Duran Duran Road Trip 1999

I met SuSaN Beverly through www.duranduran.com and the who's going where list on Lizard King. She wanted to go to the Atlanta show, however, didn't know anyone in the area. I responded to her since I didn't want to have to go alone either. My husband barely tolerates my Duran Duran obsession. I planned to order a ticket for him anyway, however. Then, Sandy Johnstone briefly thought about flying over from England, but, it was too expensive and she was in the processing of moving to a new flat. I had ordered 3 tickets just in case. Adam couldn't make it either, so I invited my friend Elise instead. A few weeks prior to the show I met Laurel Davis who was going to the show with some other folks.

As the show drew closer, SuSaN invited me to go along with her to the show in Charlotte, NC as she had an extra ticket and said I could go along to the one in Myrtle Beach, SC if I wanted to as well. It had never occurred to me before to attend an out of state show for a band. Happily, I was able to work it out. Just days before she was getting ready to drive down, SuSaN's car died.

8/23/99 picked up SuSaN from the bus station.

8/24/99 we had plans to meet some folks at the Hard Rock Cafe. We made it there by two, however, we couldn't find the people who were going to meet us. Then we went to Chastain Park in Atlanta at about the time we heard the sound check would occur in the hopes of meeting the guys in between sound check and the show. We met up with Laurel and several other Duranies including Tony from Florida. We found out that Duran Duran wasn't going to show up to Chastain until 8:30 pm. The plans we had for a picnic at 6 pm also managed to fall through. While waiting around for the gates to open we talked to some Duranies that had driven down from Kentucky. The gates opened between 6:30 pm and 7:00 pm. When waiting in line to buy some souvenirs, we met a Duranie named Jill who was also planning to attend the Charlotte, NC show on Thursday.

Our seats were 7 rows off of the main floor--Center Orchestra, Row G, seats 43-45. Not too bad considering I had been in the nosebleed section for all the previous 3 Duran Duran shows I had seen in the past. Laurel found us and brought Casey (7th). It was nice to finally put a face with the screen name :). We got to meet her sister, too. Elise wasn't able to make it before the opening band started.

After hearing lots of negativity about the opening band, Erin Evermore, I wasn't looking forward to seeing them. We spent the time chatting instead, which was more fun as we were all nervous and excited. Elise made it there just before they finished and brought some yummy chocolate desserts with her. She is too sweet. It was even better since we hadn't eaten dinner yet. BTW this was SuSaN and Elise's first Duran Duran show. We were all impatiently waiting for the show to start.

Duran Duran came out at approximately 9:00 pm and we all immediately jump to our feet and start screaming. The stage was kept dark as Girls on Film was beginning to play in the background. Warren, Simon, and Nick stood still on the front of the stage soaking in the 'wall of sound' from the fans. They eventually begin performing the rest of the song. Warren was wearing a black (leather?) vest, sunglasses, a Duran Duran hat, and black pants. Simon was wearing black painter's pants and a black short sleeved shirt. I couldn't see Nick very clearly, however, he appeared to have on a black satin short sleeved shirt. His pants were covered by the keyboards. Soon my friends (except Elise and Casey's sister) decide to move down closer and dance in the aisles. I stayed with Elise, however, a lady behind me complained about not being able to see. I didn't want to sit down, so I moved out into the aisle. After that song was over another lady complained I was blocking her way. I asked her why she didn't just stand up and she threatened to get security as I was in the aisles. I scooted down and went by my other friends. All the folks in that section were on their feet dancing, and singing--really getting into the show which is the way it should be. Next came Hungry Like The Wolf. After that there was Notorious which had great audience participation (No, No, Notorious). Hallucinating Elvis, one of the songs from their upcoming CD, Pop Trash, came next. Simon put on a sparkly silver short sleeve (I think) jacket and sunglasses. He really hammed it up. I have really noticed an improvement in Simon's dancing. I heard he's taken lessons from Paula Abdul.

At some point, Simon takes a mouthful of water and spits it out onto the crowd. He also grabs himself once.

I believe it was for the song Out of My Mind that Simon begins by lighting a candle. Then came a fantastic rendition of All She Wants Is. For Friends of Mine Simon dons a cowboy hat and hams it up some more. Another new song, Someone Else Not Me was quite beautiful. And a thoroughly enjoyable version of Secret Oktober that is somehow even better than the already wonderful original version. I didn't recognize what song it was until Simon started singing the lyrics. An interesting pattern was projected onto the white curtains and ceiling. Duran Duran live is unlike any of their CDs because they like to change songs around. They did not perform Wild Boys much to the disappointment of the lady who was next to me. Laurel knew the set list pretty much by heart and kept me informed as to what was next. A guy who saw me singing to Secret Oktober asked me what album it was on. I brain farted and told him it was on 7 & The Ragged Tiger, then double checked with Laurel. She correctly identified that it was a B-side to Union of the Snake. He high fived us both and said something about they were friendly in row 3 and had some beers--LOL. I didn't take them up on it--I don't drink and I am a married lady.

More great audience participation during White Lines. It was probably the longest song they performed that night. At one point it seems like they finish it up and Simon gets everyone to sing 'White Lines Don't Do It' for quite awhile. Another new song was 'Lava Lamp'. La-la-la-la-lava lamp, I love to turn you on... More interesting patterns are shown on the white curtains. The audience really got into Electric Barbarella. Then came Planet Earth and Ordinary World.

After a brief wait, they came out to play 3 encore songs. The Reflex, which has pictures displaying on the back of the white curtains. The first one they showed looked an awful lot like John, the next one was Nick, then Nick and Simon, and another was Nick with patterns on his face. Another new song came next--Pop Trash Movie. I do not want to have to wait until early next year to get ahold of this CD! Last, but not least, was a red-hot version of Rio. During the song, Simon brought a lady up on stage that was all dressed in white--almost like a showgirl from Las Vegas. I say that because she had a kind of feathered headdress. She got sent back off stage when the song was over. Wes Wehmiller absolutely kicked butt on this (John who? LOL). He did an awesome job all night as did Joe Travers.

Elise, SuSaN, and I went and had a very late dinner. Then SuSaN and I went to Johnny's Hideaway. I had called them a few weeks back saying that Duran Duran was going to be in town and would they play some Duran Duran music if we came in? They said the DJ took requests. So we went there and the DJ didn't have any Duran Duran music. Boy, was I ticked.

8/25/99 had us driving to Charlotte, NC a day before the show in the hopes we could rest up. We ran into some horrible traffic at 85 North and 81. We nearly ran out of gas before we got to the exit. While taking a brief break there, we helped a young couple push their overheated car into Arby's parking lot. We then figured out another way to get to Greenville and then back onto 85 North so we could bypass the traffic caused by an accident. The trip took hours longer than it should have.

8/26/99 was the day of the Charlotte, NC show at Blockbuster Pavilion. We drove there that morning to ensure we knew how to find it. While there we asked a security guard near the back entrance if he knew what time the sound check was. He claimed he had not been given the schedule yet. We also checked out the prices at the concessions stands before getting kicked out. Next was a trip to the hotel Jill told us Duran Duran had stayed at last time. I went in and asked them to ring Joe Travers room--and got some weird message about no such number or number not in service. I spoke with the operator and she said he had not checked in yet. That could've meant anything. We went and did some shopping and SuSaN found the Girls on Film remixes CD to add to her collection. Then back to the hotel for one more try. This time it rang quite a few times before going to a voice mail message--who knows if it was the right room as I have since heard they all register under fake names. We had to go and get ready so we gave up. On the way up I asked the bellboys if they had seen Duran Duran come in and the guy looked at me like I was nuts and said that they weren't staying there. LOL

When we go to the area of Blockbuster Pavilion we looked around for somewhere to park so we wouldn't have to pay the outrageous amount they wanted to charge ($8 for across the street and $17 for the same side of the street). There were some guys nearby selling tickets. They offered up 2nd row seats. We had row C tickets and thought they were 3rd row so we didn't bite. They then said they had first row tickets. They were willing to trade ours for theirs plus $15.00 each. I had no money on me, however, SuSaN saved the day and fronted me the money. I was having heart failure on the spot from being so excited. I have NEVER been in the front row at a concert before. The entire time we walked to the seats I was in shock. I'm not sure it wore off until after the show. I managed to sneak in a camera, although was nervous about using it as I didn't want my film to get taken away. Our seats were right in front of Warren. We ran into Jill (whom we had met in Atlanta) and her sister. They are such nice ladies. Most of the Duranies we talked to have been wonderful. Erin Evermore was the opening band once again. I got to see the full impact of the show. She had on a short tube top dress with a ruffle at the bottom, garter belt and red stockings, and black high heel boots. Her makeup was inches thick around her eyes. She had long multi-colored hair that looked a bit ratty. While she sang she would do things like flip her hair around. I suppose it was a sex kitten act or something. She also liked to flash the audience. Under the 'dress' she had on a gold g-string. Her butt was quite bare and she enjoyed showing it off. I would have enjoyed their music more if she hadn't been so trashy and if I had been able to hear her sing better. The bass, drums, guitar, and keyboards drowned her out. One thing I admired about the band is that they have a female bass player. The guitarist threw a pick and SuSaN snatched it up before I could react. I didn't mind, though.

I did manage to sneak in a camera, which I was too scared to use until the very last song of the show. More on that in a minute.

The set list from Duran Duran's show was the same as the one in Atlanta. Simon again wore black pants, only these had a white stripe down the sides, and a short-sleeved black shirt. Nick wore beige pants with a line of black and white beads down the side and a white shirt with roses on it. Warren wore his sunglasses, hat, a black tank top and black pants. What was different for this show was the magic I felt from being so close. The crowd was very responsive. I watched Wes a lot and he rarely looked up--maybe he was shy or nervous. The drummer, Joe, smiled a lot. I loved watching Nick play the keyboards. He had a laptop computer and a motion detector to work with. Also enjoyable was him doing the computerized Why during The Reflex. Simon was continually adjusting the fan in front of him and he once deliberately let it blow his shirt up. He did the water spitting and crotch grabbing again during this show. At one point I was grinning really big and looking at Simon. He was looking sideways at me and then a smile lit up his face as well. Security was tight up until the encores--they then let Jill and her sister up with us and I was able to sneak some pictures during Rio, trying to wait until the staff member in front of me was looking away. I think they could've seen me at any time since there were other staff members nearby. Warren did a strip show at the end of Rio. Off came the hat, the sunglasses, the shirt, and then he unbuttoned his pants, turned his back to us and as he started walking offstage he pulled his pants partly down to reveal black shorts with a stripe down the side.

SuSaN and I went and waited by the back gate hoping to be let in to meet the guys--only we didn't have backstage passes. It even started raining and they locked the front gate, yet we still waited. When they threatened to lock us in overnight if we didn't leave, we finally gave in. That was when we met Al. She has never met a stranger :). We had a bite to eat, then she ended up staying with us that night--she planned to attend the Myrtle Beach show the next day. After only a couple hours of sleep, we split up with plans to meet her at the House of Blues for dinner along with plans to meet a whole group of people.

SuSaN and I had to go get her son's friend, then her son. Her son's friend ended up not getting to go because his parents were afraid that Hurricane Dennis would hit while we were there. We had a long trip across town to pick up Brandon and then renting the South Park video game for him. The worst thing was missing an exit and ending up back in North Carolina again and having to come back down and across to get to North Myrtle Beach. It made us 1/2 hour late for meeting folks at HOB. We kept poor Al waiting. We were unable to meet up with the other folks as they didn't have reservations in the two names I knew about, nor was there a party of 11 people. We went ahead and had dinner there. If you save your receipts we were told you could get priority seating for the concert. In the meantime, we went to get ready for the show. Since SuSaN takes longest to get ready, I dropped Al off to wait in line and came back for SuSaN and Brandon. I ended up with his friend's reserved seat ticket and sold my general admission one. I snuck in a camera. We ended up on Warren's side on the main floor semi-close to the stage. The main floor filled up fast. SuSaN went and got a drink while we saved her spot. She later wanted another drink and convinced me to go get it while she saved my spot. It was hard to excuse myself all the way back in to where I had been before. Not long after this a rude guy pushed his way forward and he did NOT excuse himself. He got belligerent about it with me because I made a face after he pushed me. I had no desire to fight with him. People kept pressing forward and the crowd had a slightly hostile tinge to it although the lady in front of me and right behind me were nice (we even ran into them again the next day while shopping). I began to feel suffocated and panicky, and since SuSaN had gone up to the reserved seats I decided to as well. Al said she would look out for Brandon.

Once again Erin Evermore was the opening act. She was more trashy than she had been in the previous two shows. Even crawling around on the stage and showing more of her butt than I ever cared to see. BTW the reserved seats were in the balcony on Warren's side. I could see the whole stage really good and even keep an eye on Al and Brandon.

Finally, Duran Duran started. The set list was the same as the previous two shows. What was different this time was the Duran Duran was much more playful and full of energy. All were full of smiles and constantly whispering to each other. Warren wore his black vest, hat, sunglasses, and jeans. Simon wore a slightly different pair of black pants and a short-sleeved black shirt. Nick wore a black shirt with a colorful fleur-de-lis pattern on it (I think) and I can't remember what kind of pants he had on. Once Simon sat down on the stage with his legs dangling off and he actually let people touch them, staying there for a long period of time. The crowd reaction here was great, too.

One heartbreaking thing happened to me during the first encore song. I was asked to hand over my film. I thought that when they announced no flash photography that it was okay to take pictures if you didn't use your flash. Wrong! I was so upset and frustrated that I jerked the film out of the camera while removing it (and I later found out that I broke the camera and that the parts are no longer made for it so I will be unable to get it fixed). I didn't let this spoil my enjoyment of the rest of the encores, though. After Rio was over, Simon stayed up on stage and just listened to the wall of sound with a big smile on his face. During the show I had a guy ask me who the original members of the band were. Another lady was surprised that Nick Rhodes was still the keyboardist as he looks so young. After the show one of the ladies behind me asked if I knew where to go to wait. My response was I wish that I knew :).

Afterward, we waited around a back door area without success. Went and got some souvenirs. Next we did some brainstorming and decided to go around t the back of the building to wait with a small crowd of people to see the guys come out and get on their buses. We did see a man that looked like Wes who was transferring some luggage, which included a South Park Kenny stuffed doll, from the limo bus to the other bus. Eventually we saw Simon come out, followed by Warren, and what looked like Nick and they walked toward the limo bus. Just then one of their workers pulled an 18-wheeler around and concealed them from our view so we didn't know for sure which group members if any got on the limo bus. A long line of cards followed the limo bus when it drove off. Al and SuSaN were convinced that Nick was going to take his time coming out. SuSaN had heard that once Nick waited until he thought everybody was gone then came out and that is how one fan got to meet him. So she wanted to wait until after the other tour bus left. They took their own good, sweet time about it, too. Everybody left but us four and the roadies were teasing us about still being there. They kept trying to get us to leave, saying the guys were all gone and stuff. Who knows if you can trust them? They did the 18-wheeler truck trick again. Then between 2 and 3 am that the bus finally left. We waited there in the dark awhile longer just to be sure (and got bitten up by mosquitos) and ended up with nada.

We stayed in Myrtle Beach on Saturday to eat, shop, and swim. Like I mentioned previously, we saw three ladies from the Friday night concert. They actually ended up meeting the guys because they stumbled onto the correct hotel. Lucky ladies :). I sure wish I could've gone to some more shows. Greedy, I know. I can't get enough of this band.

BTW - the HOB's restaurant had a chimney fire the day after the show. Apparently they had it cleaned, however, it wasn't done properly so when they lit a fire, it had results other than expected.

All too soon it was time for me to head home.