Sxsw - Sxsw Plays Host To Duran Duran At Stubbs

SXSW played host to Duran Duran as the 80's pop-rock group kicked off their world tour on Wednesday.

Sxsw, the music festival in Austin, Texas, was the scene for Duran Duran's first gig of their current world tour when the band played Stubb's Bar-B-Q on Wednesday (16th March 2011), reports Billboard.com.

Kicking off their tour in support of the Mark Ronson produced album 'All You Need Is Now', the band played a crowd-pleasing set which included renditions of 'Safe (In The Heat of the Moment', 'Hungry Like the Wolf', 'Ordinary World' and 'Wild Boys'. The group also played the 30-year-old rarity 'Friends of Mine', which frontman Simon Le Bon claimed was "dug out from the very back of the closet". The band wrapped up their 80 minute set with an extended version of their biggest hit 'Girls on Film', which included a brief snippet of The Temptations 'Papa Was a Rolling Stone. The group will now play shows in Miami, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston, Monterrey, Chicago, Denver and Boston, before heading to Europe where they're scheduled to perform in Glasgow, Birmingham and London.

The Strokes showcased their new album 'Angles' during a show at Sxsw last night (17th March 2011) and Kanye West will host the VEVO Power event at the festival on Saturday (19th March 2011).