thinking to ourselves that we were organized and cosmopolitan. Ah, nope. :)
There was the crowded Olympic baseball stadium...(Go Doosan Bears!) There were some young foreigners milling about. But where was all the noise and excitement of the concert? Um, 20 minutes away by cab-oops! With the help of the parking attendant, and a nice Canadian teacher who admitted he'd made the same mistake, we figured out our error and we were eventually in a cab and off to "Olympic Park Stadium." It was a little annoying, but Steve stayed in good spirits and put up with my crankiness as we rushed to the new venue. In the end, all was good. We found our seats, which were good, and we only missed one Duran Duran Song.
We opted for seats over the dance floor as it was a school night and thought we might be tired. I noticed a contrast between stadium shows here and stadium shows back home-in the USA if the band is any good most of the the fans eventually stand up and dance. Even in the "good seats." A few excited Korean women in our section stood up to dance during the fun classic "Hungry Like The Wolf" (#2 in DD's set), and stadium staff actually came up to them to tell them to sit down. Bo-ring!
I would say that the crowd was 65% enthralled female. A few big groups of 25-35ish Western English teachers in the cheap seats, and more Korean couples and friends in our area. There was, of course, no "contact high" this being Korea. Behind me sat a Western, white 40ish businessman in his work clothes who was obviously trying to impress his demure Korean date throughout the show. He made an annoyed comment when I was one of the excited fans who got up to dance during the infectious percussion solos in "The Reflex." Live a little, buddy. We're reliving our youth here, ok? Simon has been using the same "Playing That Fucking Base, John" (sorry, younger blog readers) joke since 2005, apparently, but the Seoul crowd really DID need a little loosening up at first, so it was amusing in context.By the end of the show, the bass lines and campy crowd banter of the band got most of our section dancing. My favorite fan was the married woman, who looked about 45, in a stereotypically "ajumma" outfit and severe make-up, who threw her head back and rocked out during the encore, "Rio."
Another crowd note: both the women and the men seemed genuinely enthralled with Nick Rhodes. Is it the androgynous look? The computer generated techno-beats? The I-book product placement on his keyboards riser? He's a good keyboard player, and engineers their slick sound well. But, he looks exactly the same as he did 20 years ago. Exactly. A little on the Ziggy Stardust creepy side, but with a mischievous smile. Why is he so popular here?
Now, here's the crucial question: How do the pretty boys sound after all these years?
The melodies were still pretty, too. I'm loyal to people I like, including musicians. So, I have seen my share of reunion shows and aging solo artists reinventing themselves. Sting stands in a class by himself. But other bands often look so terrible it's distracting, or took such bad care of themselves that they sound like hell on wheels. Simon, John, Nick, and Andy have never been half as poetic as John, Paul, George and Ringo. Nor as intense and inventive as Led Zepplin or The Who. But the pop that they do, they do it well. And Simon can still hit the notes. The Reflex stood out as a great performance by everyone. My boyfriend really likes that song, so I was glad he got to hear it. Their White Lines cover stayed funky but sounded 100% Durani, and the younger Koreans in the crowd screamed their approval (do they understand it's about coke?). Red carpet massacre, their new showpiece, was a bit of a different sound, but decent. They sold the song Skin Divers well and it had a good beat-that's one's interesting and I'd love to see the lyrics to see if it's about what I think it's about. There was a moment of bad audio/ speaker feedback during "Ordinary World," but Simon adapted. He still, from where we sat, sounded as if he stayed on pitch. Going in, I wasn't sure they could still pull off the slow-dance melodrama of "Save A Prayer" at their age, but they did. And we sang along.
I really needed to lose myself in a little music after a week of school politics and loud drunks in my Officetel building. Steve found just the right concert for my mood. Fun music can last if it doesn't try to be something it's not. And I'm still a Duran Duran fan. Just like all the soccer moms. :)