At TD Garden, nods in both directions from Duran Duran
Since their self-titled 1981 debut, Duran Duran have proven their gift at distilling pop’s vagaries into fizzy pop cocktails. One of the MTV era’s biggest bands, they were unfairly discounted by some as a product of music’s televisual age, a triumph of style over substance. But their vision of New Wave was one defined by its members operating as a band first and foremost, and tracks like the vivid beach postcard “Rio,” the surrealistic soul-pop rager “The Reflex,” and the pleading “Is There Something I Should Know?” have stood the test of time since MTV premiered their accompanying short films all those years ago. Duran Duran’s show at TD Garden on Wednesday night showed that the band has endured as well.
While their deepest roots are in the grimy rock clubs and flashy discotheques of the early ‘80s, as evidenced by early hits like the punchy “Girls on Film” and the desperate “Hungry Like the Wolf,” Duran Duran’s curiosity led them to defy genre limitations almost immediately: The thrashing 1984 cut “The Wild Boys” reflects the Cold War-borne apocalypse fantasias that crept in on that era’s neon-hued excess; 1993 s sumptuous “Come Undone” combines atmospheric electronics with Quiet Storm-inspired splendor; “Ordinary World,” released the same year, puts a New Wave gloss on the power ballad; and their cover of Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel’s hip-hop classic “White Lines (Don’t Don’t Do It)” honors its pointed message and undeniable groove.
They’re still exploring, too — on Wednesday they played two cuts from 2021 s “Future Past” (the shimmering “Give It All Up” and the thumping “Anniversary”), and next month they’re releasing the Halloween-themed “Danse Macabre,” which will include covers of tracks by pop oddball Billie Eilish and goth heroes Siouxsie & the Banshees. That drive to keep creating and keep pushing forward is clearly energizing them onstage. On Wednesday, frontman Simon Le Bon’s banter was as playful as his interplay with his bandmates, who sounded great, with John Taylor’s buoyant bass lines and Nick Rhodes’s stabs of keyboard leaping out of the speakers.
With a tight 19-track setlist that included a couple of mash-ups — Rick James’s funk touchstone “Super Freak,” which the band will reimagine on “Danse Macabre,” was laced into the 1982 cut “Lonely in Your Nightmare,” while “Girls on Film” was paired with super-producer Calvin Harris’s hyperactive 2007 track “Acceptable in the ‘80s” — and a lot of nostalgia-conjuring moments, Duran Duran gave the TD Garden a giddy trip back in time while also letting the assembled know that they’re hardly done yet.