Happy birthday to Simon Le Bon, singing above on Dec. 9, 2015. (Photo by Phil Guest)
Please please tell me now is there something I should know?
Well, today, Oct. 27, 2016, is the 58th birthday of Simon Le Bon, lead singer of the epic Duran Duran!
Cool! Anything else?
Why yes! Simon and his bandmates Nick Rhodes, John Taylor, and Roger Taylor have sprung a surprise return to the DC area to perform at the new MGM National Harbor on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
OK… wait! what!
Yes, Duran Duran are playing two concerts in a row at the Theater at MGM National Harbor (7100 Harborview Ave, Oxon Hill, Md.), which is set to open Dec. 8. The Theater has been aggressively scheduling an impressive array of talent already, including a residency by Cher in March 2017.
The new Theater hosts a crowd of roughly 3,000, far more intimate than the roughly 18,277 seats available at the Verizon Center, where Duran Duran appeared to perform earlier this year. (Read our Parklife DC review of that show and why it was so breathtakingly outstanding.)
Watch the official music video for “Last Night in the City” by Duran Duran with Kiesza on YouTube:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_2alcE_1XY]
Duran Duran released the video for “Last Night in the City” only recently to mark the 1 year anniversary of their 14th studio album, Paper Gods. The Paper Gods tour took them around the United States already, bringing Duran Duran back into the public consciousness in a big big way! Duran nerd that I am, I would argue the boost of pure gold found in their previous album, All You Need Is Now, carried them there. In 2015, Duran Duran hit the top 10 in the Billboard charts for the first time since the Wedding Album, and the band continued to march smartly (and funkily) across stages worldwide, reveling in the renewed attention.
Of course, Duran Duran wouldn’t have won their recent accolades if they weren’t ridiculously talented from the start. Each member brings a distinct genius to their instrument and to the mix, and early global hits like “Planet Earth,” “Rio,” “Hungry Like the Wolf,” “View to a Kill,” and “Notorious,” among others, were the result of hard work and an ear for great hooks. They make it look easy, particularly when they wear those stylish suits, but the gents are exceptionally good sonic craftsmen.
Well, I don’t have to tell you where I’ll be on New Year’s Eve. As Duran Duran themselves said:
People stare and cross the road from me/
And jungle drums they all clear the way for me/
Can you read my mind can you see in the snow? — the New Year’s snow at MGM National Harbor?
Tickets go on sale to the general public at 10am on Friday, Oct. 28. So keep your eye on these links:
Tickets for Saturday, Dec. 31, are available here through Ticketmaster.
Tickets for Sunday, Jan. 1, are available here through Ticketmaster.
Duran Duran
The Theater at MGM National Harbor
Saturday, Dec. 31
Show @10:30pm
Sunday, Jan. 1
Show @9pm
$125-$300
All ages