Pop
Live review: Duran Duran rock BST Hyde Park
Duran Duran brought sequins, flames and pop perfection to London on Sunday (06.07.26) as they headlined American Express presents BST Hyde Park.
Duran Duran proved they are still a pure pop powerhouse as they rocked American Express presents BST Hyde Park on Sunday (06.07.26).
Simon Le Bon led the band onstage to an eruption of screams and cheers from the crowd gathered at London's Hyde Park as they kicked off their headline set with their 1982 classic Is There Something I Should Know? and in an bold move, they brought out the big hitters early by following it up with an electric rendition of their much-loved James Bond theme A View to a Kill.
Without giving the audience a chance to catch their breath, the group rolled out another banger with Le Bon howling his way through Hungry Like the Wolf.
Opening with three of their biggest hits might prove tricky for some bands, but Le Bon and company are safe knowing they have a deep back catalogue of tunes which they flew through at pace while treating the crowd to covers of classics including Rick James' Super Freak and Evil Woman by Electric Light Orchestra - a year after ELO had to cancel their own farewell show at BST last summer due to frontman Jeff Lynne's health issues.
However, Le Bon had no time to dwell as the group pushed on through their hefty back catalogue, weaving their newer material in with the crowd-pleasing classics.
After treating the crowd to a lively version of The Reflex, Le Bon took a moment to acknowledge that many audience members would be facing a very long night as England's national football team prepared to face Mexico in a crunch World Cup knockout match in the early hours of the morning.
Le Bon asked the crowd: "How many of you are planning on staying up all night? You going down the pub?" before dedicating the band's song Ordinary World to the England team, saying: "I have faith in our team. I believe in them. I think they are going to do us proud, I really do.
"They can overcome the cauldron that is the Azteca stadium, they can overcome the altitude, they can overcome the team that is Mexico. I believe it.
"So we are going to dedicate this song to them tonight. This is Ordinary World."
Early on in the show, Le Bon gave a shout out to Groove Armada, Scissor Sisters, Nile Rodgers and Chic who took to the Oak Tree stage ahead of Duran Duran and the band seized the opportunity to bring their long-time collaborator Nile back onto the stage.
The funk star joined Duran Duran for a performance of Notorious - the title track from their 1986 album of the same name which Nile produced - and new track Free To Love which he co-wrote.
Duran Duran ploughed on through their hits before seemingly wrapping up their set with a medley of Girls on Film and a cover of Talking Heads' Psycho Killer, but it wasn't long before they returned for the encore with the opening chords of The Clash classic London Calling complete with fire dancers which neatly side-stepped into a flaming version of Wild Boys.
Asking the audience to produce the flashlights on their mobile phones, Le Bon left them to sing every chorus of Save a Prayer back to him before wrapping up their set with a high-energy rendition of Rio which was met with a rapturous response from the park.
Le Bon has previously insisted Duran Duran will never play at Glastonbury unless they are given a coveted headline slot and it looked like they were going all-out to prove they can still command huge outdoor shows after almost 50 years in the business - even if the stage isn't pyramid-shaped or on Worthy Farm.
Rating 4/5
