Duran Duran: Still wild boys

Jun 27 2008 by Emma Johnson, Liverpool Daily Post

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“It’s a balancing act,” he says. “You get people turning up to shows and all they want to hear is Rio and Girls on Film and Hungry like the Wolf. Then you get those who want to hear a bit of everything. Then you get the real die-hards and they want to hear really rare stuff.

“Obviously, we have to play the classics. I have been to see people who haven’t played the biggest record they had. People pay a lot of money for a ticket and leave feeling short-changed. We are very careful with that and we have a respect for people who want to hear the classics.

“We also have a very large catalogue of work to pull from, so we argue and are still changing the set list about five minutes before we go on – pulling each other’s hair out.”

Ah yes, back to the hair. It seems that, even in the throes of middle age – Roger and bass guitarist John are both 48, Simon is a 49-year-old father-of-three and keyboard player Nick Rhodes, at 46, is the baby of the bunch – the image is just as important to the guys as it was back when they were all teen idols.

Says Roger: “We are all clothes-conscious, as we have always been. We formed in the era where you made your own style and we have always been very vain. We all like to hog the mirror before we go on, it’s just the way we are.

“I think the audience would be very disappointed if we went on stage in checked shirts and faded out jeans.”

* DURAN Duran play the Echo Arena Liverpool, on Saturday, July 5 as part of the Summer Pops and, thanks to United Utilities and its Tap into Water campaign, backed by the Daily Post, we have two pairs of tickets for this fantastic concert to give away.

For a chance to win, simply tell us the name of Simon Le Bon’s supermodel wife. Email your answer along with your postal address to features@dailypost. co.uk by 5pm BST today.

Normal rules apply.

Competition open to UK residents only.

emmajohnson@dailypost.co.uk