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I saw Duran at the
Brisbane entertainment centre last night - 1st part
of their Australian tour. I was fortunate enough
to be invited backstage, where I met the man who
inspired me to be a keyboard player, and to play
in bands. 20 years later I'm still doing that.
Duran haven't toured Oz since 1983, which was the
last time I saw them, and they played to a full
house of totally devoted fans.
I have been a Duran Duran fan since 1981, when I
first heard Planet Earth. I was already a keyboard
player in my school band, doing stuff like Devo
and Gary Neumann, Kim Wild, B52’s etc, but when
I heard that flanged string beginning with the arpeggiated
white noise – that was it! I saw both of their Brisbane
Concerts in 1982 and 1983, and followed their progress
through the years. When I heard they were touring
with Robbie Williams I was prepared to pay to fly
to Sydney (which is the only city he is playing
in) just to see the fab five. But hey! They guys
broke out and booked their own shows in Brisbane
and Melbourne. (I can assure you I wouldn’t fly
to Sydney just to see Robbie Williams!)
It was an awesome concert. The show opened with
a stage blackout, and a long ghostly bass synth
note. Then a strobe started and you saw the fab
five lined up at the front of the stage – standing
like statues – staring out. It was wild, and the
crowd went wild! One by one they peeled off, firstly
Roger, who started off an immense kick and snare
pattern – then John and Nick, and the beginning
of New Religion could be detected.
They did three encores to a packed Brisbane entertainment
centre, and played all of their hits, with two new
originals thrown in. After the show I went to the
backstage area where I met Roger, John and Simon,
and also the touring sax player (who’s name escapes
me) but I only wanted to meet Nick, and it looked
like I was going to miss out!!!!!
The security manager new of my devotion, and allowed
me to stand by the get away vehicles – much to the
dismay of hundreds of fans trapped by security behind
fences.
Soon the rest of the band came out and entered the
cars….STILL NO NICK!!! And then finally, he emerged,
walked over happily signed the tour program I held,
and posed for a photograph. We had a very quick
chat about the Jupiter 8 (keyboard) he has so devotedly
used since Duran Duran started – he told me he has
three of them!! And then he was off to the vehicle
– dragged by the tour manager.
I think what impressed me most was that he then
got out of the car, called for the rest of the band,
and went up to the fans being held back by security,
and hugged, kissed and shook hands with as many
as he could!
Meeting the man who has had such an influence on
my musical taste and style was truly an incredible
experience – I didn’t get to sleep until about 5am,
and then was up at 7 – buzzing all day!!!
Roger, Jon, and the "sax guy"
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